– Researched & written by Mike Hamers
I bet you didn’t know that 10th Mountain Division veterans started at least 62 ski areas in the USA — including Vail & Aspen!
After World War II, ex-soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division fired-up America’s modern ski industry. They created the nation’s post-WWII ski boom. They published ski magazines, created ski schools, and established ski areas including Vail, Aspen, Sugarbush, Whiteface Mountain and others. At least 62 ski resorts (mostly in Colorado & Vermont) have been founded, managed, or employed head ski instructors (estimated at 2,000 full or part-time instructors) that were 10th Mountain Division veterans.
The 10th Mountain Division is legendary in the ski & snowboard industry, but not many know much about these men. Originally created to protect against a possible invasion, the 10th Mountain Division attracted some of the country’s most experienced skiers and outdoorsmen into a specialized group trained to fight in mountain and winter/arctic warfare.
Originally constituted as a unique mountain warfare unit, the division was the only unit of its size in the US Army to specialize in fighting in mountainous and arctic conditions, thus earning the division the “MOUNTAIN” label. Today, the division retains its “mountain” designation for historical purposes and is organized as a light infantry division.
The 10th trained in various places in 1943-44, including their base at Camp Hale (9,200 ft near Leadville) in Colorado, and at Cooper ski area. Mountaineering experts Jim & Lou Whittaker (the first American to summit Mt Everest & founder of Rainier Mountaineering Inc., respectively) were hired to train these men in Camp Hale and on Mount Rainier, WA. They trained hard to live, sleep, climb, ski, and fight on snow in the harshest conditions! During maneuvers, the men of the 10th would lay down their skis on the snow, throw their double sleeping bags on top of the skis, and call it good for the night. This training created some of America’s strongest soldiers, and they were called on to prove it.
In 1944, the 10th Mountain Division fought in Italy’s mountains in some of the roughest terrain in the country. They saw fierce combat in Cutigliano, the Battle of Monte Castello, Monte Della Torraccia-Mount Belvedere, Canolle, Montegiorgio, Torbole, and Nago. Losses: 992 were killed in action and 4,154 were wounded in action.
Following the war, the division was deactivated, reactivated, and redesigned as the 10th Infantry Division in 1948. The division first acted as a training division. And in 1954 was converted to a full-combat division and sent to Germany before being deactivated again in 1958.
Reactivated again in 1985, the 10th Mountain Division still fights on today.
The division has participated in Operation Desert Storm (Saudi Arabia), Hurricane Andrew disaster relief (Homestead, FL), Operation Restore Hope and Operation Continue Hope (Somalia), Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Operation Joint Forge (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Operation Joint Guardian (Kosovo), and several deployments as part of the Multinational Force and Observers (Sinai Peninsula). Since 2001, the division and its four combat brigades have seen over 20 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 1953 Jim Winthers, a veteran of the 10th and ski-school director at the Donner Ski Ranch in California, met with a couple of veterans who had lost their legs during the War. Using techniques he learned in Europe on a ski vacation, Winthers taught his friends how to ski on one leg, and he soon opened up the Donner Ski School to amputees. For almost a decade this was the only place an amputee could learn to ski.
Remember these amazing men and what they did for both our country and for skiing. Thank you to the 10th and all of America’s warriors who served our country.