Some weeks at the Pole are quiet, and some—like last week—are busy. The IceCube detector had a number of hiccups that required the winterovers’ attention. On top of taking care of IceCube, there were plenty of other things to attend to as far as getting the station ready for the summer crews. One was grooming the runway for the planes. They also replaced the flags around the ceremonial pole with new ones. Each year, the elements tend to leave the flags quite tattered over the harsh winter. Some of last week’s business was in celebration—it was the official sunrise, so the station held their traditional sunrise dinner, with an array of “small bites” plates and fancy desserts. After the meal, they raffled off the old ceremonial flags—IceCube winterover Kathrin was lucky and won France in the raffle!
