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Full circle: Ski teams from Air Force and West Point visit Camp Hale

The three-day training trip also included an intersquad race at Copper Mountain and the chance to watch the Birds of Prey World Cup

Members of the West Point ski team pose for a picture at Camp Hale during a training trip to Vail in December. The cadets joined members of the Air Force Academy ski team for an intersquad race at Copper Mountain and also visited the Colorado Ski Museum.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

The Birds of Prey World Cup weekend earlier this month was historical — in more ways than one.

Most know about the full slate of races getting swiped on account of weather for the first time. At the same time, in the same place, a full-circle, ski-significant gathering was transpiring.

“Training in the Hudson Highlands does not always afford the team a December snowfall, hence the desire to head west,” said Major Joseph Thew, the Army West Point officer who brought Army West Point and Air Force Academy ski teams to the birthplace of the sport in North America — Camp Hale — for a three-day pre-season training event from Dec. 1-3.



“But, this trip blossomed into something much greater and more meaningful once the cadets arrived.”

In addition to running an inter-squad race at Copper Mountain, the teams planned to experience both ends of the skiing spectrum: the foundations laid by the 10th Mountain soldiers at Camp Hale on one end and a World Cup event on the other.

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“It’s the confluence of everything,” said John Tyree, a 1987 West Point graduate who organized the event in honor of his father, Col. Thomas B. Tyree, a 1948 West Point graduate and the team’s ski coach in the late 1950s.

“When you think about it, the military overlay at Vail, the 10th Mountain overlay, (my dad) being the ski coach at West Point — it all seemed to come together.”

Tyree and his three brothers — one of whom, Tom Tyree, owns a place in Vail — regularly contribute to a charitable fund. It has one requirement.

“That we would give money to things that were important to my parents,” said John Tyree, who now works at Morgan Stanley. While teaching a finance class at Westpoint, Tyree was introduced to Major Thew, an assistant professor of economics.

“We got to talking and he said, ‘gosh you know it would be really great if we could organize something,'” Tyree said of a conversation which took place about six months ago.

On Dec. 1, West Point cadets left their cozy lodges in Vail and traveled south of Minturn.

“Sauntering along the icy and snow-fallen rock walls still pockmarked with pitons of a bygone era, the cadets got a sense of scale of mountain skills required to operate in these harsh conditions,” Thew described in a written statement.

Army West Point and Air Force Academy ski team members gather at 10th Mountain Whiskey tasting room in Vail.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

Later that evening toasts were raised at 10th Mountain Whiskey, where none other than the Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division, M.G. Gregory K. Anderson spoke vividly of the military mountaineers who trained at Camp Hale and defeated the Germans at Riva Ridge in 1945.

A cadet checks out the progression of ski boot development at the Colorado Snowsports Museum.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

“Seizing an opportunity to inspire several soon-to-be commissioned officers, M.G. Anderson enthusiastically reported the investment of the 10th Mountain Division in these advanced mountaineering skillsets,” Thew said.

The 10th Mountain Division currently sends soldiers all over the world to train in Alpine environments, Thew said.

“West Point skiers certainly took note,” he added.

“From the academy standpoint, this is a win-win,” said John Tyree, who helped organize the trip to honor his father, a former West Point ski coach in the late 50s.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

The honoring of past legacies continued the following day with the first official Tyree Cup at Copper Mountain.

“He lived for the sport,” John Tyree said of his father, the inaugural event’s namesake. Tyree fondly recalled his middle class upbringing in upstate New York and how his dad instilled a love for skiing in all of his children.

“He’d get us up at 5:30 a.m. on school days, when it snowed,” he recalled. “We’d put on our skis, sidestep back up, ski down the ravine, sidestep back up.”

Both teams contested a giant slalom on the lower half of Copperopolis, though weather offered perhaps the stiffest competition.

An Army West Point Alpine ski team racer heads down Copperopolis during the inaugural Tyree Cup on Dec. 2. The event featured a giant slalom race between Army and Air Force Academy ski teams.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

“Not only did the cadets battle each other for fastest time, but fought bitter winds and whipping snow showers that eventually closed the mountain,” Thew said, adding that cadets were “extraordinarily fortunate to receive coaching from Sara Radamus, who helped organize the race. In the evening, the teams congregated at the Colorado Snowsports Museum for a private screening of “Climb to Glory.”

Cadets from both the Army and Air Force ski teams congregated at the Colorado Snowsports Museum for a private screening of “Climb to Glory” and a barbeque dinner to celebrate the weekend of training, racing and learning about the role of the 10th Mountain Division in the history of the sport.
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

While the World Cup races were canceled on Dec. 3, Thew said cadets took advantage of a foot of fresh powder, skiing Beaver Creek’s slopes all afternoon.

Thew said his team returned home “thrilled and prepared” for the upcoming season. He said they also “gained an appreciation to carry on the traditions of Army alpinism and invigorate the can-do spirit set forth by 10th Mountain Soldiers” and formed bonds with their Air Force Academy counterparts.

“Most importantly,” he said, “They shared an exceptional experience taking part in a sport they love: skiing.”

“I think for these cadets — they’ll go to Killington and do these ski races and that’s cool, that’s great. That’s skiing,” Tyree said.

“Here, it’s history.” 

Air Force Academy and Army West Point Alpine ski teams gather for a photo after the inaugural Tyree Cup. The giant slalom race took place at Copper Mountain on Dec. 2 to honor Col. Thomas Tyree, the West Point Army Alpine team coach on 1950
Joseph Thew/Courtesy photo

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