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Article
Description
Before the U.S. entered WWII, but when the winds of war were blowing across Europe, the Army was preparing for future combat. Between 1940-1942, Army Mountain Troops learned their skills on Mount Rainier, Washington, before transferring to Camp Hale, Colorado.2 In late 1941, the Army hired Dick Durrance to train paratroopers how to ski and engage in mountain warfare at Alta, Utah. Durrance was the country’s outstanding ski racer of the 1930s, and was running the Alta Ski Area at the time. Dick Durrance (1914 - 2006) was “America’s first skiing superstar,” whose “skills as an Alpine skier... made him a legend,” according to his biography in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame into which he was inducted in 1958. Durrance led the U.S. Ski Team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany. “He honed his skills at Dartmouth College under the tutelage of Otto Schniebs and Walter Prager,” and led its ski team to many victories. Between 1935 and 1941, Durrance won ten national titles in slalom, downhill and alpine combined, and three Harriman Cups at Sun Valley between 1937 and 1940 (the most prestigious ski title at the time), beating the best European skiers. In 1939, he won the U.S. Ski Association’s American Ski Trophy award, and received an honorable mention in 1940, along with Charles “Minnie” Dole whose idea it was for the Army to train ski troops.
Publication Date
2025
Publisher
John W. Lundin
Keywords
Skiing, Winter Sports
Disciplines
United States History
Recommended Citation
Lundin, John W., "PARATROOPERS TRAIN FOR MOUNTAIN WARFARE AT ALTA, UTAH" (2025). Works by Local Authors. 53.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/local_authors/53