'Biling Through History

A sign as we start snowmobiling through the old Camp Hale grounds. I was told there is still a company that is hired every summer that comes in and sweeps the area with metal detectors to find ordinance.

Some of you might remember me mentioning Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division last year on Facebook when I had the good fortune of interviewing a 92 year old veteran/skier as part of my market research job. This area is steeped in the 10th Mountain Division history as 14,000 men were trained here in the early '40s to become elite mountain fighters on skis during WWII. It was a high harsh camp at 9,200 ft in the middle of the Rockies about 20 miles south of Vail.  Those men of the "greatest generation"  then came back and were very instrumental in Colorado ski industry. Pete Seibert was one of the soldiers who became familiar with this terrain during training and returned to this uninhabited valley to found Vail in 1962 with many of is comrades as original investors. Our longest ski run at Vail, over 4 miles in length is named Riva Ridge after at 1500 ft vertical climb that 10th Mtn. troopers made in Italy to surprise Germans that thought it impossible to scale. Other runs at Vail are also named for some of the 10th Mountain men and history as well. Since WWII, Camp Hale has held  400 of the most incorrigible POW's from Field Marshall Erik Rommel's Afrika Corps to being a secret CIA training base for Tibetan Guerillas before being dismantled in 1965. Here's an interesting Wiki Entry: Camp Hale.  For Vail's 50th Anniversary in 2012, ski film maker, Warren Miller made a special movie called "Climb to Glory" about the 10th Mountain division and the connection with the founding of Vail.

I was thrilled last week when my boss at the Christie Lodge announced the timeshare sales staff would have a chance to snowmobile with Nova Guides out of the Camp Hale terrain and through the White River National Forrest area for our "Christmas Party." (Yea, I haven't mentioned that new job yet.) We woke up Monday morning to some incredible fresh powder and it was hard thinking I wouldn't be skiing it that day but it did make the snowmobiling great too. Beautiful day high in the Rockies surrounded by both WWII and ski history and up to a 12,500 ft  ridge for a 360 view of the area.

Historical photo of 10th Mtn. Division troopers training in Camp Hale.

This is about the only "structure" left at Camp Hale. It is a bunker that protected men who held targets up that extended above the roof provided firing practice for men practicing from behind berms in the field in back.

My friend Ann looks at one of the berms where soldiers were positioned with their weapons to fire at the targets held up by the guys in the concrete bunkers.

I hadn't been on a snowmobile since the late 70's. They now have heated hand grips!

A pair of 10th Mtn Division "boots" hanging in Snowmobile headquarters. Can't imagine how they could've kept warm in these. Wonder how many of these men lost fingers and toes to cold?

High country snowmobile trail.

There are always great views and it was a clear cold Colorado bluebird day.

Vail Val reporting from Camp Hale and the White River National Forest. :-)