I might get the opportunity to go to Attu (or possibly Adak instead,) Alaska, at the far end of the Aleutian Islands late this spring.
Has anyone been there? Advice on what to prepare for?
Cold, windy, damp I imagine - how should I prepare?
I’ve been as far out the chain as Adak, spending a year there with the Navy. The weather is pretty much the same on all those islands. Adak was always referred to as “The birthplace of the winds”, and for good reason. The wind nearly always blows out there, and there are no trees to provide a windbreak. Rain is always a factor as well. Weather in that arena is completely unpredictable, so take layers and a good raincoat with hood if you’re going to be outdoors. Attu is further out, but the weather is pretty much the same.
What are you going out to the end of nowhere for?
Seabirds. But sadly, we didn’t get the grant, so I won’t be going after all. 
I’ll have to see if the proposal can be revised to submit some other year.
A whole year on Adak? Was that considered a hardship posting? I’d imagine the winter there is pretty rough… and I hear the storms up there are terrible, winter or not.
It was certainly a remote posting, but there were some women on the island. In fact, I met my first wife there. There was no indigenous population at that time, but the island and its facilities were turned over to tribal members when the Navy no longer considered the base to be strategic. The storms can be brutal, but the islands are wildly beautiful. You really do feel like you’re on the edge of the continent. Just flying out there can be an experiment in terror. Recommend The Thousand Mile War for an idea of how things can be in that neck of the woods.
No personal experience, but my Dad’s friend spent a year on Attu (during WWII). He said the climate is wet and damp (summer), wet and cold (winter). The weather is incredibly changeable-you go from sunshine to torrential rais, to wind, to snow…and back to sun-within hours. And they have storms called “williwaws”-cyclonic storms that go from calm to 80 MPH gusts, with rain, snow, ice…within minutes. Not a very nice place.