WAIS DIVIDE, ANTARCTICA– Many of our crew will be celebrating birthdays while down on the ice so I thought I’d share what an ice sheet birthday looks like! Not so different from home but everyone misses family and friends so we try to make it a special day here in camp. Last week we celebrated the birthdays of Ryan Banta and Peter Neff. Despite being busy and working all day, everyone, including the camp staff, went out of their way to make sure they had memorable birthdays! Both Ryan and Peter had special birthday cakes and birthday cards. Ryan got a delicious chocolate cake and Peter had a cake made of cinnamon rolls! Both were delicious!

Peter Neff and his birthday cake of cinnamon rolls.

Ryan was even lucky enough to have about 10 letters arrive on a flight the day before his birthday! That is quite impressive because all of our mail comes on airplanes from McMurdo and both weather and the mail sorting can prevent letters and packages from arriving in a timely manner. Based on the mail that people are receiving in camp, it takes about 2 weeks for a letter to arrive at WAIS Divide from the United States. That is quite incredible considering each letter travels thousands of miles and takes several airplane rides! It may not be FedEx but it is still impressive!

Ryan Banta with his pile of mail including a great birthday card from his son. It was certainly a highlight for Ryan!