Students & Staff Scheduling:

The summer field season is broken up into a series of blocks. Students and staff are on the Icefield for the entire eight-week program. The dates below reflect the approximate time spent at each camp, but are subject to change based on weather, personnel and helicopter movement, and academic activities. The important dates are the following:

Faculty Scheduling:

While students and staff are on the Icefield for the entire eight-week program, faculty cycle in and out of the Expedition for 10-14 day blocks. This scheduling streamlines helicopter logistics and breaks up the academic curriculum by camp.

We require faculty to budget two extra days in Juneau before their block begins and strongly encourage two or three extra days in Juneau after their block ends. This helps us accommodate lost luggage, frequent weather delays for helicopters, and the other common logistic complications of getting to and from the Icefield. The last few years of unusually sunny weather notwithstanding, and despite all the efforts of JIRP and Coastal Helicopters, helicopters are often delayed up to a week by weather. This is an inescapable reality of working in Southeast Alaska. We urge you to take this into consideration when making plans to avoid frustration.

2024 Faculty Travel Schedule:

Student Orientation

During the 2024 season, our student Orientation Week will take place in Atlin, British Columbia. Some of the details below will be adjusted to account for the change of location, but the majority will be the same.

Students spend five or six days getting orientated. The safety staff cover basic backcountry travel skills such as how to pack a backpack; how to layer in a rainy, temperate environment; hydration and nutrition; and blister care. Students do individual gear check with staffers and start familiarizing themselves with how new equipment works. The whole group does some warm-up day hikes. Faculty deliver the first set of introductory academic lectures.

Note that Orientation Week is geared primarily toward students, but we welcome any faculty. Especially early-career faculty new to JIRP or faculty who may not have a strong backcountry background have appreciated attending these days of orientation. Additionally, if you’re traveling from far away, Orientation Week can be a good time to get over jetlag (Alaskan Standard Time is one hour further west than the Pacific Standard Time), organize research and personal equipment, and generally get your feet under you before heading up to the Icefield.

Block 1: Camp 17 (Safety Training)

The first 10-14 days on the Icefield are dedicated to safety training for all students and any new faculty who elect to participate. The JIRP safety staff fill every day with a series of camp orientations (cook crew, work detail, bunkhouse etiquette, etc.), general Icefield protocols surrounding risk management and communication, and skiing and mountaineering skills. Skiing lessons are divided by levels and students have the opportunity to change groups every day depending on their progress. Safety staffers teach the basics of glacier mountaineering in small groups so everyone can comfortably cover harness use, rope skills, anchor building, crevasse rescue, and route finding. We spend as many hours as possible on the glacier every day so that everyone becomes accustomed to working in the sun, rain, wind, and fog, but we are almost always within a short, safe hike of camp. Using a combination of short lectures, group practice, and one-on-one mentorship, the staffers work with participants to develop basic mastery of all necessary skills.

Towards the end of Block 1, some students will have learned safety skills to a satisfactory level ahead of the rest of the group. For a few days these students will assist with limited research needs on the Lemon Creek Glacier. Research faculty are welcome to work out of Camp 17 for this time, but teaching opportunities are limited. Students have to put their full energy into safety training. Consequently, there is very little time for academic lectures, and even fewer hours available for field trips.

Students’ time is primarily focused on safety training during Block 1, so we intentionally limit the number of faculty in camp who are there to teach. However, we welcome faculty who would like to focus on developing their own safety skills. This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who wants to learn more about ski mountaineering and develop techniques for working in cold, wet environments. This is an especially strong option for early career faculty without significant field experience, as well as any faculty who would like to continue working with JIRP (or a similar program) long-term and desire to have skills above the baseline we require of short-term faculty.

Field work opportunities

Camp 17 is located on a ridge between Ptarmigan Glacier and Lemon Creek Glacier, and at a col between Vesper Peak and Cairn Peak. The Lemon Creek Glacier is a fantastic field site for research questions that benefit from being able to consider the entire watershed. The entire glacier is accessible from Camp 17, its mass balance has been consistently monitored for decades, and the stream that drains the watershed, Lemon Creek, is well monitored by the USGS.

Lemon Creek Glacier also hosts Lake Linda, a supraglacial lake that often drains (probably subglacially, although this is up for debate) in late June or early July. Lake Linda has long been the subject of academic discussion at Camp 17 and invites further inquiry.

The surrounding mountains and ridges are often field sites for ecology, botany, and dendrochronology research. Many of these sites are within day-hiking distance from camp and present relatively un-technical objectives from a safety perspective.

Logistics and Traverse Section

Camp 17 is the easiest Icefield camp to access. The helicopter trip takes only 5-10 minutes, but even so we save this option for groceries and supplies. All personnel are expected to hike between Juneau and Camp 17. The trip, depending on the route, is 8-10 miles, covers 5000 ft/1500 m of vertical elevation, and generally take 6-12 hours (depending on the route and the pace of the group).

Faculty Safety Requirements

Block 1 is a great option for faculty of novice, intermediate, and advanced ski mountaineering skills. Faculty are welcome to participate in the extensive (and intensive) Student Safety Training. We will gladly teach faculty how to ski if they’ve never skied, how to work on a rope team if they’ve never used rope systems before, and a variety of skills for traveling over steep, snow-covered terrain.

Block 2: Camp 10 (middle of the Icefield)

At Camp 10, the JIRP student program transitions from what we’ve traditionally called “the Institute” - training, training, training - to “the Expedition” - the bulk of the academics and science research. While safety staff still accompany all trail parties and continue to train students in glacier mountaineering, we begin to expect every student to take a more proactive role in making the Expedition happen. Because the team is functioning at a fairly efficient level, we can dedicate most of every work day to academics and student research projects.

Field work opportunities

Camp 10 is our biggest camp (it sleeps over 60 people) and has the easiest access to a wide variety of glacial sub-environments. Taku Glacier, the deepest alpine glacier in the world at over 1500 m in the middle and fed by a series of large tributary glaciers, presents ideal field sites for mass balance pits, snowpack research, and strain analyses where the ice flow from different branches merge. A series of vegetated nunataks offer a variety of options for ecology research, and access to head of the deglaciated and forested Avalanche Canyon offers a standpoint for examining glacial geomorphology and more questions about ecology. Finally, two glacial lakes, one subglacial on the north side of camp and the other supraglacial on the south side of camp, present opportunities for a host of glacial hydrology inquiries. During this block the mass balance, isotope geochemistry, and geomatics teams often focus their data collection on covering the Taku Glacier system, the geophysics team chooses (a) site(s) of interest to work on, and the ecology team visits various nearby nunataks.

Logistics

Camp 10 is a twenty-minute helicopter trip from Juneau. With this relatively short trip, it is the most easily accessible major research camp in the middle of the Icefield. Camp 10 is also our largest camp with a comfortable dining and sleeping space for up to 60 people. It provides easy (<10 min.) access to Taku Glacier and the Taku B nunatak. Of all the camps and blocks, this is the least logistically challenging for many projects.

Traverse Sections

Block 2 faculty fly into Camp 10, which is fairly straightforward. The flight out, however, can happen either of out Camp 10 or Camp 18, depending on snow conditions, weather, and academic/research goals. Block 2 faculty must be prepared to ski from Camp 10 to Camp 18 towards the end of the block with a trail party of students and staff. The ski is 18 miles, covering terrain that is mostly flat or gently sloping uphill. There are a few sections that may require technical route finding and/or roping up - we will teach all the skills required to complete this trip.

Faculty Safety Requirements

Block 2 is a great block for faculty with a novice or intermediate level of ski mountaineering skills. The glacier surrounding Camp 10 is easily accessible with five minutes of hiking and most field sites require only low-angle (nordic) skiing. We will give all faculty a one-day safety training when they arrive at Camp 10 to cover the necessary ropes skills.

Block 3: Camp 18 (the “High Ice”) and Camp 26 (the blue ice)

Camp 18

Camp 18 is, without compare, the most dramatic of the JIRP camps. Perched on the Cleaver, a bedrock promontory rising vertically 2000 ft./ 600 m from the Gilkey Trench, this camp offers unrivaled views of the ice dynamics of the Vaughan Lewis Icefall, the ogives of the Gilkey Trench, and the geomorphology of the walls of the trench as the surface of the Gilkey Glacier lowers. Additionally, a moderate ski out of camp leads trail parties to the upper reaches of the Matthes and Llewellyn Glaciers and the Divide between the two.

Mountaineering training at Camp 18 focuses on nearby peak ascents, a culmination of all the technical and team management skills of the summer, and the ever-popular crevasse exploration. While everyone has a different summer on the Icefield, the safety staff do everything in their power to include every student who wants to rappel into and explore one the of the large crevasses at the head of the Vaughan Lewis Icefall.

Field work opportunities - Camp 18

Research at Camp 18 is focused on the geomorphology of the Gilkey Trench, the deepest mass balance pits high in the accumulation zone, further exploration of nearby nunataks, and the ice flow dynamics of the Matthes-Llewellyn Divide. Informally known simply as “the Divide”, the remote field camp at the ice flow divide plays host to teams addressing a variety of research questions about ice strain and flow velocity. During this block the mass balance and geophysics teams focus their field inquires on field sites high in the accumulation zone, the isotope geochemistry team and the geomatics team often take the opportunity to explore the surrounding tributary glacier systems, and the ecology team works on the Cleaver.

Logistics - Camp 18

Camp 18 is a 45-minute helicopter ride from town. Because of this, Camp 18 is the most expensive full-size camp to fly to and to supply. Additionally, bunkspace is somewhat limited in camp (capacity is closer to 55), and the main glacier access is a 30-45 minute ski from camp (adding up to two hours to every day when all is said and done). We encourage anyone looking to do research out of Camp 18 to take these aspects into consideration.

Traverse Sections

Block 3 faculty fly into either Camp 10 or Camp 18, depending on snow conditions, weather, and academic/research goals. Block 3 faculty must be prepared to ski from Camp 10 to Camp 18 at the beginning of the block with a trail party of students and staff. The ski is 18 miles, covering terrain that is mostly flat or gently sloping uphill. There are a few sections that may require technical route finding and/or roping up - we will teach all the skills required to complete this trip.

Block 3 faculty will fly out of Camp 18 directly back to Juneau.

Faculty Safety Requirements

Camp 18 can be a more challenging trip for faculty in terms of safety skills. The main glacier is accessed by a roughly 60-minute ski from Camp 18, which adds at least two hours of “commute” to almost every day out of camp. In addition, the students have often progressed to the point where we offer several small mountaineering objectives to encourage intermediate skill development. These trips may not be open to faculty without the necessary background (this decision will rest with the field staff and the Safety Manager).

Faculty with novice-level ski mountaineering skills are welcome to apply to Block 3, but they should be prepared to (a) not be able to participate in all activities, and (b) may want to design academic activities close to camp. If you are a novice skier and considering applying to Block 3, the most practical skill you could work on in the winter preceding JIRP is cross-country (aka Nordic) skiing.

Camp 26

Camp 26, down in the ablation zone of the Llewellyn Glacier, opens for research a few days after Camp 18. It is on the nunatak of Corona Peak, directly above the blue ice of the Llewellyn Glacier. Below camp, most years, are a series of glacial caves. On the nearby glacier we get the best view of supraglacial streams and (at some distance from camp) moulins of the field season.

Field work opportunities - Camp 26

Research at Camp 26 often addresses questions about glacial hydrology. There is a wide variety of both supraglacial and subglacial streams, and most years a series of subglacial caves that are safe to explore. For the past several years the biogeochemistry student research team has collected data on meltwater alkalinity from supraglacial and periglacial sources.

Logistics - Camp 26

Camp 26 is a small camp that is relatively complicated to supply. Because helicopters cannot land across the international border and we have a limited field support in Atlin, we supply Camp 26 via snow machine and hiking from Camp 18. Food, supplies, and equipment are snow machined down to the snowline on the Llewellyn, and then everyone working out of Camp 26 packs everything the final 4-8 miles to camp. The camp itself sleeps up to nine staff and faculty and ten students comfortably, and so research parties to the lower Llewellyn are moderately limited. For longer field work campaigns we are happy to discuss more robust support directly out of Atlin, but this might require significant shifts in JIRP resources. Please contact our staff directly with questions.

Block 4: Camp 26, out to Atlin

Block 4 is different from Blocks 1-3 in that it’s mostly not on the Icefield. This block includes the four-day traverse from Camp 18 to Atlin, and five days in Atlin itself. The academics of Block 4 are focused on finishing the summer goals of student research groups and finalizing the student project presentations. Because of logistical constraints we usually limit faculty to a small group, and it’s critical for all Block 4 faculty to support all student research groups. Much of the academic time is spent on presentation skills and practice; consequently all faculty members focus on more general science support and less on subject-specific expertise.

Logistics and Traverse Sections

This block requires that participants complete the traverse section on foot because it crosses the U.S./Canadian border, and helicopters are not permitted to land across the border without significant prior paperwork. The first day of the traverse section begins at Camp 18 with several hours of skiing over flat, uphill, and gentle downhill terrain. Depending on snow conditions, participants may have to rope up through technical sections. At snowline, trail parties will switch from skis and ski boots to mountain boots and microspikes or crampons to hike on the blue ice. There are several hours of hiking on blue ice and bare ground to reach Camp 26.

After a rest day at Camp 26, participants will spend a full 12+ hour day hiking over blue ice, bare bedrock rock, proglacial outwash plain (loose rock/talus), through several often-flooded creek beds/swampy areas, bushwacking through dense willows, and finally through mixed forest to the southern shore of Atlin Lake. This hike is physically strenuous: the terrain is highly variable, participants must carry their skis on their packs (which causes some frustration going through the dense willows), and the dynamics of the proglacial zone frequently create quicksand, flooding, and trail washouts. In addition, participants spend the final night camping on the shore of Atlin Lake. We do not carry tents for this section, so participants will bivouac (under tarps if it’s raining). For the last leg of the traverse, a small boat will pick participants up and transport them several hours to the JIRP facility in Atlin.

Finally, the Expedition crosses the international border during this block, so all participants need a valid passport. Participants from outside Canada and the U.S. may need additional visas. Researching and securing these visas is the individual’s responsibility.

Faculty Safety Requirements

The safety skills prerequisites for Block 4 are the most demanding of all the blocks. The helicopter schedule often does not allow the Block 4 Faculty to have a full day of safety training with the Safety Manager, so applicants are encouraged to come with an intermediate or advanced skillset already in place. The field time in Block 4 is short, but trail parties are required to cross a wide variety of terrain. Within their first few days in the field, faculty should expect to have two long days on the trail. The first will include 6-8 hours of uphill and low-angle downhill skiing and 2-4 hours of hiking on blue ice with either crampons or microspikes (depending on conditions). The second will include 6-8 hours of hiking on blue ice with either crampons or microspikes, followed by 3-5 hours of hiking on/through trailless rock, talus, mud, brush, and streambeds. Faculty who attend Block 4 should be comfortable with all their ski mountaineering skills, as well as take their pre-JIRP fitness training very seriously.