Post and photos by Christian Hein and Tobias Küchenmeister (Beuth-Hochschule für Technik Berlin)
[This post is part of a series of real-time communication from participants in the 2012 Juneau Icefield Research Program. The program begins June 23rd and concludes August 18th.]
Die Arbeit ist geschafft! 207 km Längs- und 140 km Querprofile mit insgesamt 1271 Punkten liegen hinter uns. Das heißt in den kommenden Tagen können wir uns entspannt zurücklehnen.
The work is done! 207 km of longitudinal and 140 km of transversal profiles with all together 1271 points were measured on the Icefield. So we can kick back for the next few days.
Tobi napping on the snowmobile
Rückblickend betrachtet kann man sagen, dass die Vermessungsarbeiten dieses Jahr sehr erfolgreich waren. In keinem Jahr zuvor wurden so viele Profile gemessen.
In retrospect this year’s surveying field season could be described as very successful. So many profiles have never been measured before.
Christian in the mirror of the snowmobile
Den Blick auf Atlin gerichtet, wird mir bewusst, dass der Sommer in Alaska sich langsam dem Ende nähert. Einerseits freue ich mich auf die Vorzüge der Zivilisation. Doch andererseits werde ich die Zeit hier vermissen und ganz bestimmt nicht vergessen. Pilot Bread, Spam, Thor und Petunia…
Facing Atlin I realize that the summer in Alaska is getting closer to its end. On the one hand I look forward to the advantages of civilization. But on the other hand, I will miss and never forget the good time we had. Pilot Bread, Spam, Thor and Petunia…
Lunch time
Ein Gruß an die Familien, Freunde und Bekannte, den Fachbereich III der Beuth-Hochschule für Technik Berlin, besonders an Herrn Stempfhuber und Herrn Korth.
Greetings to our families, friends, and the third department of the “Beuth-Hochschule für Technik Berlin” especially to Mr. Stempfhuber und Mr. Korth.
Links
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crevassezone.org
Post and photos by Jamie Bradshaw
[This post is part of a series of real-time communication from participants in the 2012 Juneau Icefield Research Program. The program begins June 23rd and concludes August 18th.]
July 20, 2012 was a rare sunny day in Juneau, I was planning on going on a hike or up a mountain to take advantage of the sunshine. Then I got a call from the satellite phone. It was Jeff, the director of Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP). He started out the conversation with, “Hey Jamie, it’s Jeff. We want to have a flight up to Camp 10 today.” Immediately my heart sank. Sending a flight up to the icefield meant I was going to be busy most of the day and I wouldn’t be able to soak up the rays as planned. Food and supplies were going to be needed at Camp 10 (C10) and it is my job as the JIRP 2012 Logistics Agent to make sure they get what they need. Then Jeff continued with, “And we’d like to get you up to C10 as well.” I was shocked. I let out a squeal of excitement which sounded like a garbled cry from Cher to Jeff over the sat phone.
They gave me a list of groceries, gear and equipment to be gathered for C10. I called Coastal Helicopters, the company we use to fly personnel, gear, fuel and food to the icefield to arrange a flight to C10. I had 2 hours to buy the requested items from three different stores, pick up the mail and get it staged at the heliport. I eagerly gathered everything needed and got it to Coastal. After the pilots loaded the helo, they came to get me. I walked across the tarmac with the pilot, camera in hand and excitement running through me. This was going to be not only my first time going to a JIRP camp, but it was my first time seeing the icefield.
We flew up the Lemon Creek Valley, I was able to see one building at Camp 17 and got an idea of the long route JIRPers had to take to enter the icefield. When we stopped climbing the valley and got to the elevation of the icefield, the wild nunataks of the Juneau Icefield were revealed. Nunataks are the tops of mountains that are exposed because they are not covered by the icefield. Therefore, they are sharp in comparison to the mountain tops in town because they have not been eroded and smoothed by glaciers. The ragged and gnarly peaks in a blanket of snow and ice gives the icefield a magical feeling.
The approach to Camp 10 had a fantastic view of my favorite nunatak, Devil’s Paw. At 8,584 ft (2,616 m) it is the highest peak of the Juneau Icefield.
Even the Taku Towers enjoy soaking up the sun!
After roughly 15 minutes, Camp 10 was in sight and so were the field staff. I was so excited to see them; they weren’t just going to be voices over the radio for the short time that I was at C10. Once we landed and got off the helicopter, I was greeted with huge welcoming hugs from the field staff. Then they started unloading and loading the helicopter.
JIRP staff and students unloading the helicopter.
It was at this point that I discovered how rewarding doing logistics for JIRP is. The students were so happy to get the mail delivered to them on the icefield. I have also never seen people get so excited about the arrival of Tang! Everyone was so thankful and appreciative for the work that I do at “Juneau Base” which makes life on the icefield possible. I knew that my job had a lot of responsibility attached to it, but I didn’t realize how rewarding it would be until I got to fly to C10.
By the time the helicopter was unloaded, then loaded again for the return flight to Juneau, I was able to run around camp and get a tour of all the buildings. I was very impressed with the facilities. It is truly an incredible accomplishment what Dr. Maynard Miller and many more have created on the Juneau Icefield since the 1940s. After being at C10 for about 30 minutes, it was unfortunately time to leave; but not without a group photograph!
The JIRP field staff and I at C10. From left to right: Dr. Jeff Kavanaugh, Chris McNeil, Coco Loehr, Jamie Bradshaw, Marco Holgado, Cameron Miller, Zach Miller, Brad Markle, Dr. Bill Isherwood, Newt Krumdieck, Dr. Alf Pinchak (front), Scott McGee, Gary Linder
My first time to the icefield was the highlight of my summer and an experience I will never forget.
[Editor's note: Jamie Bradshaw, as the JIRP Logistics Agent stationed in Juneau, is a huge piece of the logistics-puzzle that enables JIRP to run. Thank you, Jamie!]
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crevassezone.org
Post by Lance and Ross Miller
[This post is part of a series of real-time communication from participants in the 2012 Juneau Icefield Research Program. The program begins June 23rd and concludes August 18th.]
Today [July 12th], with wind driving snow against the roof we gather in the Camp 10 cook-shack talking with students about the years of history on the Icefield. The crew here is thankful for the foresight to build this initial building 63 years ago (along with the many additions completed since then). There is still debate over which was the first structure built in 1949 at Camp 10… the cook-shack, or the outhouse named Petunia. For those who just skied in from Camp 17 the facilities are a welcome rest from two long and rainy days on the trail.
With regard to weather we do not know anymore what “normal” climate is. Just last night the tents at the Norris Cache were blown down, the trail crew waking before sunrise to dig themselves out. Now we are having snow accumulate at Camp 10. We are glad for decisions to push for two food flights. 3000 lb. was received just before the weather closed in and now the camp has swelled to 36 students and staff. Being here on the Icefield and seeing the dedicated volunteer staff, and the motivated students, we are excited about the future of the program and the continuation of the vision set in place by so many in the past.
Shoveling snow around the “Nunatak Chalet” – the combined mess hall, bunk room, radio shack, and storage building. A 16-foot tower was later built above the roof for emergency evacuation in case of a prolonged snow storm. (Photo taken December, 1953)
Over the last several years neither of us has been closely involved with the Juneau Icefield Research Program as we have been focusing on the well-being of our father, Maynard Miller, who had his 91st birthday in January. This has been a time of transition for the Foundation for Glacier and Environmental Research (FGER) and JIRP, frankly we were wondering about how the program would endure into the future. Today there is new energy and focus moving forward for what is still a solid mission. In early 2012 the Board of the FGER selected Jeff Kavanaugh as the new director following over six decades of leadership by our father, Maynard Miller. We are excited about the future.
Dr. Maynard Miller (right) with two Thermo Borers, an experimental way to reach depth in the glacier, later lines of calibrated electrical resistance thermistors were lowered down the holes to assess penetration of winter cold into the glacier. (Photo taken December, 1953)
Along with new leadership and the dedicated volunteer staff what impressed us on our return visit is the spirit and passion of the students, staff and faculty on the Icefield. This is truly a treasure. In addition, new cutting edge research in remote sensing, ecology, isotope geochemistry and seismology compliment the ongoing mass balance and ice flow surveys and revitalize the program’s long history of interdisciplinary research and as a barometer for global change and developing leaders for tomorrow.
Dr. Maynard Miller takes the temperature of Taku Glacier in winter with a Wheatstone bridge that is used to measure temperature related changes in resistance along a cable supporting a series of thermistors lowered deep within the ice. (Photo taken December, 1953)
P.S. One other thing we have been working on while at Camp 10 is the room our Dad has next to the Institute Building lecture hall. This small hut was the third building at Camp 10, and now full of almost 60 years of accumulation… we are working to renovate it into a study and meeting place with archives, photos and historical displays. Examples of some vintage photos above, from a winter expedition at Camp 10, in December 1953!
Lance & Ross
[Editor's note: Lance and Ross Miller visited Camp 10/JIRP in July and submitted this post a few days ago. JIRP over the past half century (and then some!) has been made real through the vision and devotion of Ross and Lance's parents, Joan and Maynard Miller.]
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crevassezone.org
Post by Kristin Timm, photos by Jeff Kavanaugh
[This post is part of a series of real-time communication from participants in the 2012 Juneau Icefield Research Program. The program begins June 23rd and concludes August 18th.]
It is official! As of 8:30 PM on 13 August 2012, the last trail party arrived in Atlin and we are all back together! Like other parts of the traverse this summer, we took off on smaller trail parties over several days. The last group, with Marco, Newt, Ben, and Scott McGee departed Camp-26 Monday morning. They travelled via boat to Atlin in the evening, and unfortunately the boat ran out of gas a few miles from Atlin. They had to be towed in by the RCMP (aka the “Mounties”), and we welcomed them in with applause from the dock.
We celebrated the arrival of our friends with a huge Thanksgiving style feast! Several people worked all afternoon preparing an amazing meal of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, salad, squash, and pie.
It was an amazing evening with a beautiful sunset. The weather has been really nice in Atlin. We crossed the icefield, and in doing so, we crossed the coast range and are now in a drier, warmer continental climate. The skies have even been clear enough to spend a few nights sleeping out on the wide docks over the lake. We were treated with clear dark skies—perfect for watching meteors and the aurora borealis.
Aurora borealis over JIRP Camp-30 – a.k.a. the old Atlin hospital. (Photo by Jeff Kavanaugh)
It’s great that we are all back together, and things are beginning to move quickly again. There is a long list of things to do today in preparation for our presentations to the Atlin community tonight and our departure for Skagway on Wednesday morning. We have to make about 300 cookies for the presentation tonight, finish our presentations, set up the Rec Center for the presentations, and do some additional chores to clean up the camp and prepare for our departure from Atlin tomorrow.
The presentations tonight will highlight the student research projects, and while we are unable to record the Atlin presentations, we hope to have a video of our Juneau presentations. We know many of you have followed our work all summer, and you would appreciate seeing and learning about the work we have done! Check back again for the blog and YouTube video of the talks…
Links
Archive of all “Blogging From the Field: JIRP 2012″ Posts
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www.juneauicefield.com
crevassezone.org
Post and photos by Kristin Timm
[This post is part of a series of real-time communication from participants in the 2012 Juneau Icefield Research Program. The program begins June 23rd and concludes August 18th.]
It has been 45 days since I left Juneau for the hike to our first camp on the edge of the icefield, and three days ago we began the bittersweet trek off.
After leaving radio duty at Camp-8, I returned to Camp-18 for one night. I got up early the next morning and was part of a large trail party that skied down to Camp-26. Camp-26 is near the glacier’s equilibrium line, where the snow that falls in the winter melts in the summer revealing beautiful blue ice. All of our time on the icefield up until that time had been above this line, where several feet of snow persists all summer long and eventually turns into glacier ice that continues to feed the ice mass.
Saying goodbye to Camp-26, from Llewellyn glacier.
I stayed one night at Camp-26 and was part of the first trail party to descend from the icefield down to the shore of Atlin Lake. It has been a long three days—I have covered close to 30 miles of terrain that varied from skiing on a few inches of fast fresh snow, walking on blue glacier ice, scrambling up and down rocky moraines, slogging through alder swamps, and eventually hiking on trails through forests of large spruce and pine trees. Traversing from ice to dense forests, my senses were overwhelmed with the smell of life—soil, trees, and wildflowers.
Traveling down the glacier on our trek off the icefield. The scale of everything on the glacier is so huge it is hard to perceive what lies ahead. A belt of moraine is in the foreground, and various glaciers flow into the Llewellyn in the background.
We arrived at the lakeshore around 9 PM after a long 12-hour day, and I jumped into the icy waters of Atlin Lake in celebration. We did it—we traversed the icefield! I built a camp fire, and our group ate mac and cheese, relaxed, and one-by-one proceeded to crawl off to our sleeping bags for a night under the stars. In the morning, a boat picked us up and carried our gear and ourselves across the lake to the small community of Atlin.
Arriving in Atlin yesterday, it was a great day of catching up on things that were missed while on the expedition: toast, eggs over easy, shower, laundry, telephone, root beer, and laying in the grass, reading and soaking up some sunshine (without the harsh glare and intensity of the sunshine on the snow).
It’s hard to believe it’s over, and we’re off the icefield. In the beginning, it seemed like we had an eternity ahead of us. I felt like a kid on summer vacation, with the whole summer ahead. In reality, it went by like a flash. Our last week will be spent in Atlin, travelling to Juneau, and with a couple days in Juneau.
The icefield fades out of view as we travel across Atlin Lake. The icefield gave me challenges and joys, and it was hard to look away as it faded from our view.
Hiking off the icefield was bittersweet, because this summer has been fun and an amazing intellectual experience but presented physical and intellectual challenges to overcome. I have seen a beautiful place, and feel so privileged to have had this opportunity, and it’s hard to leave the place behind. That being said, everything I have learned, the people I have met, and the work that was done has given me a real sense of excitement and energy for the work that lies ahead of me this year.
Links
Archive of all “Blogging From the Field: JIRP 2012″ Posts
JIRP on Facebook
JIRP on Twitter
www.juneauicefield.com
crevassezone.org