CAST
In Order of appearance
The story of the 10th Mountain Division is a sprawling saga, and there are as many ways to tell it as there are individuals who were instrumental to its development.
Ninety-Pound Rucksack recounts the Division’s tale from the perspective of the climbers, skiers and military leaders who helped shape it. To keep track of who’s who, we update this page with each new episode, providing an overview of the characters introduced.
Episode 1: The Winter War
How the 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland catalyzed the creation of the 10th Mountain Division… with a little help from the National Ski Patrol System, the United States Army, and a couple of twenty-something climbers from The American Alpine Club.
Episode 2, PART 1: The STATE OF THE ART - SKIING
This episode provides a sweeping overview of the history of skiing in America as told through the experiences of one of the 10th Mountain Division’s greatest unsung heroes, John Andrew McCown II.
![](https://christianbeckwith.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Hannes-Schneider.webp "Johann "Hannes" Schneider (24 June 1890 – 26 April 1955). Often referred to as the “Father of Modern Skiing,” Schneider was the inventor of the Arlberg Technique, which helped displace Norway's dominance of the sport in the 1920s in favor of the form of skiing as we know it today. An outspoken critic of the Nazis, Schneider was stripped of his ski school and imprisoned in 1938 following the Anschluss, Germany’s annexation of Austria. A masterclass in international relations brought him to North Conway, New Hampshire, where he reopened his school, teaching Americans to ski the Arlberg way until his death in 1955. During World War II, he helped train the 10th Mountain Division to ski; his son, Herbert, was in the 10th as well.")
Episode 2, PART 2: The STATE OF THE ART - CLIMBING
Episode 2, Part 2 delivers a deep dive into the state of American and European climbing before the war, as well as how the rise of the Third Reich caused some of the best German and Austro-Hungarian mountaineers to emigrate, influencing climbing and skiing in America and contributing to 10th Mountain Division’s fighting skills.
EPISODE 3: THE DRUMBEATS OF WAR
The Drumbeats of War: Episode 3 explores the 10th Mountain Division’s backstory in the lead-up to America’s entry into World War II.
![Lesley James McNair (May 25, 1883 – July 25, 1944) was a senior United States Army officer who in World War II became the commander of Army Ground Forces. The "unsung architect of the U.S. Army,” he played a leading role in organizational design, equipping, and training of Army units. Much of the resistance to a mountain division is attributed to McNair, who had been tasked with growing the Army from some 200,000 soldiers before the war to an eventual force of more than 8 million men.](https://christianbeckwith.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Brigadier_General_Lesley_J._McNair_1919.jpg "Brigadier General Leslie McNair: Lesley James McNair (May 25, 1883 – July 25, 1944) was a senior United States Army officer who in World War II became the commander of Army Ground Forces. The "unsung architect of the U.S. Army,” he played a leading role in organizational design, equipping, and training of Army units. Much of the resistance to a mountain division is attributed to McNair, who had been tasked with growing the Army from some 200,000 soldiers before the war to an eventual force of more than 8 million men.")
Episode 4: The Ski Patrols
A deep dive into the US Army’s experimental ski patrols of 1940-1941, and the world events leading up to the activation of the 1st Battalion (Reinforced), 87th Mountain Infantry at Ft. Lewis, Washington—the unit that would later evolve into the 10th Mountain Division.
