Since 1966, much of the land within Camp Hale’s boundaries has been managed by the U.S. From 1959 through 1965, the CIA secretly trained Tibetan soldiers at the camp. The Army also tested weapons and equipment there. The military, including the 38th Regimental Combat Team, 99th Infantry Battalion, and soldiers from Fort Carson who conducted mountain and winter warfare training exercises from 1942 to 1965, used up to 247,000 acres at Camp Hale. It was the 10th Mountain Division’s veterans who contributed to Colorado’s winter ski vacation industry and growth in the sport’s popularity.
The division was among the most decorated of World War II. packs, scaling sheer cliffs, and skiing treacherous mountain passes. Redesignated as the 10th Mountain Division in 1944, its soldiers were known as “Ski Troops” with high altitude, sub-zero temperature survival skills that included carrying 90 lb. The Division’s year-long training at the 9,200-foot high camp, near Vail, Colo., honed the soldiers’ fighting and survival skills under brutal mountain conditions. Army divisions was ordered to prepare troops to fight in cold weather and mountainous regions.Īmong the units was the 10th Light Division (Alpine), established July 13, 1943, at Camp Hale. In 1940, after learning that Finnish troops held off Soviet invaders for three months using winter warfare tactics, National Ski Patrol founder, Charles “Minnie” Dole, penned a letter to the War Department offering to help train U.S. “Through the process, we’re eliminating areas that do not require cleanup so we can reduce the overall cleanup cost and focus efforts on areas needing the most attention,” said Little. The MMRP team’s goal is to shrink the area requiring cleanup by determining the nature and extent of impacts and to identify contaminated areas or specific hazards. Through their efforts, which include researching historical archives, performing site inspections, time critical removal actions, and remedial investigations, the team has successfully reduced the potentially impacted area from 226,000 acres (or about 312 square miles) to 101,116 acres. The District’s Military Munitions Response Program is responsible for the clean-up effort. In April 1998, the Omaha District completed an Inventory Project Report identifying Camp Hale as eligible for funding under FUDS programming. The current clean-up phase involves a remedial investigation, which defines areas requiring potential remedial action. “In places where there are munitions or there is historical evidence munitions may be present, we revisit the site to determine if we need to address concerns or perform more in-depth surveillance,” said Adam Little, project manager for the clean-up. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District is cleaning up contamination, addressing military munitions, and removing safety hazards caused by past activities. Through the Department of Defense’s Formerly Used Defense Sites mission and under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the U.S.
Camp Hale, Colo., played a unique role in World War II one that means potentially hazardous military munitions and unexploded ordnance exist in the area.