Good gear does not the skier make

[Lhartley]

@Lhartley what's the topsheet on those army splitboards? Rainbow flags?

LOL. That flag is certainly part of their kit. But not on the board, in the case I know of anyways.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembran ... in-service

Not that I care what anyone's bedroom business is

[randoskier]

100lbs. of stuff strapped to your back makes an awful skier

Nah they ski like shit with nothing on their back .

[randoskier]

Military's main use of skis is to get an infantry force with 100 lbs of gear each from point A to point B. Safely. Commando attacks or recon in alpine mountain terrain may happen but is not SOP. My dad was in 3 different WWII units. The FSSF was ski and mountain trained. His Ranger CO led the 10th Mountain in Northern Italy until he got KIA. Military use of ski's has kinda been on my radar for a few decades. How someone showing up with a private split board for a ski exercise without getting KP for a week is odd. Must be more to the story.

ww2 was a long time ago. The 10th still exists, it keeps the mountain name but that is for historic reasons- it is just a light infantry division now with no mountain skills. The 10th MD saw three and a half months of combat in ww2, mostly here in northern Italy.

Warfare has completely changed and the idea of skis today is not schlepping around large infantry units from A to B. What they are preparing for is Arctic warfare, the Arctic is in play (shipping route, petroleum/gas, mining, strategic bases...). The White War where the Finns kicked the Russians ass was not based on huge infantry maneuvers, it was won by utilizing terrain to their advantage and rapid movement of small units- the big Russian infantry units schlepped around and got bogged down, just like they do today in Ukraine. The British are building a Royal Marine Commando base in Øverbygd of Norway and the USMC have a permanent rotation of 350 Marines into Vaernes (Trondelag).

On my ski tour in March on day 6 I will stay at a remote mountain farm in Norway on the Swedish border- during ww2 a young US Army OSS major jumped on their frozen lake with a team of Norwegian commandos recruited in America and proceeded to blow up the Nordland railway a few times to halt the German retreat to their homeland. The Major's name was William E Colby, years later director of the CIA. The only ski parachute mission the US did in ww2. Volunteers and the Norwegian Army recently rebuilt the house Colby used for his HQ on the farm. The farm is 56 km2 and 22km from a road, road is 40km from a town. Half the lake is in Norway half in Sweden. Been there a bunch, winter/summer. For more info- google "skis and daggers Colby"- you will get his firsthand, rather rah rah, report. The weathered house in the Pic is Colby's HQ back in 2017 before the redo. They moved it up the hill and rebuilt it board by board- real craftsmen. There have a lot of the weapons and uniforms (and skis!!) displayed in the house and they still find containers today that broke through the lake ice during the drops. Somewhere I have newer pics. There was a fine book just translated to English about it, released last year.

My partner on this ski tour is a former British Royal Marine (he was a qualified mountain leader when he was in) and he is a retired UIAA Mountain Guide.

If you are interested in Arctic politics I suggest you google the Barents Observer, a fine newspaper out of Kirkenes.

[wooley12]

Already had Barents bookmarked thanks, but enjoyed learning the Colby story. My dad ended WWII in Norway the summer of 45. Marched in the parades. Got engaged to a Norwegian lass while he was there. Then married my mom when he got back to the States.