service... safety... BOSTON MAINE SKI DARTMOUTH JASPER CANADIAN ROCKIES 1928 THE NATIONAL SKI PATROL SYSTEM CARNIVAL SUNDAYS =WEEK ENDS CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS from NORTH STATION NEW ENGLAND SKI MUSEUM N E W S L E T T E R Summer 1992 Issue #30 LONG BEFORE THE 10th: U.S. Troops on Skis 1886 - 1940 by E. John B. Allen We learned how to ski and we learned how to climb, We learned how to stay out in any ol' clime. At last we were ready, our training was o'er We're going on record. We're going to war. So sang United States soldiers in ment of what was always called the 1943, believing themselves the first "skisport" and the occasional catching ever trained in mountain warfare: of a poacher were all part of Company climbing in summer, skiing in winter. M's winter life. A photographer Civilian skiers had initiated the idea. recorded the patrol activity, and Although the 10th Mountain Divi- newspaper-sponsored expeditions sion, also known as the Ski Troops, drew attention to the Park and to the hardly put on skis for military action, soldiers on skis. When Frederick Rem- the appeal of the Division was to ington, America's foremost artist of skiers, and skiing remained at the the western frontier, painted the heart of the Division's culture and troops on skis, their fame seemed morale. In 1940, as a defense against assured. Their official reports cir- possible German invasion of the con- culated, some sectors of the army tinental United States, a handful of showed continuing interest, and even prominent and wealthy skiers set in Europeans registered this ski troop ac- motion what they thought of as tivity. And yet they were almost total- America's first ski troops. ly forgotten. In fact, various units of the U.S. Not until the Great War did the use military had been on skis on different of ski troops become common occasions for decades. Company M of knowledge. The American press took the First U.S. Cavalry was turned in- up European military skiing, glossy to a ski patrol against poachers in magazines gave the winter war much Yellowstone Park in the Rocky Moun- publicity, and Lowell Thomas tains in 1886. Patrols of ten to twelve reported on the Italian Alpini. Before miles a day, the building and stock- Members of the 5th U.S. Cavalry on winter patrol in the United States became involved in ing of outposts in the park, ex- Yellowstone Park C. .1910 the war, the U.S. ambassador to perimentation with winter clothing, different types of skis, plus the enjoy- cont. page 2