Greetings from WAIS Divide. Jake Walter here, co-I on the TIME project, which is part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). I am the State Seismologist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey and they have loaned me out to the project to lead the field team this season. Our project includes Eliza Dawson, graduate student from Stanford, TJ Young, postdoc at Cambridge, Stephen Veitch, Research Assistant Professor at University of Texas at El Paso, Julie Baum, British Antarctic Survey field guide, and Forrest McCarthy, US Antarctic Program mountaineer.

So while Julie and Forrest arrived at McMurdo Station early, the rest of us had a 10 day delay in Christchurch waiting for a flight "down South." Upon arrival, we scrambled to get our gear packed up into big boxes that went on the LC-130 Hercules cargo planes outfitted with big skis to land on the snow!

We unpacked and configured our gear quickly in the hopes of getting our final flight to the field site. However, Antarctica had other ideas. The wind picked up and it started to snow before those winds became gale force. So between the 4 day storm and the Christmas holiday, we have now been at WAIS Divide for a week.

In the interim, we have enjoyed camp life here and the galley served up a wonderful and memorable Christmas Eve dinner. The good food and camaraderie of the place almost makes up for the separation from loved ones and the disappointing logistical delays. Hopefully we get out to the site tomorrow.

The photo below shows the galley set for Christmas dinner at WAIS Divide camp.