Legacy of soldiers on skis

Climb to Conquer

Peter Shelton

Scribner, $24

This highly readable volume offers an excellent look at the U.S. Army’s storied 10th Mountain Division, its long months of training and five-month campaign in the mountains of northern Italy as World War II came to an end.

Shelton, a columnist and contributing editor to Ski Magazine, does a thorough job of detailing the division’s legacy, including the modern American ski industry and the beginning of the environmental movement, as exemplified by 10th veteran David Brower.

Brower, the fiery longtime Sierra Club leader, also was prominent in the postwar surge in mountaineering, which was made far safer by the wartime development of equipment, especially the stretchable nylon climbing rope known as Goldline. Sierra climbers will recognize other legendary names such as Richard Leonardand Raffi Bedayan -- wartime heroes and peacetime pioneers in the outdoors.

-- Bill Stall