Week 51 at the Pole

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Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF

The last full week of 2019 was a busy one at the South Pole. Yes, there were the holiday festivities (and a group photo!), but plenty of work was going on as well. Staff were at the IceCube Lab steadily working on computer system upgrades and reorganization. A group of them is shown below inspecting the ICL cable tower in preparation for the IceCube Upgrade project. IceCube winterover Yuya joined another IceCube member on a trip out to ARA 5, the most distant work site from the station, to check on some electronics. On the fun side, there was a nice Christmas dinner and the annual Race Around the World, which winterover John participated in. Finally, as we know that winterovers fulfill many different roles during their time at the Pole, we see in the final image one of the more unusual roles—that of human cargo strap. Looks like fun!

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Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF
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Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF
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Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF
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Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF
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John Hardin, IceCube/NSF