Are you curious about what's going to happen this summer? We wish we could give you a day-by-day breakdown of the plan, but unfortunately field work scheduling is subject to constant change because of weather, glacier conditions, and equipment. Instead, below are both a big picture and a detailed picture of more or less how we expect the season to go. We talk about the schedule in two ways: weekly and daily. On a weekly scale (“The Big Picture”), you see the shape of the summer a bit more. On a daily scale (“The Plan of the Day”), you get a better feel for how each day looks. Both “The Big Picture” and “The Plan of the Day” are always posted on whiteboards in a common space in camp. In addition, we go over the Plan of the Day together every morning at breakfast.

Time Management and Mental Health

Students, staff, and faculty sacrifice a great deal to come to JIRP. To make everyone’s summer as productive as possible, we schedule every hour of the day from 7:30 am to 11:00 pm, seven days a week, for eight weeks straight. In addition, we schedule multiple activities for most of those times. It is physically impossible to do everything on the schedule, and not good for anyone’s mental health to try go to even one activity during every hour. Your schedule at JIRP is partly what you make it, and learning to manage your own time is part of growing as a student. With a few exceptions, you are allowed to skip any given activity and to take a half day or a full day off when you feel like you need it.

The Big Picture

Here is a rough idea of the expedition goals for each week:

Week 1: "Orientation Week". Orientation in Atlin, introductory lectures, bus/ferry to Juneau, hike up to Camp 17.

Week 2: "Safety Week". Orientation to camp living, learning to ski, learning crevasse rescue systems, learning to live, travel, and work on the Icefield.

Week 3: Field work at Camp 17, transition to Camp 10. Develop student research project proposals.

Week 4: Field work out of Camp 10.

Week 5: Field work out of Camp 10, transition to Camp 18.

Week 6: Field work out of Camp 18. Start preliminary data analysis for student research projects, outline presentations for Atlin and Juneau.

Week 7: Field work out of Camp 18, transition towards Camp 26. Continue work on project presentations for Atlin and Juneau.

Week 8: Limited field work out of Camp 26, transition to Atlin. Student research project presentations.

A group of students takes a few minutes to look over the scheduling whiteboards at Camp 17. The many moving pieces at JIRP require constant attention to communication, organization, and planning. Thankfully our expert staff and faculty pull it off e… — A group of students takes a few minutes to look over the scheduling whiteboards at Camp 17. The many moving pieces at JIRP require constant attention to communication, organization, and planning. Thankfully our expert staff and faculty pull it off every summer. PC: Daniel Otto.

There is tremendous variation for individuals within this schedule. Weather and glacier conditions play a huge part in what we get done, we have not yet finalized specific research goals for the summer, and each student research project group works on a slightly different schedule based on their field work requirements. Additionally, once we move to Camp 10 the entire expedition is rarely all in the same place- small groups are usually camping out on the glacier or working out of small remote camps. This is, however, the "Big Picture". Every week or two in camp the Academic Lead will go over a more specific Big Picture with everyone in the field.

The Plan of the Day

On a daily scale the Plan of the Day governs how everything fits together hour-to-hour. Every morning, while everyone is finishing their breakfast, the Camp Manager will go over the Plan of the Day during Morning Announcements. Here is an example of a Plan of the Day while field work is in full swing.

Note: JIRP works on 24 hr. time to avoid miscommunication - everything is the same from midnight to noon, then the hours are numbered upward from there, so 1:00 pm becomes 1300, 5:30 pm becomes 1730, 11:45 pm becomes 2345, 12:00 am/midnight becomes 0000.

A day in camp:

0730 Wake Up

0800 Breakfast

0845 Morning Announcements

0900 Work Detail: Everyone helps with camp maintenance chores.

1030 Academic Exercises: Work with faculty in camp

1130 Rotating Seminars: Small groups move through faculty seminars

1300 Lunch

1430 Field trip: hike above camp, discuss geomorphologic features.

1730 Return to camp

1800 Dinner

1900 Free time

2000 Lecture

2100 Meet with Project Groups

2200 Free time

2300 Lights Out

A day on the glacier: