Resources for Friends & Family
JIRP is a family affair
First, let us say a heartfelt thank you for sending your kids, siblings, friends, roommates, girlfriends, boyfriends, partners, spouses, and parents off to the Juneau Icefield! We who have been at JIRP before know that a field season as long as ours involves significant sacrifice by not only the participants but also by their loved ones. This page is your personal portal to the world of the Icefield and how to get in contact with your JIRPer for both urgent and non-urgent communication.
Emergency Communication
In an emergency, please call 907-500-8913 to speak with a JIRP staffer.
We have staff in phone contact all summer. Our staff can get messages up to the Icefield several times a day and will help you figure out the best way to contact a loved one in an emergency. Depending on the circumstance we can provide participants with satellite texting capabilities (text messages that go straight to your cell phone), a satellite phone conversation (voice calls that go straight to your phone), or an evacuation. We cover the charges associated with texting and voice calls. We will discuss with you the costs associated with an evacuation.
In the event of an emergency at home, we do everything in our power to provide participants with the emotional support they need in the field.
Non-emergency Communication to the Icefield
There are helicopters going back and forth to the Icefield once or twice a week. Some carry personnel, some carry groceries or research equipment or barrels of gasoline, but every single helicopter brings mail back and forth. Space is limited so we will only send up flat envelopes. To send mail to the Icefield, please address it to our Juneau P.O. Box.
JIRP P.O. Box Address
Name of Participant
c/o JIRP
P.O. Box 35054
Juneau, AK 99803
The ‘flat envelope’ restriction means we prefer letters, but some other items also work well: Tea, chocolate bars, fruit leather, newspaper clippings, printed out photos of what’s happening at home, etc. Think outside the box! If it’s basically flat, it will work. JIRPers genuinely appreciate news and small tokens from home.
Please do not send anything perishable. Mail may sit in Juneau for up to two weeks before going into the field.
Please do not send boxes. Anything larger than a flat envelope will not be sent to the Icefield due to space restrictions on the helicopters.
Once the students cross into Canada, our staff in Juneau will move to Atlin, British Columbia. As a result, mail received after August 1 will not be delivered. Please plan mail accordingly.
Communication from the Icefield
JIRPers are encouraged to write letters home as often as they like, and there is a great deal of significance attached to the responsibility of handing the mailbag to the helicopter pilot (who gives it to the dispatcher in town, who gives it to our Juneau staff, who take it to the post office). Mail leaving Alaska can get delayed in the postal system, so please be patient with letters that can mysteriously disappear for a week or more before appearing at their destination.
Satellite Texting
Students will have access to a shared Garmin InReach in the field. The InReach is a satellite texting device, it allows the user to send a text message directly to a regular cell phone number. Once the InReach has initiated a conversation, the other party can respond in short texts. The InReach will be shared among the 32 students, and there is only one “inbox” so both inbound and undeleted outbound messages will be visible to all. In general, no one should plan on using the InReach for more than occasional “all is well” messages. Faculty and staff have an additional shared inReach that they may use for check-ins.
Some participants come to JIRP with their own satellite texting devices (inReaches or phones with satellite texting capability). We have a strict Community Technology Policy that all participants must sign before they go to the Icefield. We ask all participants to avoid using personal devices in common spaces (outside their bunk or the immediate vicinity of their bunkhouse) and to turn off all notification sounds. Part of the magic of JIRP is limiting phone time, so we support participants who opt to turn their phones off for the summer, or only use it for pictures and music.
