WILSON, Wyo. — Today, Feb. 18, skiers across the U.S. and Italy joined together to honor the 80th anniversary of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1945 ascent of Riva Ridge, including skiers on Mt. Glory in Jackson Hole.
According to a press release, the Ninety-Pound Rucksack Challenge is an annual ski mountaineering event that commemorates the 10th’s “pivotal role” in breaking Hitler’s Gothic Line, a turning point in World War II. After the war, more than 2,000 10th Mountain veterans became ski instructors, opened ski schools and developed resorts like Aspen, Vail and Mt. Bachelor, per the press release.
The February 1945 ascent of Riva Ridge had a large part in causing the German surrender of Italy, which hastened the end of World War II. Climbing under cover of darkness, some 1,000 10th Mountain Division soldiers began their ascent of Riva Ridge on Feb. 18, 1945, at 7 p.m. They wore rucksacks that weighed up to 50 pounds and scaled the escarpment via four separate routes that ranged from 1,500 to 2,500 feet long, the press release states. By morning, they had taken the ridge without a single American casualty.
“Their pivotal victory shattered Hitler’s Gothic Line, a heavily fortified stretch of summits and ridges that had stalled Allied advances for more than 500 days,” the press release reads.
In honor of their ascent, the first Ninety-Pound Rucksack Challenge was held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2024, in three locations around the country: Whiteface Mountain, New York, Ski Cooper, Colorado (where the 10th Mountain Division trained) and Mt. Glory on Teton Pass in Jackson Hole. According to the press release, the 10th Mountain Division’s motto was and is “Climb to Glory.”
The 2025 Challenge will see more than a dozen ascents have been planned, including an ascent of Riva Ridge by members of the US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Ski areas across the U.S. will also participate, including locations in Colorado, New York, Vermont, Washington, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Idaho and Wyoming.
