The US ski resorts built by WW2 soldiers

By Caroline EubanksFeatures correspondent

After fighting Hitler's men in Europe, an elite division of mountain fighters returned to the US to popularise skiing across the country.

Located 100 miles west of Denver, the Colorado ski town of Vail is set in a bowl-like valley beneath the surrounding mountains, with cobblestone streets and overflowing flower boxes that wouldn't look out of place in an Alpine village. Today, the town's slopes attract hundreds of thousands of skiers every year to what many consider to be the US' quintessential ski resort. But few know that were it not for veterans of a World War Two mountain warfare division, this town – and many others like it across the country – may never have existed. 

It all started with a meeting in a Vermont ski lodge. In 1938, Charles Minot "Minnie" Dole founded the National Ski Patrol (NSP) to provide emergency rescue and medical care on remote slopes. The following year, Dole watched as outnumbered Finnish troops on skis humiliated the Soviet army in eastern Finland during the so-called Winter War at the onset of WW2. Fearing that the Nazis (who already had three mountain combat units) may invade the snowy Northeastern US through Canada, Dole lobbied the US War Department to create a unit equipped to fight in harsh, wintery terrain. In 1943, the US Army established the 10th Mountain Division: the US' only combat unit dedicated to alpine warfare. 

The War Department recruited the NSP to help train the new unit. In addition to recruiting professional mountaineers and skiers from the NSP's ranks, the division attracted non-traditional soldiers, including champion skiers from New England colleges and ex-athletes with no ski experience who took up the fight against the Nazis.

The division soon moved to a new training facility called Camp Hale, located 40 miles south of what is now Vail. The camp was perched close to 9,000ft above sea level on rocky terrain that would prepare the nearly 19,000 soldiers for any potential battles ahead. According to McKay Jenkins, author of The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America's First Mountain Soldiers and the Assault on Hitler's Europe, soldiers practiced downhill ski runs, spent hours cross-country skiing and embarked on multi-day hikes through the high-altitude setting as part of their training.

The Nazi invasion on US soil never came, but as the war continued, the 10th Division travelled to Italy's steep Apennine Mountains in 1945, where soldiers used their training to combat Germans stationed atop the jagged peaks. Each soldier wore a white camouflage suit and carried a 45- to 55-pound pack filled with provisions, attaching their skis to their packs when not in use. The Germans' mountaintop, sniper-armed fortifications gave them a clear advantage, but the 10th Division scouted five routes up the mountain, with each company taking a different trail. 

While the 10th Division expected to see 90% losses, not a single man died during the nearly vertical climb up Riva Ridge, a steep incline overlooking Mount Belvedere. Thanks to their training, the troops were able to glide up the snow and ice on skis in the middle of the night, taking the Germans by surprise and pushing them back with support from riflemen who accompanied them up the ridge, following their unofficial motto of "sempre avanti" (always forward).

The Battle of Riva Ridge helped take the US take the important Axis encampment near Mount Belvedere. But as the Germans carried out a counterattack after US soldiers skied and climbed up the mountain, 213 American soldiers were killed and another 782 wounded from the 10th Division and the supporting infantry divisions. By the end of the war, the 10th Mountain Division suffered one of the worst losses of any group, losing nearly 1,000 of its nearly 19,000 soldiers. Yet, their overall impact in WW2 was significant.

"It actually opened up the Italian Campaign [the Allied plan to break up the Axis troops in the Apennine Mountains] to push through and end the war that much quicker," said Jeff Wiles, the guest services manager at Vail Resort. 

Following the end of the war a few months after the battle, many of the division's veterans settled back in the US' few ski towns. Among them was Pete Seibert, who joined the unit in 1943 as an 18-year-old. He was wounded in the war and was told he wouldn't walk again, but went on to place third in a national slalom competition. 

In 1957, while Seibert was working at Loveland Ski Resort, located between Vail and Denver, a friend took him on a hike along what seemed like the perfect ski slope. Seibert's visit sparked an idea, and he soon met with people to buy up land and turn it into a resort in 1960. They called it Vail.

"[The few] other ski towns [had an existing infrastructure], like Aspen, Crested Butte, Telluride. They were mining towns that then became ski mountains," said Mason. "[In Vail], there was not even a single road, not a single street. There was nothing. So, it's pretty incredible what he built." 

Seibert was in good company in the newly formed resort town. After earning a Purple Heart (one of the US' highest military honours) in Italy, fellow 10th Division soldier William R "Sarge" Brown joined the burgeoning team, installing Vail's first snowmaking equipment in 1970. 

"Every other person that you met, some guy that owned a ski shop, the bar, everybody. Everybody was a 10th Mountain guy back in the day, especially in Vail, because there they could get in on the ground because [the resort] was so new," said Jennifer Mason, executive director of the Colorado Snowsports Museum, which has exhibits on the 10th Mountain Division and Vail's history.

In fact, one of the most enduring legacies of the division's veterans is how they helped popularise skiing in the US. In addition to Vail, former members of the 10th Division founded or were affiliated with some 60-odd ski resorts across the US, including Stratton, Whiteface and Aspen. This helped create a post-war ski boom that opened the previously elite sport to a broader demographic, as the division's alumni created ski schools and educational programming throughout the country. Clif Taylor, another 10th Division veteran wounded at Riva Ridge, designed shorter skis that made it easier for beginners to learn the sport, and soon Army surplus stores were selling thousands of pairs of skis at lower prices than their competitors.

The division's other alumni also founded outdoor gear brands like Gore-Tex, Vibram and Outdoor Research, creating backpacks, tents and other gear based on their cold-weather experiences in Italy. Another, Bill Bowerman, co-founded Nike. These men also summited K2; gave other brands feedback to develop more lightweight skis; and founded the National Outdoor Leadership School, a global wilderness organisation. In 1985, the division was reinstated at Fort Drum in New York, and served in Afghanistan, but its "home" is still in the hills surrounding Vail. 

Today, Vail is now arguably the US' most famous ski resort, and Seibert remained at the helm of it until 1977. But the connection with the 10th Mountain Division continues to this day, with the resort celebrating its 60th anniversary in December 2022. A statue of a soldier in the division's trademark white camouflage was dedicated in Vail Village in 1997, and a whiskey distillery in the town was named in honour of the division in 2016. 

On the slopes, runs like Riva Ridge and Minnie's Mile are nods to the unit. The 10th restaurant, located halfway up the mountain, honours the soldiers via a series of informational panels with QR codes that educate skiers on Vail's WW2 connections. The resort also has a Legacy Weekend every February, which is centred around the anniversary of the Battle of Riva Ridge, with the landing of a Black Hawk helicopter and a torch-lit ski parade. The parades continue seasonally through the Friday Legacy Days, when skiers don white jumpsuits like the men of the 10th Mountain Division wore in Italy, as well as World War Two-era skis, replica rifles and helmets. 

Division veteran Fritz Benedict also created the 10th Mountain Hut Association, a series of backcountry huts for hikers, skiers and snowshoers to stay in, built with funds donated by veterans and in memorial of those killed in action, inspired by the ones found in the Alps. 

"Those huts are very much emulated from the huts that are all over Europe. There's about 13 of them and you could essentially ski from Vail to Aspen, and stay in a hut every night," said Mason.

Five of the huts are within the recently formed Camp Hale National Monument, where the soldiers trained. The site is made up of 53,804 acres, including what remains of the bunkers where soldiers slept during training. Visitors can explore more than 80 miles of hiking trails and take part in backcountry skiing and camping; and a granite monolith at Tennessee Pass above the camp bears the names of the division's fallen soldiers.

Today, skiers of all experience levels soar to the top of Vail Mountain in gondolas and shoot down slopes named for the people and places that birthed this resort. But were it not for the skills learned in a nearby camp and a dangerous, dark climb up a distant peak into Nazi territory, skiing may never have become as popular in the US as it is today. 

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