PARK CITY, Utah — The annual ski mountaineering event, which is spread across the country, arrived in Park City for the first time.
The "90-Pound Rucksack Challenge" skimo event commemorates the Tenth Mountain Division and their historic ascent of Riva Ridge in Italy during World War II.
According to Mountain West Army Recruiting Battalion Captain Nicholas Fricchione, Utahns are joining that tradition of honoring them.
“It was a key point in the German’s defense along the Gothic line in Italy. It was so shear, the escarpment at Riva Ridge, that the Germans considered it impassable," he said. “Very few things that I’ve experienced in my life will put you in the shoes of one of those soldiers like this event.”
Fricchione learned of the challenge from founder and veteran alpinist Christian Beckwith.
Those soldiers' rucksacks weighed as much as 90 pounds, scaling 1,500 to 2,500 vertical feet, inspiring what Utahns were doing in Park City during the event, according to Wasatch Backcountry Alliance Board President Aaron London.
“By training American soldiers in mountain fighting and mountain techniques, they also developed all these techniques that directly lead to the kind of equipment we use today," he said.
After the war, those soldiers found the fields of avalanche science and wilderness rescue, developing more than 60 ski areas nationwide.
“It calls us to show up and stand up for the things that are important to us and not take it for granted," he said.
Captain Fricchione added that Utah’s Tenth Mountain Division Memorial Highway is located here, and the resort has a run named after it, so it only feels right to honor these soldiers here.
