Rugged terrain, storied history
Camp Hale plan celebrates legacy of 10th Mountain Division
Dick Over was in his early 20s when the Army shipped him to a cold alpine meadow along the headwaters of the Eagle River near Leadville in 1943. ¶ It’s the “D Series” maneuvers he remembers best from his years at Camp Hale, where he trained as one of the first soldiers in the Army’s then-experimental 10th Mountain Division.
“They took all the members of the camp and divided us into two military forces opposing each other, and we lived six weeks in sub-zero temperatures,” said the 93-year-old veteran who lives in Golden. “Oh, my, yes, a lot of fond memories. And a lot of difficult times going through those maneuvers in the middle of winter.”
Over, and some of the dwindling number of 10th Mountain Division’s World War II veterans, will gather on Memorial Day at Camp Hale, where U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet will announce plans to provide additional layers of protection for the storied mountain training center where more than 14,000 soldiers and support personnel prepared for war.
Bennet wants Camp Hale, already on the National Register of Historic Places, to be the nation’s first National Historic Landscape, honoring its legacy with interpretive and educational elements, while maintaining the area’s diverse recreational amenities and uses and protecting it from future development.
The harsh winters and rugged terrain at Camp Hale helped ready the 10th Mountain Division’s skiing soldiers for their gallant battles in the northern Italian Alps. Thousands of 10th Mountain
troopers silently slipped up the steep Riva Ridge in the dark of a snowy night in February 1945, preventing Germans from using the precipice to survey U.S. forces below. The next day, the division’s three regiments joined a successful assault on Mount Belvedere. Hundreds of 10th Mountain soldiers died in that pivotal battle.
“That’s a legacy we need to honor and a history we cherish in Colorado,” Bennet said. “But the other amazing thing about this is after finishing the service, many of the surviving men of the 10th Mountain Division used their training and experience at Camp Hale to start careers in the outdoor industry, which at the time barely existed.”
Many of those soldiers returned home and built ski areas such as Vail, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Steamboat and Aspen in Colorado, to name a few of the estimated 60 U.S. ski areas founded by 10th Mountain veterans. The Army flooded the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of affordable skis, down sleeping bags, backpacks and outdoor gear after the war, giving rise to an industry that today ranks among the nation’s top economic engines.
“We take pride in the fact that almost all of the ski industry was developed by 10th Mountain members after the war,” said Over, naming lost pals such as Vail founder Pete Seibert, Colorado Ski Hall of Famer Earl Clark, Aspen Ski School co-founders Freidl Pfeifer and John Litchfield, and Colorado Ski Country USA co-founder Bob Parker. “We have a lot of history, and we take great pride in the fact that we played such a big role in what has become a $5 billion business now, with much of that going to the betterment of Colorado.”
Bennet’s not-yet-formalized bill to protect Camp Hale will be part of a larger public lands proposal planned as a companion to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis’ Continental Divide Wilderness and Recreation Act. Polis’ act grows Colorado’s wilderness lands in the central Rockies while enhancing recreational opportunities with multiuse Recreation Management Areas. Bennet said his proposal will resemble his bipartisan Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act, which in 2014 protected 100,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest north of Durango. Some of those acres were set aside as wilderness, protected from roads, mineral extraction and mechanized travel, while more than 70,000 acres was drawn into a “special management area” where mountain biking, motorized travel and some timber harvesting are allowed.
Bennet said he is working with different user groups to create a similar consensus that preserves all the existing recreational opportunities at Camp Hale. The camp is a popular alpine playground, with climbing crags, snowmobiling, ATV riding, hunting, fishing, cross country skiing, biking and hiking along the Continental Divide Trail.
Leadville is ready to claim Camp Hale as yet another jewel among the historyrich tourist draws that are helping the country’s highest-altitude city bolster an economy struggling with the decline in mining. There’s always been a bit of contention in Leadville about the growth of recreational tourism. Some residents think the town’s growing outdoor draws — amplified by the famous Leadville 100 bike and running races — threatens the area’s historical appeal.
“This is a good combination of both, and that’s something we need,” said Leadville Chamber of Commerce director Michael Ward, who a month ago bought a 10th Mountain soldier peacoat on eBay that he plans to display in the town’s new visitor center. “A lot of people come into Leadville looking for tangible things they can see and experience about Camp Hale. This is a big deal for us.”
Camp Hale, which was returned to the White River National Forest when it was decommissioned in 1966, is undergoing an intense restoration of the headwaters of the Eagle River, returning it to its original meandering flow. That plan includes developing more interpretative resources, similar to the popular memorial near the entrance to Ski Cooper, which bears the names of 10th Mountain soldiers who did not return from Italy.
Bennet plans to meet with 10th Mountain veterans and their families Monday to “make sure what we write matches their expectations.” He said the protection plan is not a response to any immediate threat to Camp Hale.
“But if something isn’t done, we might have to fight that battle soon,” said Garett Reppenhagen, the Rocky Mountain director of Vet Voice Foundation, which has worked with Bennet on the proposed legislation.
Reppenhagen served as an Army 1st Infantry Division sniper in Kosovo and Iraq.
“Without our public lands, I would not have survived my transition home,” he said. “The increased protection of these landscapes would make sure the area is conserved for future generations to explore and learn from. What made this training ground manifest is the unique climate and topography. We wouldn’t have this incredible piece of history in Colorado if it wasn’t for the rugged landscape.”