How a search for the roots of Teton mountaineering led to a podcast (and book) about the US Army's 10th Mountain Division

How the 1939 Russian invasion of Finland catalyzed the creation of the 10th Mountain Division—with a little help from the National Ski Patrol System, the US Army, and a couple of twenty-something climbers from The American Alpine Club.

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.

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.  The […]

From the unprecedented recruitment process to the training at Paradise and Tatoosh Lodges to obstructionism from within the military, this episode recounts the highs and lows of the halcyon days of America's first mountain troops.

Episode 4 of Ninety-Pound Rucksack examines 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.

Episode 5, Paradise, follows the 87th Infantry Mountain Regiment as it prepares to train in Paradise Valley on the flanks of Mount Rainier

Episode 6 follows the mountain troops to Mount Rainier National Park where they began their ski training at Paradise in February 1942

The untold story of H. Adams Carter, the Harvard Five, and their groundbreaking efforts to make the 10th Mountain Division the best-trained, best-fed, best-equipped mountain unit in the world

10th Mountain Division Major General Greg Anderson and Command Sergeant Major Nema Mobar identify some of the lessons learned from the original World War II unit

The first segment of our two-part mini-series that examines the equipment, clothing and food developed, at great expense, for the 10th Mountain Division

The second part of our examination of the materiel developed for the mountain troops, and its impact on outdoor recreation in America after the war

How John McCown and his fellow citizen-soldiers overcame traditional military doctrine to prepare for mountain warfare—and in the process, reshaped the Old Army into one of the mightiest forces the world had ever known.

In Episode 11 of Ninety-Pound Rucksack, Christian Beckwith takes listeners back to 1941 to explore the origins of Camp Hale, the high-altitude training ground where the mountain troops were transformed into the elite mountain warfare unit of the U.S. Army.

This episode looks at one of the most painful chapters of the mountain troops’ history: the 87th Mountain Infantry’s deployment to Kiska Island in the Aleutians to take it from Japanese occupation.

In the summer of 1943, 32 army officers and enlisted men from Camp Hale arrived in Elkins, West Virginia, to set up and run the Army’s only low-altitude assault climbing school. This episode looks at the little-known history of Seneca Rocks, where a few trained many in the dark art of alpine warfare.

Blizzards, -30° temps, 90-pound packs, 14,000-foot peaks, and hazing from the brass: never in the history of the U. S. Army had a division undergone a training maneuver as rigorous as the March 1944 Divisional Series. “It’s not as bad as the ‘D’ Series,” became the Division’s rallying cry in Italy—and they meant it. 

On June 22, 1944, the mountain troops were shipped from Camp Hale to Camp Swift, Texas. The 10th was too small, too specialized, too elite; they were to be converted to a flatland operation just like all the rest of the Army’s divisions. The entire exercise of developing a division of mountain troops had failed. The nay-sayers in the Army Ground Forces had won.

The Gothic Line was a series of fortified ridges and summits in Italy’s Apennines that was key to the Nazi occupation of the country. By October 1944, more than 1,200,000 soldiers had battled to take it—and now winter was on the way. And who could possibly breach such a line in winter? The mountain troops had found their calling.

When the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division arrived in Italy, they were mountain hardened, but not battle-tested. This episode looks at the first few weeks in the Italian theater, when their encounters with the enemy took the green off the mountain troops.

Key to breaking the Gothic Line was Riva Ridge—the icy eastern flanks of which were so steep the Germans hardly defended them. Welcome to the most famous chapter in the history of the 10th Mountain Division, when more than 700 mountain troops climbed the precipitous ridge under cover of darkness to take it without a casualty.

"Four times Belvedere had been taken,” wrote Lieutenant David Brower, Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 86th Mountain Infantry, “and four times strong German counterattacks had forced the Allies back.” This episode looks at the battle that broke through, from Monte Belvedere to Monte della Torraccia.

In taking Riva Ridge and the Belvedere massif, the mountain troops broke the German will to fight. This episode examines the opening salvos of the Spring Offensive, when the 10th fought out of the mountains and across the Po River in an advance so furious they outpaced their own supply lines. 

Across the Po Valley and into the tunnels of Lake Garda, the 10th rolled to victory, ending Germany’s occupation of Italy and hastening the conclusion of the war in the process. This episode looks at the final, bitter fights of the Spring Offensive, as well as the cost of success.

For most American soldiers after V-E Day, R&R meant carousing and drink. For the soldiers of the 10th, it meant mountaineering. This episode looks at the Division’s final European chapter, when they returned to what they loved best, this time in the spectacular peaks of the Julian Alps. 

Post-war, veterans founded companies like NOLS and Nike, launched the field of avalanche science, shaped the American conservation movement and developed more than 60 ski areas across the country. This final episode examines the Division’s lasting legacy as they sparked America’s ongoing love affair with outdoor recreation.