Happy New Year from WAIS! All of camp (except the chef, Anna) had both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off. We rang in the new year in style out here. Anna prepared a big feast for us, so we set up the galley for a family-style meal.

The long table!

Ham and crab legs!

The assorted side dishes, including potatoes, roasted veggies, salmon, cheese, and crackers.

The bread and dessert table! So many good desserts, including babka on the near end of the table. Babka is a super tasty Russian dessert (the chef has Russian heritage). I think the dark swirls in the bread are composed of cinnamon and chocolate.

After the feast, we all had time in the evening to relax and watch a movie or just hang around. We of course had a solid party we dubbed WAIS-stock (in response to McMurdo’s New Year’s concert/party Icestock) with music brought to you by one of the Otter pilots Jordan, also known as DJ Pedro. Needless to say, it was a blast.

New Year’s Day was easy-going, and I spent a portion of it biking on a fat-tire bike that was brought to camp.

The fat-tire bike.

One can bike pretty much anywhere around camp on this, though the heavy equipment (bulldozers, etc) make the snow in camp pretty bumpy. It’s nice to bike on the skiway, though, as that is a nicely groomed area.

Speaking of recreational activities, there are also skis available, so on a nice day when people don’t have much work to do, it’s often that someone will go skiing around camp or on the skiway. It’s nice to be able to get out of the tent(s) every once and a while!

Me on skis on the skiway (Elina took the picture).

Happy New Year! -Dave