FORT DRUM, N.Y. (March 13, 2026) -- Brigade and battalion leaders across the 10th Mountain Division (LI) gathered inside The Peak for a professional development forum March 12, featuring accomplished alpinist, climbing historian, and “Ninety-Pound Rucksack” podcast producer Christian Beckwith.
Maj. Gen. Scott Naumann, 10th Mountain Division (LI) and Fort Drum commanding general, invited Beckwith to talk with the group following the recent Vail Legacy Weekend celebration and a commemorative climb on Riva Ridge and Mount Belvedere in Italy.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for us to really reflect on our heritage – 81 years post-Riva Ridge – and build on that energy and inspiration that we have,” Naumann said. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Christian Beckwith is inextricably linked to the environment from which this division was founded and that we continue to find inspiration in as we think about our challenges here in the future.”
Beckwith began his presentation with a photo of the Trooper Traverse, a grueling four-day ski trek in February 1944. The 60-mile journey from Leadville to Aspen, Colorado, was designed to test the fitness, training and technical capabilities of 10th Mountain Division Soldiers. The Traverse challenged even the most experienced mountaineers, who had to carve routes through snow-packed terrain to avoid avalanches.
Months of training at Fort Lewis, Washington, and then Camp Hale, Colorado, had forged a unit capable of accomplishing what seemed impossible.
“Sixty miles, 30 enlisted men and three officers,” Beckwith said. “And the reason I like to start with this photo is because, two years earlier, it would have been impossible to create. Because the United States lacked the expertise, the training, the tactics, the doctrine, the gear, the clothing, the food, the fitness – all of those aspects that were central ingredients to this Traverse did not exist in the U.S. military.”
He described how the combined efforts of the climbing community, the ski community, along with engaged leadership, were essential in developing the training environment and resources that made the Army’s elite mountain unit a reality.
While the division initially recruited some of the world’s best skiers and climbers, roughly 80 percent of the Soldiers arrived without those credentials. They first learned how to ski – Army-style, with ruck and weapon – then progressed to rock climbing and more advanced skills.
“They began taking all these skills and applying them to the mountains,” Beckwith said. “So, you start low, you start slow, but you eventually build up that expertise that allows you to go out for 12, 24 or 36 hours or a week at a push. That fitness of the mountain athlete became a core part of their eventual success. And they developed that esprit de corps, that camaraderie that develops between partners when you’re in these long suffer-fests where your life is sometimes at stake, and you’re dependent on your partner for your wellbeing.”
The central character of Beckwith’s “Ninety Pound Rucksack” podcast is 1st Lt. John McCown, who dropped out of law school after the attack on Pearl Harbor and joined the mountain troops. Before the division’s assault on Riva Ridge, McCown was tasked with scouting a particularly difficult route. Known as Route No. 3, the path was blocked by six seemingly insurmountable sandstone bands, proving to be both a combat and mountaineering problem.
To better understand the challenge McCown faced, Beckwith climbed the same route himself, though absent the nighttime, winter conditions, or full combat pack.
“About two-thirds of the way up, and as hard as I tried, I could not figure a way up this thing,” he said. “I eventually made it, but it was not the responsible family man kind of thing to do when you have your wife and daughter back in town. How he managed to figure this out with the equipment of the day, at night without lights, fixing those ropes to facilitate the progress of his troops – I came away from this just profoundly impressed.”
Following the successful assault on Riva Ridge, McCown was killed when his patrol was ambushed on Feb. 20, 1945. After being struck three times by machine gun fire, McCown crawled to a position where he could direct fire against enemy forces until he died.
In 2023, Beckwith was inducted into the 10th Mountain Division Warrior Legend Hall of Fame and spoke at the memorialization ceremony for the 1st Lt. John McCown Mountain Training Group (formerly the Light Fighter School).
“(McCown’s) service and sacrifice, as well as the service and sacrifice of all of these men I’ve talked about, have affected me profoundly,” Beckwith said. “And I have been looking for a way to say thanks, so a few years ago I started something called the 90-Pound Rucksack Challenge.”
The annual ski mountaineering event started in 2024 in three ski areas on the anniversary of the Riva Ridge ascent, with support from the 10th Mountain Division Alpine Club.
“Last month, we had 27 ski areas across America, and more than 500 participants, all beginning at 7 a.m. on Feb. 18 to honor the 10th Mountain Division and everything they did for our country,” Beckwith said. “This is one way I’ve been able to say thank you. If there’s anything else I can do, I will do it. But I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this legacy.”
| Date Taken: |
03.13.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
03.13.2026 12:25 |
| Story ID: |
560513 |
| Location: |
FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, US |
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36 |
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