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Roster, annotated
The 33 soldiers (30 enlisted men and 3 officers) on the "Trooper
Traverse" came from three components of the soldiers stationed
at Camp Hale: 10th Reconnaissance Troop, Mountain Training Group,
and 10th Medics. It appears that participation in this groups was
somewhat arbitrary, and men were placed where needed and where their
skills necessitated. For example, famed climber Paul Petzoldt stated
he was scrubbing floors in the mess hall, when an officer saw him
and said "are you Paul Petzoldt?" Paul affirmed that he
was indeed the man, and the officer transferred Petzoldt from scullery
work to creating, from scratch, the Army's methodology for mountain
evacuation. (Petzoldt statements from video Fire on the Mountain).
Note there may have been a few other soldiers on the trip. Trip
participant Ralph Ball loaned this author photos of the trip he
claims were made by James Norman Richardson, but Richardson is
not on the roster as presented in the Ski-Zette. It's possible
the Ball photos are actually those made by Horace Quick, and I
believe this to be the case.
Officially, according to the Camp Hale Ski-Zette newspaper, March
3, 1944, the 10th Reconnaissance troop was commanded by Capt.
John Jay, and the Mountain Training Group was commanded by Lt.
Col. Paul Lafferty. Both were organizations within the 15th Headquarters
Detachment under command of Col. D. P. Spalding. John Jay was
on the ski traverse and was the official leader of the trip, Paul
Lafferty was not on the trip.
Men on the trip, alphabetic:
Glen Asher
Ralph Ball (Living in Carbondale Colorado, Dawson is in touch
with him, Mtn. Training Group.)
Fred Beckey (According to traverse vet Glen Dawson this is
indeed the famous climber, Lou Dawson did some climbing with him
once, would like to get in contact...)
Albert Beesmer
Andrews Black
Donald Borthwick (Deceased, lived in Aspen area for many
years)
William "Bill" Bowes
John Chappell
Neil Christie (Deceased, son lives in Colorado.)
Thomas Degles
Glen Dawson (Still living in 2001, well known mountaineer.)
W.A. Eastman
Maurice Finn
Joseph Froelich
William Hackett (Famed mountaineer and mountain medicine
expert, deceased.)
Hans Hagemeister (Principle in ski equipment industry for
many years.)
Charles Hampton
George Hurt (Mtn. Training Group)
John Jay (Pioneer of ski cinematography, deceased, commander
of 10th Reconnaissance Troop, may not have been on trip, some say
he was.)
Charles Klingerman
Mattias Madsen
Jack Major
Russ M. McJury (Commander of 10th Recon, one of the trip leaders)
Robert McCaig
Nathan Morrell
Erling Omland (Living in Vermont, in contact with Dawson)
Paul Petzoldt (10th Medics, world famous mountineer, founded
NOLS, deceased.)
James Popp
Horace Quick (Artist and photographer, posed for famed Sat.
Evening Post cover, Dawson contacted him, he lives in Colorado.)
Richard Rocker (Mtn. Training Group, field commision during
combat.)
Hans Sarbach
Ernest "Tap" Tapley (Famous outdoorsman, worked
with Petzoldt to found United States Outward Bound, Dawson in contact
with him.)
Burdell Winter (died
in combat, 10th Mountain Uncle Bud's Hut is memorial to him)
It's known there were several groups of soldiers who hiked a similar
route between Leadville and Aspen, one during autumn when they
trudged through snow above timberline. With the mist of time,
some of these groups have been mistaken for ski trips by sources
this author has contacted. Also, there was at least one group
of soldiers that traveled from Camp Hale (Pando) to Glenwood Springs
on foot, possibly in part on skis. To the best of this author's
knowledge after extensive historical research, the trip
done by the men listed above was the only true 10th Mountain Division
ski mountaineering trip done from Leadville to Aspen, over the
alpine highland across the highest part of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
It is the only "Trooper Traverse."
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