Camp Hale

Coordinates: 39°26′38″N 106°19′34″W / 39.444°N 106.326°W / 39.444; -106.326
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Camp Hale Site
Concrete ruins of the field house
LocationEagle County, Colorado, USA
Nearest cityLeadville, Colorado
Coordinates39°26′38″N 106°19′34″W / 39.444°N 106.326°W / 39.444; -106.326
Built1942
ArchitectU.S. Army
NRHP reference No.78003522 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 10, 1992

Camp Hale, between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley in Colorado, was a U.S. Army training facility constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. It was named for General Irving Hale.

Soldiers were trained in mountain climbing, Alpine and Nordic skiing, and cold-weather survival. When it was in full operation, approximately 15,000 soldiers were housed there, including those, such as Pete Seibert, who returned to the area in the early 1960s to build the resort village of Vail, north of the camp.

The creation of an elite ski corps was a national effort with the National Association of Ski Patrol, local ski clubs, and Hollywood helping. Enough men were recruited to create three army regiments, which were deployed after training. Camp Hale was decommissioned in November 1945.

World War II

Main article: 10th Mountain Division (United States)

Construction

The model for an armed ski corps in the US was based, during World War II, on Finnish soldiers who fought on skis. Early in the effort 8000 skiers and outdoorsmen were recruited.[2] The camp built to accommodate the effort, named after Brigader General Irving Hale, was constructed during the summer of 1942 on an Alpine meadow 9250 feet in elevation, surrounded by ridges reaching 13,000 feet in altitude, at a cost of $30 million.[3]

The War Department chose the location because the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad stopped at Pando Rail Station in the area, much of the land was part of the National Forest Service, and snow-fall in the Tennessee Pass area, historically, was plentiful and guaranteed. Construction of the camp began in the spring of 1942 and finished seven months later; during that period Highway 24 was moved, a sewage system installed to prevent pollution in the near-by town of Red Cliff, and the meadow drained. Additionally, the nearby town of Leadville, the only source of recreation for the trainees, was persuaded to change its moral character, perceived "to be on a rather low plane".

The camp included mess halls, infirmaries, a ski shop, administrative offices, a movie theater, and stables for livestock.[4] White painted barracks for 15,000 soldiers were built straight lines on the mountain meadow, but when the first trainees of the 87th Regiment arrived in the winter of 1942 only a small portion of barracks were filled. The War Department wanted to train skiers as an elite fighting ski corps and asked the American Ski Patrol Association to contact ski racing clubs, ski schools, and local patrol units, nationwide—and each applicant had to supply three letters of recommendation.[3]

Recruitment

After 1942 problems in communication caused by the war slowed the recruitment effort. However, that year, Darryl Zanuck released Sun Valley Serenade, starring Sonja Henie, and featuring the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and filmed on location in Sun Valley. The movie was a hit and the Hollywood effort helped to interest trainees in the ski corps. Two more war-time movies were made, each filmed at Camp Hale, featuring the white-clad elite troops—Mountain Fighters in 1943 and I Love a Soldier in 1944.[5] The ski corps, additionally, were featured on national magazine covers and popular radio shows.[2] Although the effort brought in recruits to add the 86th and 85th Regiments for a full division, recruiters realized not enough skiers existed to fill the new regiments and the effort was expanded to bring in rugged outdoors-men with the slogan that the 10th Mountain Division was made up of "college boys to coybows".[6] In addition, 200 women from the Women's Army Corps were brought in for administrative support.[7]

Training

By 1943, Camp Hale had as many as 14,000 men in training.[2] Conditions in the camp were harsh: the altitude required acclimation; the shallow valley created polluted inversion layers; recreation was non-existent because of the camp's high mountain isolation, which prevented even the USO from visiting; and many of the non-skiing trainees hated skiing.[6] Trainees were taught to ski at Cooper Hill by ski-instructors, brought from the ski-areas such as Sun Valley and Waterville Valley, some of whom were Austrian.[2] Located three miles from the camp, Cooper Hill had on-site barracks for the instructors and a newly built T-bar ski-lift for the trainees.[8]

Camp Hale was active for three years; in 1945 the camp was deactivated and the 10th Mountain Division moved to Texas. During the period of activation the trainees were taught skiing, mountain climbing, snow survival skills (such as building snow caves), and winter combat.[9]

1960s

From 1959 to 1964, Tibetan guerrillas were secretly trained at Camp Hale by the CIA. The site was chosen because of the similarities of the terrain with the Himalayan Plateau. The Tibetans nicknamed the camp "Dhumra", meaning "The Garden". The CIA circulated a story in the local press that Camp Hale was to be the site of atomic tests and would be a high security zone. Until the camp was closed in 1964, the entire area was cordoned off and its perimeter patrolled by military police. In all, around 259 Tibetans were trained at Camp Hale. After Camp Hale was dismantled in 1964, no Tibetans remained in Colorado. From 1958 to 1960, Anthony Poshepny trained various special missions teams, including Tibetan Khambas and Hui Muslims, for operations in China against the Communist government.[citation needed]

In 1964, Camp Hale was dismantled and the land was deeded to the U.S. Forest Service. Since 1974, the area has become a youth development training center. An Eagle County non-profit organization, SOS Outreach, has used the site to expose disadvantaged youth to many of the same outdoor challenges experienced by the 10th Mountain Division.[10]

In 2003, there was a cleanup effort to remove some of the unexploded ordnance at the site.

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2006-03-15.
  2. ^ a b c d Pennington, Bill. "The Legacy of Soldiers on Skis". The New York Times, March 10, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Shelton, 45-46
  4. ^ "Camp Hale History". Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2004. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  5. ^ Shelton, 48-49
  6. ^ a b Shelton, 54-55
  7. ^ "The Women's Army Corps Detachment"Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2004. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  8. ^ Shelton, 67
  9. ^ 10th Mountain Division History Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2004. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  10. ^ "Other Programs". Meet the Wilderness. Retrieved 2008-05-04. [dead link]


Sources

Further reading

  • Vietnam Magazine, August 2006

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camp Hale.
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