Back in the 1970s & 80s the 10th Div was based in Ft Carson Colorado & did conduct mountain warfare training. There was aschool for the same there in 1965 or 66 when I visted it. The move to Ft Drum NY reflected a combination of a major shift in US Army missions, and political struggles for the periphrial Federal cash flow by the local politicos. The US Marines currently maintain a mountain warfare/cold weather training center near Bridgeport California. That is in the Sierra Mountains. Reno nevada is the city we always flew to to get to Bridgeport. Definitly alltitude & cold. The staff there is capable of training about a battalion size group.

Ehran, The Appalachian Mountains are a very old mountain range that have been worn down over the years. This is why you don't have impressive peak altitudes. However, outside of the thinner air that you experience in higher mountains, you have all the conditions there to train military mountaineering techniques, which is what the school teaches.

As for Afghanistan. th 10th MD did a fine job there....but that is more a funciton of their training and the abilities of an LID. 25 ID, 101 AA, 82 ABN, 173rd ABN BDE, all performed just as well. The reason for NATO expanding the mission is to releive some of the burden from the US, not due to a lack of training.

"Back in the 1970s & 80s the 10th Div was based in Ft Carson Colorado & did conduct mountain warfare training. There was aschool for the same there in 1965 or 66 when I visted it." 1943-1945 Camp Hale, CO 1948-1954 Ft. Riley, KS 1954-1958 Wurzburg, Gemany 1958-1985 Inactivated 1984-1985 Reactivated, Ft.Benning, GA 1985- Ft. Drum, NY

>>horsesoldier the highest feature i could find in vermont was a tad under 4400 feet high. apparently our definition of mountain is very different ;) << http://www.ngb.army.mil/onguard/34/04/article.asp?aid=1418 Sufficient, apparently, to teach technical climbing skills and maintain a qualified cadre.

Since we are on the subject of mountain troops, I thought I should ask this. My Dad was big into hiking and camping when he was young. He was in very good shape (still is for his age) and him and his brother and best friend went hiking up in the Smokey mountains. They hiked a 15 mile trail, and me it back very quickly for such a long hike. He wants to take me and my best friend up there to go hiking, and since it involves carrying a fairly heavy pack (35-50 lbs, depending on what we take), I really like the idea because it could give me a chance to see what it is like being an infantrymen, etc. I believe that Old Grunt is in the 10th mountain division, so I thought I'd ask this: what is the best way to get prepared to hike a 15 mile trail? I am in fairly good cardio shape (not the best), but I am strong and I think I could handle the pack OK. My Dad told me it was more about endurance than being quick or being a fast runner. So should I focus more on walking alot or jogging, etc? Sorry for the wild question, but I thought that it was sort of relevant to the discussion

I should also mention that we would be going sometime this winter, probably in January. Is it possible to build up my enudrance in 3 months?

15 miles? What sort of vertical climbs and descents are involved? How long were you planning to take? 5 hrs would be a steady, quick, walking pace over reasonable ground but shouldn't cause much problems unless you're a doughnut. Add in rough terrain and it'll start to get interesting.

Are you camping up there or anything? If your just hiking 15 miles, you don't need 50 pounds.

>"15 miles? What sort of vertical climbs and descents are involved? How long were you planning to take?"< I do not know the name of the trail (I will look it up), but it is Mount Leconte, which is the highest peak in the Smokies. The elevation of the peak is about 2 miles, so I do not know the elevation of the trails. The fun part of it is (or the hard part) that we will probably go in the winter, and there will be snow and ice on the ground, so we will have to use crampons. 5 hours sounds pretty good. My Dad, my Uncle, and their friend ran down the trail, so they made it in roughly 3.5 hours, but they were big into hiking and were in very good shape, and this will be my first time. I am certainly no doughnut (I've got a 6 pack), but I have never hiked before and never carried a pack