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Vail Mountain School students get a backcountry history lesson on famed 10th Mountain Division

Part of the curriculum included a full viewing of Chris Anthony's film 'Mission Mt. Mangart'

Vail Mountain School sixth graders embark on a hut trip to one of the properties in the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association system.
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When Vail Mountain School sixth graders embark on a winter camping expedition to a nearby backcountry hut this year, humanities teacher Kate Zook-Gibbs is hoping they will have a greater appreciation for how those huts came to be.

The huts are maintained by the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association which has, since 1982, strived to maintain the legacy of 10th Mountain Division veteran Fritz Benedict.

Benedict was an engineer officer in the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division and an architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. He moved to the Aspen area after fighting in World War II, bought property at Red Mountain Ranch and built a cabin there.



The first public-use hut he helped design was the mountain station above Aspen which was designed as a permanent refuge for his fellow 10th Mountain Division veterans who enjoyed recreating in the area. Benedict later helped plan new ski areas in Colorado and later still — with the help of many others — designed the McNamara and Margie huts to connect some of the ski towns he helped to design.

In a 1982 article in the 10th Mountain Division’s newspaper, “Blizzard,” Benedict recalled his vision for the McNamara and Margie huts.

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“In planning the new towns of both Snowmass and Vail, I studied European ski resorts, and I realized the potential for a European-style hut system between Aspen and Vail,” he said.

Today, Benedict is credited with envisioning the system of connected huts within the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association’s hut system.

For years, Vail Mountain School has been taking students to properties within the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association’s network of 38 huts, and as a complement to those trips, the school has offered sixth graders an optional course of study focusing on the history of the 10th.

This year, that course was made mandatory for all students and was complemented by a showing of Eagle County resident Chris Anthony’s film “Mission Mt. Mangart.” The documentary details the history of the 10th and explores the division’s activity after the conclusion of the European theater of the war, including the troopers’ hosting of an international ski race on Mt. Mangart in the Julian Alps region of Italy.

Vail Mountain School students visit the 10th Mountain Memorial at Tennessee Pass.
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Zook-Gibbs said while many of her students are familiar with the 10th Mountain Division itself from living in the Vail area, she finds they’re oftentimes unaware of just how impactful the 10th was to the ski industry in the U.S.

“They’ve heard the 10th Mountain name, they’ve walked by the statues in Vail Village, and so they’ve seen those images before,” Zook-Gibbs said. “But I find in teaching them it’s the first time they’re really understanding the connection of what happened during that time to our ski industry.”

Liana Sideli, the school’s outdoor education coordinator, said the welcome message on the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association’s website resonated with her, as it also embodies Vail Mountain School’s mission as a school: “Hut visitors share the special spirit of these individuals, especially their pursuit of excellence, self reliance, and love of the outdoors.”

Vail Mountain School students examine the artifacts on display at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail.
Courtesy image

The “Mission Mt. Mangart” screening took place at Vail Mountain School on Dec. 11. Anthony said it was the first time he had shown the film in its entirety to a school.

“In the classroom, a lot of times the attention spans aren’t that long, so I’ll pull certain sections out and show them,” he said. “But when Vail Mountain School said they wanted to screen the entire 70-minute film and would make the auditorium available, I said I’d be willing to try it.”

It went better than expected, Anthony said.

“They stayed focused the whole time and were really into it,” he said. “I took questions for 20-25 minutes afterwards, and then I went and had lunch with them because they had more questions.”

After launching “Mission Mt. Mangart” in 2021, Anthony has been all over the country screening it to select groups. The Vail Mountain School visit came after he completed an East Coast tour where he screened it at Plymouth State University, Dartmouth, the Von Trapp Family Lodge and West Point Military Academy, among other locations.

Amid all those illustrious locations, and after taking hundreds of questions over the years, he said one of the best questions he’s ever had came from a Vail Mountain School student.

“He asked me if working on this film changed my perspective on the world,” Anthony said. “Nobody has ever asked me that, and the fact of the matter is it has completely changed me. What I’ve seen, where I’ve been, the people I’ve talked to, it has changed the way I see everything.”

Learn more about the film at chrisanthony.com/mission-mt-mangart.


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