Camp Hale

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Camp Hale Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Concrete ruins of the field house
Nearest city:	Leadville, Colorado
Built/Founded:	1942
Architect:	U.S. Army
Added to NRHP:	April 10, 1992
NRHP Reference#:	78003522 ^[1]
Governing body:	United States Forest Service

Camp Hale, between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley in Colorado, was a U.S. Army training facility constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. It was named in honor of General Irving Hale. Soldiers were trained in mountain climbing, skiing, and cold-weather survival. When it was in full operation, approximately 16,000 soldiers were housed there.

From 1959 to 1964, Tibetan guerrillas were secretly trained at Camp Hale by the CIA. The site was chosen because of the similarities of the Rocky Mountains with the Himalayan Plateau. The Tibetans loved the surroundings so much that they nicknamed the camp "Dhumra", meaning "The Garden". The CIA circulated a story in the local press that Camp Hale was to be the site of atomic tests and would be a high security zone. Until the camp was closed in 1964, the entire area was cordoned off and its perimeter patrolled by military police. In the nearby mining town of Leadville, where instructors from Camp Hale occasionally went for rest and recreation, numerous rumors spread about the camp but no one guessed its real function.

The Tibetan project was codenamed "ST Circus", and it was similar to the CIA operation that trained dissident Cubans in what later became the Bay of Pigs Invasion. In all, around 259 Tibetans were trained at Camp Hale. Some were parachuted back into Tibet to link up with local resistance groups (most perished); others were sent overland into Tibet on intelligence gathering missions; and yet others were instrumental in setting up the CIA-funded Tibetan resistance force that operated out of Mustang, in northern Nepal (1959-74). After Camp Hale was dismantled in 1964, no Tibetans remained in Colorado.

From 1958 to 1960, Anthony Poshepny trained various special missions teams, including Tibetan Khambas and Hui Muslims, for operations in China against the Communist government. Poshepny sometimes claimed that he personally escorted the 14th Dalai Lama out of Tibet, but this has been denied, both by former CIA officers involved in the Tibet operation, and by the Tibetan Government-in-exile (Central Tibetan Administration).

In 1964, Camp Hale was dismantled and the land was deeded to the U.S. Forest Service. Since 1974, the area has reflected its roots by becoming a youth development training center. An Eagle County non-profit organization, Meet The Wilderness, has used the site to expose disadvantaged youth to many of the same outdoor challenges experienced by the 10th Mountain Division.^[2]

In 2003, there was a cleanup effort to remove some of the unexploded ordnance at the site.

[edit] References

^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).
^ "Other Programs". Meet the Wilderness. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.