On this date in hiking history: The 10th Mountain Division is established in Colorado

News and Adventure from Glacier National Park

On this date in hiking history, the legendary 10th Mountain Division was constituted. Five days later it was activated at Camp Hale in Colorado, located near Tennessee Pass between Leadville and Vail. After an extremely hard-fought campaign in Northern Italy during the later stages of WWII, many veterans from the unit came home and became integral parts of the budding outdoor recreation industry.

More than 2000 soldiers from the unit had direct roles in creating the modern ski industry in America. This includes the founding of the Aspen, Vail, and Arapahoe Basin ski resorts, among many others.

Other 10th Mountain Division veterans became heavily involved in the hiking and mountaineering industry. This includes Gerry Cunningham, who founded GERRY; Paul Petzoldt, who helped found Exum Mountain Guides, Outward Bound, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and the Wilderness Education Association (WEA); and David Bower, who served as the first executive director for the Sierra Club, and is credited with helping pass the Wilderness Act.

After designing the master plans for Vail, Snowmass, and Breckenridge, Fritz Benedict established the 10th Mountain Hut system in Colorado. Inspired by the backcountry huts he saw in the Alps, Benedict envisioned a system of huts connected by backcountry trails. The first two were constructed in 1982. The expansive network now encompasses 34 huts and 350 miles of trails, and is used year-round by skiers, snowshoers, hikers, and mountain bikers.

During the Korean War, Jim and Lou Whittaker trained soldiers in mountain warfare at Camp Hale. Afterwards, Lou co-founded Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. (now RMI Expeditions). His twin brother became the first full-time employee at Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) in 1955, and eventually became its CEO sixteen year later. Within that span he became the first American to summit Mt. Everest in 1963.

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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.