Paul Petzold, the U.S. Army, and NOLS
Paul Petzoldt was 36 years old in 1943 when he joined the U.S. Army’s prestigious 10th Mountain Division, an elite group of soldiers who were trained for alpine warfare.
Already decades into his career, the future founder of NOLS had worked a slew of jobs, including farmer, waiter, and used car salesman. He was best known, though, as a member of the first American team to attempt K2, the mountaineer who traversed the Matterhorn twice in one day, and the charismatic Wyoming-based mountain guide who summited the Grand Teton innumerable times.
It made sense, then, that during World War II, Petzoldt applied to the newly formed 10th Mountain Division. The United States had been one of the few powers in the conflict without specially trained mountain troopers. Witnessing the benefits of such a crew, the U.S. Army began recruiting skiers and mountaineers to become soldiers (rather than teaching soldiers to ski and climb) and Petzoldt saw an opportunity to contribute the knowledge he’d spent years honing.
What, though, did Paul contribute to the 10th? And what, from that experience, did he later bring to NOLS?
As a member of the 10th, Paul’s role was to teach GIs to survive in treacherous mountain conditions. Kate Dernocoeur, author of “A Worthy Expedition: The History of NOLS,” wrote that Petzoldt taught troops how to conserve energy, shared the best ways to stave off frostbite (wool!), and developed systems for the evacuation of ill and injured men.
In a 2013 interview with NOLS, the late Private Frank Chuk, who served under Petzoldt and later became a spokesman for the division, said it was Petzoldt’s role to “give us expertise in how to evacuate people, (and) how to move equipment at high altitude.”
Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado, a former mining town with a recorded elevation of over 10,000 feet, was where the 10th trained to climb, ski, and fight on snow in exceptionally harsh conditions. Petzoldt, Chuk said, built a reputation for safety there. “There was no place to cut corners; you have to do it right or you’re going to pay the price,” he said.
Early NOLS student Nancy Carson, in a tribute to Petzoldt published by the American Alpine Club, made a case for Petzoldt’s possible influence on the army, writing that he guided and explored the Tetons for years, “honing his skills and creating climbing systems still in use today (voice signals, sliding middleman [a snow-climbing belay system], rhythmic breathing and other practical innovations.)”
Christian Beckwith, creator of the podcast 90-Pound Rucksack, pushed back a bit, stating that many of the techniques Paul taught at Camp Hale were probably not created by him but were already “on the (U.S. Army’s) books.” Still, he readily conceded that Petzoldt “gave instruction a framework.”
It was First Sergeant Daniel P. Fields of the 10th Mountain Division Mountain Training Group, and a NOLS graduate, who found the middle ground.
“I am pretty sure Paul Petzoldt was the guy,” Fields said, who took all the army’s tactical techniques and procedures, refined them, combined them with what he learned through his own experience, and created methods for traveling safely through the wilderness.
“That’s a legacy right there,” Fields continued, “not just for the 10th, but for the many people who were affected by his teaching.” Including generations of NOLS students.
NOLS is dedicated to a continued commitment to service members. Veterans can use their veterans benefits for a Wyoming-based expedition or wilderness medicine training, EMT training, and career-focused outdoor educator courses.
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