DP Juza built and installed new fixtures for the Birch Hill Ski and Snowboarding Lodge including custom lockers. This lodge is in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, which is home to seven units of the United States Army Alaska.
Birch Hill Ski and Snowboarding Lodge is where military members, their families and civilians enjoy Alaska’s winter playground.
The fixtures DP Juza built, finished and installed for the ski lodge include:
- 84 custom lockers
- Nine benches
- Information console
- Retail station
- Technician equipment repair bench
DP Juza also installed an OmniWall System for tool storage in the lodge’s equipment technician shop.
Construction Details
The shop crew worked hard together to build the fixtures. Their teamwork helped them finish on time for the lodge’s grand opening.
The three bays of lockers contained 84 individual lockers. Once the DPJ woodworkers prepared all the parts for the lockers, it took them three hours in assembly line fashion.
Our team cut the doors for the lockers using a CNC router.
The doors and visible surfaces of the custom lockers feature a laminate with a Stickley Oak design in a deep coffee color. Their interiors are a grey plastic laminate interior. We finished all the red oak laminate and lumber for the lockers to match the Stickley Oak laminate.
Dustin F. works on finishing a fixture that really shows of the rich color and wood grain achieved with the Stickley Oak finish.
The benches took many hours to construct out of solid White Oak.
Two of our craftsmen, Dustin D. and Jamie, run parts for the benches through the planer.
The builders constructed the benches from solid White Oak, to support the unique taper on the bench backs, while maintaining their strength. Our crew cut all the components of the benches with a CNC router. We hid all fasteners to assemble the benches with custom wood plugs. This provides the benches with a seamless, solid wood look.
Once installed, the benches look beautiful and solidly built for visitors to use.
Finishing the benches also took time, about an hour per bench just to stain them with two of our craftsmen working together. A completed a single bench weighed 100 lbs. According to client specifications, we bolted six of the benches together, doubling the weight for transport.
Installing fixtures during an Alaskan winter
In November 2021, a DP Juza crew made the trek to Alaska to install the fixtures. A semi that transported the fixtures arrived late because of poor road conditions. But the fixtures and install crew arrived on time to complete the install.
The custom lockers were the most time consuming and tricky fixture to complete on the install. It took two days for one of our craftsmen, John, to install the bases for the lockers. John had to ensure the bases were level and square before the lockers could go in.
John stands in one of the three locker bays where he is building the bases. He installed the lockers on those bases.
Getting the lockers setup was fairly straightforward, but John had to work on the lids for two days. Every locker needed power outlets for charging devices, so installing the lockers also involved running power to each locker. Installing the lockers took four days to complete.
This is a completed view of the three bays of lockers after we installed all 84 locker units.
During the installation of the ski lodge equipment, our VP, Ben Juza, set up the OmniWall for organizing tools.
Watch a time lapse of the install of the technician repair bench and OmniWall
Overcoming Install Location Challenges
The install location in Fort Wainwright, Alaska was unique. This was our first time DP Juza installing in Alaska. We were installing in winter and had to contend with limited daylight hours and freezing temperatures. There were only four to five hours of daylight, and temperatures never rose above 0°F.
These cold temperatures created challenges for our equipment. Our extension cords froze due to the arctic cold Fort Wainwright experiences. At least Ben got a good picture from the experience.
A common sight while driving around is seeing a string of electrical cords connecting several cars to an outlet. This is because it is so cold, people need to plug their vehicles’ block heaters in to ensure their vehicles start again.
Crew members also observed that coffee is readily available from a variety of vendors in themed food trucks, the most ironic being an Island/Hawaii themed coffee vendor.
During the install, our install crew went to Chena Hot Springs; which was a relaxing experience. They also made time to visit North Pole, Alaska, where they saw Santa’s reindeer and went to Santa’s Workshop.
But for our next install project in Alaska, we’ll plan it for the summer!