Regina construction team hoists buildings at remote Greenland research station

[00:00:00]You're not allowed outside without sunglasses cuz we have very bright The sun up here will burn your eyes out. Legit.

[00:00:06]>> So, uh Michelle and Monty are putting their sunglasses on here and they're taking us outside and yeah, it's What are we seeing here?

[00:00:14]>> So, that is a structural platform. And that'll get a building on it and that platform elevates up about 24 ft high.

[00:00:22]This is all There's a couple guys waving to you. Those are our Canadian counterparts down there.

[00:00:27]Um all this was manufactured >> in Regina.

[00:00:31]>> A construction team from right here in Regina is getting a [music] once-in-a-lifetime experience. For the past month, seven-person team has been working on a project in a remote camp in Greenland. They're using a special Regina-inspired patented technology [music] to lift buildings at an American science camp dedicated to climate change research. To tell us more about >> [music] >> what they're doing there, I'm joined by Monty Wenzel and Michelle Dueck. Monty is the lead of the crew at A-Field Safe House Lifting. Michelle is his wife whose day job is teaching but's there as a team wellness supervisor. They both join me in now from Greenland and Monty, let's start with you. Can you tell me about what took you to Greenland?

[00:01:17]>> Well, actually what got us started is back in Regina way back in the day almost 20 years ago, we started developing systems for lifting houses so we could replace As you all know, Regina has a high high rate of basement failure. So, that's kind of what got us started and over the years we've continued to develop the lifting technologies and about 10 years ago a little greater than 10 years ago the National Science Foundation, an American science government-funded group approached us to assist with the elevating of some buildings at camp called Summit Station at the apex of the Greenland ice sheet.

[00:01:55]So, that's where we are right now.

[00:01:57]>> What's it been like?

[00:02:00]>> Well, it's uh it's always winter up here.

[00:02:04]So, we're up at 10,500 ft. And uh it's uh today what's our weather today? Well, right now it's pretty nice. It's minus 4° C.

[00:02:13]Um so, today is pretty balmy, but there's it's always winter up here, right? So, the the snow never really melts and uh it always continues to accumulate. And that is the main reason for elevating buildings up here. The buildings are built up on stilts, so to speak, so that the snow drifting doesn't make its way over top of the buildings, but uh drifts uh drifts and blows under the buildings.

[00:02:35]>> Michelle, I mentioned your day job's teaching. You're you're doing taking a break from that for this. What uh >> [clears throat] >> what made you want to join the trip and be part of this experience?

[00:02:47]>> Well, Monty's been going to lots of places over the past several years.

[00:02:51]Since 2018, he's been coming here a couple times, well, I guess three, to Greenland.

[00:02:57]And he's wanted to show me this place and tell me a lot about it. And I just thought, you know, it's the chance of a lifetime. I better try to get a leave from my job to do this.

[00:03:07]Um he's also going to be be going to Antarctica this year for a couple months. So, it's also the time away from each other that I thought, okay, well, let's do this. And we carved out a role uh for me as a health and wellness supervisor. It is an isolated place and we do have a pretty young crew and Monty was thinking that maybe this might be a there might be some challenges for them.

[00:03:30]So, we decided to I created like a a daily wellness check-in and I have regular um meet-ups with them to see how are they doing? Are they because we have to also adjust to high altitude here.

[00:03:43]So, there's high altitude physical um things that people might experience as well as mental health as well as hydration and hydration's is a big thing here.

[00:03:54]>> When we speak about the isolation part, I mean, it's pretty extreme. We get up here.

[00:04:00]The only way up here currently is in Hercules aircrafts, and they're equipped with like snow skis. So, like right now, for instance, we were supposed to fly home on Saturday. Our flights are canceled. Those airplanes have to come from the US and come to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, and then from Kangerlussuaq up here to get us. So, there's no getting out of this camp till they get you out of this camp. We're about a thousand about a thousand kilometers up the ice sheet here. So, when we say isolated, I mean, it is. You don't get to go home early. You go home when they get you home.

[00:04:30]>> Uh Monty, how's this experience been different? You may Michelle mentioned you've been doing this for a while now, and you've been a few times. How's this different from the other times you've been there?

[00:04:40]>> Well, I This time the construction project is quite large. And this time I have a crew here with me. In the past, it's been myself on my own, and I work with a group called Polar Field Services that works for a company called Battelle. And Battelle is the prime contractor that works directly for NSF. So, often they would bring me here just in a in a like a consulting role. But this time we actually brought our This is the first time bringing a full team from Saskatchewan. Like our only connection is through satellite satellite, right? So, you're you're speaking to us satellite via Bluetooth.

[00:05:14]Um I was trying to go outside so you can see the system, but the Wi-Fi was I think it the Wi-Fi is stabilized. I wouldn't mind just showing you guys what we're building if you're interested.

[00:05:23]>> Yeah, you have a couple minutes?

[00:05:24]>> Yeah, we do. Show us Take us a Take us for a spin here.

[00:05:28]And I think after we could send you a photograph or two of these what this actually is.

[00:05:33]>> We're going to have to put on our shades.

[00:05:35]>> You guys can describe for our listeners what we're seeing.

[00:05:38]>> That's the last rule here. You're not allowed outside without sunglasses >> It's very bright.

[00:05:42]>> The sun up here will burn your eyes out.

[00:05:44]Legit.

[00:05:45]>> So, uh Michelle and Monty are putting their on here and they're taking us outside and yeah, it's What are we seeing here?

[00:05:54]>> Well, I can't tell if you can actually see I can't see >> I can see a little bit of a setup here, yeah.

[00:06:00]>> So, that is a structural platform and that'll get a building on it and that platform elevates up about 24 ft high. This is all There's a couple guys waving to you. Those are our Canadian counterparts down there.

[00:06:13]Um all this was manufactured in Regina by our team uh from Saskatchewan. We worked with a group called Armor Steel in Regina and a couple different engineering firms uh Driftstone Engineering and we built four of these platforms uh four of these platforms for the National Science Foundation um that will all be built up here at Summit Station.

[00:06:36]>> Amazing.

[00:06:36]>> the field.

[00:06:38]>> So, if you look Yeah, if you look around here, I mean, we're on the apex or the plateau of the Greenland ice sheet.

[00:06:45]>> That looks amazing. Uh we're seeing just a beautiful view there.

[00:06:49]>> it makes a makes a lot of sense you know that here we are from Saskatchewan doing this.

[00:06:55]If you look out, it's uh actually we can stand here.

[00:06:58]If you look out over it, it's kind of like looking out over a field in Saskatchewan except you see nothing.

[00:07:03]Like it is literally Uh by the way, size-wise, we're on a piece of ice that is upwards of 10,500 ft thick and it's like uh What was it? Like 2.

[00:07:16]2.2 size uh like 2.2 Saskatchewans >> Wow.

[00:07:23]>> in size of of of ice of solid ice and we're up at on the top of it and it's 10,500 ft thick.

[00:07:31]>> Incredible.

[00:07:31]>> Some people got over the elevation sickness fairly quickly and then some people it went on for a couple weeks.

[00:07:37]>> Yeah, and so we'll be doing this similar thing but different equipment that was purchased from us for the National Science Foundation but down in Antarctica at Christmas time. So, it's I don't know. I still get fascinated by the fact that this all started from replacing basements in Regina.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah.

[00:07:55]>> Something we should mention before we go is the type of science they're doing here.

[00:07:59]Um is really interesting and they have one of the longest running science experiments for clean air um in the world here. And so, we're not even allowed to really go out to this building. Um it's uh about a kilometer away from the main camp.

[00:08:16]And there's a science tech that manages.

[00:08:18]She collects data and samples of of air as well as carbon and she measures ozone.

[00:08:26]And there's also about 16 more scientists coming up here this summer and they're going to be studying neutrinos in the neutrino observatory as well as like digging a There's also ice boring where they study uh what's happened over time. They've dug down to bedrock and [snorts] then those ice core samples get sent around to universities. Mainly they work with the University of Colorado here.

[00:08:51]>> It's crazy, isn't it? They the communications and just the coordination it takes Like right now there's about 35 people here. They're going to go to maximum camp right away of about 50 people. So, that'll be a new record for how many people have ever been up here.

[00:09:04]>> And I don't know how they're going to fit them all in the ice shacks cuz we we stay in ice shacks.

[00:09:08]>> Literally, we're sleeping in ice fishing shacks and some of them were actually built in Saskatchewan for these guys.

[00:09:14]So, >> Wow.

[00:09:15]>> in Lumsden.

[00:09:16]>> in Lumsden.

[00:09:16]>> Shout [laughter] out Lumsden.