On this Veteran's Day Remember the Members of the 10th Mountain Division

[thetrailboss]

The special mountain/arctic forces were pretty cool and an important part of WW II and New England Ski History:

Yes, they fought on skis.

An article on a film about them: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22290586/wonderful-film-preserves-voices-10th-mountain-division-ski

The New England Ski Museum has a nice display of their equipment and some other information on their history.

 

[catskillman]

The special mountain/arctic forces were pretty cool and an important part of WW II and New England Ski History:









Yes, they fought on skis.

An article on a film about them: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22290586/wonderful-film-preserves-voices-10th-mountain-division-ski

The New England Ski Museum has a nice display of their equipment and some other information on their history.

Hunter also has a lot about them in their Ski Museum in the Summit Lodge. One of the exhibits is about a man who was in the 10th in Colorado at Camp Hale during the Korean War. They never fought in that war but the story is interesting as hell. Crazy conditions. Just hiked up the mountain and skied down over and over and over. Tough cold life back then.

There is a few books and films about the 10th and their battles at Riva Ridge in Italy. Very interesting and they were effective. Bob Dole was injured during that battle. Not many of them still left on this Veteran's day.

 

[dlague]

When I was in the military over in Europe I participated in the Seventh Corps skiing competitions around Garmisch Partenkirchen and the 10 Mountaineering Division had the best skiers!

 

[Puck it]

Now based out of Ft. Drum, NY.

 

[Edd]

I think Netflix has a documentary on this. Pretty sure that's where I watched it. Amazing story.

 

[thetrailboss]

I think Netflix has a documentary on this. Pretty sure that's where I watched it. Amazing story.

They probably do. I know that NESM has a few DVDs of the 10th.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

A little tribute to the 10th, and a plug for the local mountain so entwined in history:

In 1942, the U.S. Army selected a training site near an isolated railroad stop of Pando, CO. Nearby Camp Hale was built as the training site for the ski troopers of the famed 10th Mountain Division. The Army selected the site because of the availability of rail transportation, its rugged mountainous terrain, and a 250-inch average annual snowfall which assured a six-month-long ski training season at the nearby, 11,700-foot-high Ski Cooper.

Following two years of rigorous training, the 10th Mountain Division was ordered to Italy in 1945 to spearhead the advance of the U.S. Fifth Army. In a series of actions that included Riva Ridge and Mt. Belvedere, the 10th Mountain Division breached the supposedly impregnable Gothic Line in the Appenines and secured the Po River Valley to play a vital role in the liberation of northern Italy. By the time of the German surrender in May, 1945, 992 ski troopers had been killed in action and 4,000 wounded, the highest casualty rate of any U.S. Division in the Mediterranean.
Following the war, Ski Cooper opened to the public as a backyard ski area for the enjoyment of the local area residents. Today, as a seven-day-per-week ski area with modern lifts and full base facilities Ski Cooper has firmly established itself in a well-defined market niche as an affordable alternative in a region famed for world-class skiing. http://skicooper.com

 

[BushMogulMaster]

The memorial is located at the entrance to the Ski Cooper access road:

 

[thetrailboss]

Very nice, BMM. Glad to have you back.