Tenth Mountain Musing

One winter in the 1990s I had the privilege of witnessing a reunion of WWII era Tenth Mountain Division soldiers when the New England Chapter of the National Association of the Tenth held its annual winter gathering at Mt. Cranmore in New Hampshire. Active duty mountain soldiers from Fort Drum, New York, joined the older men in an on-skis parade down the mountain before they mingled with other skiers and took part in the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race, a benefit event for the New England Ski Museum. Part of the museum’s mission is to remember the 10th Mountain Division whose members were heroes in the European war theater and ski industry pioneers when they returned home.

While American skiing took off in earnest after the 1936 Winter Olympics, where Hitler showcased his country’s athletes and facilities, the sport had been attracting enthusiastic thrill seekers for years before that event. At least one group of Massachusetts farm boys benefited from Roosevelt’s depression era Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) when the Corp cleared a ski trail on Mt Greylock, outside Adams, MA. Rudy Konieczny and his brother were known to engage in moonlit hikes to the top of the hill and daring night time races back down. The lives of Rudy and two of his friends form the basis of the book The Boys of Winter Life and Death of the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War by Charles Sanders.

The first official trail, and the first American rope tow In Woodstock VT, put the eastern U.S. mountains in the spotlight, but even more historic was the meeting that was held at Bromley Mountain lodge in 1940. Four original “rock stars” of skiing, Minnie Dole, founder of the National Ski Patrol, Rodger Langley, first president of the National Ski Association, Robert Livermore, 1936 Olympic ski racer and Harvard grad, and Alex Bright, a Boston ski club member, together decided to lobby Washington to create a mountain division like the one that helped the tiny Finnish army hold their own against the great Russian machine in the rugged European mountains. Though never truly convinced of their need, George C. Marshall, Roosevelt’s Army Chief of Staff finally agreed to create a mountain division that would be recruited by the National Ski Patrol and include outdoor guides, mountain climbers, skiers, and other men who could live in the wilderness under extreme winter conditions.

Recruits included college and Olympic ski team members and coaches, mountain climbers and a few gifted athletes who were not skiers when they joined up. Some Europeans who were in the States to coach or teach established their citizenship in America just to join the Tenth. Though they developed techniques and gear that revolutionized the mountain experience (and later spurred commercial skiing in America) initially their potential role was not evident to the generals planning combat strategies. But late in the war, as American troops faced a stalemate in the battle with Italy, the Tenth Mountain Division did the impossible and climbed the Ria Ridge, in the cold dark cover of night. With no artillery support they fought and beat the elite German mountain soldiers holding Mt. Belvedere. Their surprise tactic and spirited audacity opened passage to the Po Valley.

During the winter and spring of 1945 the Tenth continued to push through the mountains with “stealth and verve and daring” as recorded in the diary of soldier Harris Dusenbury. They suffered heavy losses, 25 percent becoming casualties—the highest average casualty rate suffered in the Italian campaign. And yet, when Germany surrendered in May of 1945, these troops celebrated with at least as much enthusiasm as any other division---with a spring ski race on the mountainous border of Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia.

A love of the outdoors was instilled in the men of the Tenth as a result of both their training and their action. They brought that love home with them and taught a nation how to have fun, outdoors in extreme conditions. Their legacy was so much more than battles won. They brought a kind of fun to America’s hills and mountains that creates unique cross generational bonds among families and friends--relationships forged in the lodge by the fireplace and strengthened on the mountain in the elements.