Camp Hale Site | |
 Concrete ruins of the field house | |
| Location | Eagle County, Colorado,U.S. |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Red Cliff, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 39°26′35″N106°19′22″W / 39.4430°N 106.3228°W /39.4430; -106.3228 (Camp Hale) |
| Built | 1942; 83 years ago (1942) |
| Architect | U.S. Army |
| NRHP reference No. | 78003522[1] |
| Added to NRHP | 10 April 1992 |
Camp Hale was aU.S. Army training facility in thewesternUnited States, constructed in 1942 for what became the10th Mountain Division. Located in centralColorado betweenRed Cliff andLeadville in theEagle River Valley at anelevation of 9,238 feet (2,815 m), it was named for GeneralIrving Hale.Onslow S. Rolfe, who had developed mountain warfare techniques as commander of the87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, was selected to command Camp Hale.[2]
Soldiers were trained inmountain climbing,Alpine andNordicskiing, cold-weather survival, and various weapons and ordnance. When it was in full operation, approximately 15,000 soldiers were housed there.
The creation of an elite ski corps was a national effort, with assistance from theNational Association of Ski Patrol, local ski clubs, andHollywood. Enough men were recruited to create three army regiments, which were deployed after training. Camp Hale was decommissioned in November 1945.
On 12 October 2022,PresidentJoe Biden designated Camp Hale and a noncontiguous nearby part of theTenmile Range asCamp Hale—Continental Divide National Monument.[3][4][5] It comprises 53,804 acres (84 sq mi; 218 km2), which will be managed by theWhite River National Forest unit of theU.S. Forest Service. Conversion of the site to a monument will not affect any permits held by the neighboring ski resorts and the monument will continue to support a wide range of motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities.[6][7]
The armed ski corps in the U.S. was based on theski warfare tactics of theFinnish Army during theWinter War (1939–1940). Early in the effort, 8,000 skiers and outdoorsmen were recruited.[8] The camp was built to accommodate the effort at a cost of $30 million.[9]
TheWar Department chose the location at 9,200 feet (2,800 m)[10] because theDenver and Rio Grande Western Railroad stopped atPando rail station and historically the snowfall in theTennessee Pass area was plentiful. Construction of the camp began in the spring of 1942 and finished seven months later; during that periodHighway 24 was moved, a sewage system installed to prevent pollution in the nearby town ofRed Cliff, and the meadow drained. Additionally, the nearby town ofLeadville to the south, 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.[11] White painted barracks for 15,000 soldiers were built straight lines on the mountain meadow, but when the first trainees of the87th Regiment of the 10th Light Division, quickly renamed the10th Mountain Division, arrived in the winter of 1942 only a small portion of barracks were filled. The War Department needed to train more skiers in the elite fighting ski corps and asked theAmerican Ski Patrol Association to contact ski racing clubs, ski schools, and local patrol units, nationwide—each applicant had to supply three letters of recommendation.[9]
After 1942 problems in communication caused by the war slowed the recruitment effort. However, that year,Darryl Zanuck releasedSun Valley Serenade, starringSonja Henie and featuring theGlenn Miller Orchestra, and filmed on location inSun Valley. The movie was a hit and the Hollywood effort helped to interest trainees in the ski corps. Two more wartime movies were made, each filmed at Camp Hale, featuring the white-clad elite troops—Mountain Fighters in 1943 andI Love a Soldier in 1944.[12] The ski corps was featured on national magazine covers and popular radio shows.[8] 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; thereafter, efforts were made to bring in rugged outdoorsmen of all types with the slogan that the 10th Mountain Division was made up of "college boys to cowboys".[13] In addition, 200 women from theWomen's Army Corps were brought in for administrative support.[14]
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By 1943, Camp Hale had as many as 14,000 men in training.[8] Conditions in the camp were harsh: the altitude required acclimation and the shallow valley created pollutedinversion layers, as the primary energy source wascoal. Recreation (outside of skiing) was non-existent because of the camp's high mountain isolation, which prevented even theUSO from visiting, and many of the non-skiing trainees hated skiing.[13] Trainees were taught to ski atCooper Hill by ski instructors, brought from the ski-areas such as Sun Valley andWaterville Valley.[8] Located three miles (5 km) south of the camp, Cooper Hill had on-site barracks for the instructors and a newly builtT-bar lift for the trainees.[15]
Military use of Camp Hale included the 10th Mountain Division, commanded byLloyd E. Jones, the38th Regimental Combat Team, the Norwegian-American99th Infantry Battalion (Separate), and soldiers fromFort Carson conducting mountain and winter warfare training exercises. Trainees were taught skiing, mountain climbing, snow survival skills (such as buildingsnow caves), and winter combat. Also present at Camp Hale was the620th Engineer General Service Company, a unit composed of suspected unreliable German-Americans or soldiers with suspected pro-National Socialist beliefs.[16]
Camp Hale was active for just three years; it was deactivated in November 1945 and the 10th Mountain Division moved toTexas.[17]
Camp Hale held "about 400 of the most incorrigible members of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel'sAfrika Corps".[18] On 15 February 1944, guard PrivateDale Maple of the 620th Engineer General Service Unit drove away with German Sergeants Heinrich Kikillus and Erhard Schwichtenberg. They made it to Mexico before being arrested and turned over to U.S. authorities. In an unrelated scandal, in March 1944, fiveWACs were charged with exchanging notes with the prisoners.[19] Three received sentences of four to six months of confinement.[20] The army used POWs to dismantle most of the structures in 1945.[21]
Many Tibetan resistance fighters were secretly trained at Camp Hale by theCIA. "By February 1963, four groups totaling 135 Tibetans (ten more than originally planned) had arrived at Hale."[22] This was "... the first wave of Tibetans."[23] The site was chosen because of the similarities of the terrain and elevation with theHimalayan Plateau, being heavily mountainous and over 10,000 feet above sea level. The fighters were trained in the use of mortars, explosive, and rifles and instructed in the art of guerilla warfare and subterfuge. TheTibetans nicknamed the camp "Dhumra", meaning "The Garden", due to their enriched hatred of the Chinese occupation of their country. To cover up their newly heightened activity within the camp, the CIA circulated a story in the local press that Camp Hale was to be the site ofatomic tests and would be a high security zone going forward. Until the camp was closed in 1964, the entire area was cordoned off and its perimeter patrolled bymilitary police to keep any unwanted eyes away. In all, around 259 Tibetans were trained at Camp Hale, and after it was dismantled, no Tibetans remained in Colorado having all be redeployed into their homeland to fight against the Chinese. From 1958 to 1960,Anthony Poshepny trained various special missions teams, including TibetanKhambas andHui Muslims, for operations in China against the communist government.[24]
In 1965, Camp Hale was dismantled and the land was deeded to theU.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.[25]
In 1962,Pete Seibert, who was among the soldiers who trained at Camp Hale and then returned to the area after the war, founded theVail Ski Resort nearby.
In July and August 1985 the valley was the site of the North American Pathfinder camporee with 16,129 attending.[26]
In 2003, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a cleanup effort to remove some of theunexploded ordnance at the site in conjunction with several other government agencies. This effort is still ongoing.
Most of the remnants of Camp Hale are located in theWhite River National Forest. There are camping grounds where overnight camping is permitted on this former army base. Several informational plaques are located throughout the area. These plaques contain historical information about camp construction, the99th Infantry Battalion, ski training, rock climbing/alpine training, the motor pool area, CIA training, and camp entertainment.[27]
In 2019, the Camp Hale site was proposed to be the first National Historic Landscape, under the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act, which would designate 28,728 acres for preservation.[28] CongressmanJoe Neguse hosted Agriculture SecretaryTom Vilsack, Colorado GovernorJared Polis, and U.S. SenatorsMichael Bennet andJohn Hickenlooper at Camp Hale on 22 August 2022, in support of the bill.[29] With the bill stalled in Congress,[30][31] on 12 October 2022, President Biden visited the site with the same five leaders and used theAntiquities Act to declare the site anational monument, the 53,804-acre Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument.[32] While the designation had support of area mayors and county commissioners and "drew a flurry of praise from political, social and conservation groups", various conservative politicians spoke out in opposition to the new national monument.[33] A survey had found 86% of Coloradans supported national monument protections for Colorado recreation and conservation areas.[34]
The monument includes approximately 28,684 acres in the Camp Hale area and 25,210 acres in the Tenmile area. The Tenmile area was originally proposed in the CORE Act to be recreation management area andwilderness area. TheContinental Divide Trail passes through both sections for approximately 20 miles.[35]
By February 1963, four groups totaling 135 Tibetans (ten more than originally planned) had arrived at Hale.
... the first wave of Tibetans.
| External images | |
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 Map of Camp Hale | |
| Camp Hale photo |
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