Think it has been cold for the holidays where you live? Don’t try and tell that to longtime Great Race staff member (and former competitor) Liz Sutter. When she is not volunteering on the Great Race, Liz spends her winters in Antarctica. That’s right, Antarctica. Granted, it’s summertime at the bottom of the world at this time of year, but you wouldn’t know it from the photos she sent a few weeks ago with a holiday note. Liz, who does research five months a year in Antarctica, will again be back as a checkpoint worker at the 2016 Great Race when it kicks off in San Rafael, California in June.  Here’s a few lines from her note:

“We fly 12 flags of the original signatory countries for the Antarctic Treaty from flagpoles on the deck of my office. We will have taken down the flags and just flown the USA flag at half-staff twice recently. First for the horrific disaster in Paris then for the next horrific event in California continuing through 07 DEC in honor of the Pearl Harbor victims. If this policy continues and massive world tragedies continue to happen, I will wonder if the flags will all fly proudly or remain folded up in my office the majority of the time. I attach two photos from the spectacular ice caves from this season. The first gives you a small glimpse of what they look like. The second photo is the entrance to said caves and portrays the reason that I will NOT visit them this year!”

Enjoy the photos.