Yesterday we traveled to the first of the four sub-glacial lakes we plan to visit to install GPS instruments and run radar transects. This lake, informally named Lake Whillans because it’s located in the middle of Whillans Ice Stream, is about 35 km away. As we approached the lake, I became convinced I could see the change in slope of the ice sheet above the lake. Later, I concluded that I must have been imagining it, but Rickard, Slawek and the GPS track of the instrument mounted on one of our skidoos confirmed that I had in fact seen the long, almost perfectly flat plane of the lake and the mound of ice before the lake. Thought it seems unbelievable that one can detect it without instruments, because there is no other topography in sight, even subtle changes in slope become distinguishable, likely by some combination of balance and vision.