10th Mountain Division: two boards upon cold powder snow.

Just follow the blue diamonds. Easily said, but not as obvious as skiing up the Yellow Brick Road! With a map, compass and every skill we'd developed for reading vague trail markings, we ascended the steep ridge to 11,600 feet. Just around the corner, Skinner Hut, the highest backcountry hostel in the country, lay nearly buried in snow adjacent to Mt. Massive Wilderness Area in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.

Built in memory of William Wood Skinner, the hut is one of several commemorating members of the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, a cadre of mountain men on skis who played a pivotal role in the Italian World War II campaign. The legacy left from these daring skiers dressed in white resulted in not only a boom in the ski business, but a hut system on every backcountry skier's list. For these men were not just war heroes, but champions of the snow.

During the 1940 Russo-Finnish War, the Finns distinguished themselves as a skiing military, striking the invading army and schussing unseen off into the mountains. Camouflaged in white clothing on white skis, the Finns inspired American skiers. One in particular, Minnie Dole, head of the newly-formed National Ski Patrol, lobbied the U.S. Army incessantly for an American skiing brigade. Finally the task of filling the ranks of the 87th Infantry Mountain Regiment fell in the National Ski Patrol's lap. The recruit list was chock-full of ski racers, jumpers, instructors, coaches and patrollers. …