The event will take place at seven Northeast locations in February
The Ninety-Pound Rucksack Challenge — an annual ski mountaineering event that honors the legacy of a historic Army division and their post-war contributions to American skiing — will be held at seven locations throughout the Northeast on February 18, 2026.
The event challenges participants to climb a ski slope or backcountry route, ascending 1,500 to 2,500 feet and skiing back down. Participants can carry their regular kit, a percentage of their body weight, or no weight at all.
The 2026 Challenge will take place on February 18 at 7 p.m. local time at the following Northeast locations:
- Bromley, VT
- Dartmouth Skiway, NH
- Killington, VT
- Otis Ridge, MA
- Snow Ridge, NY
- Sugarbush, VT
- Whiteface Mountain, NY
Individuals, organizations and ski areas are invited to participate in the challenge or to create their own. The challenge is designed for maximum flexibility, offering a plug-and-play event that participating ski areas can adapt to their own rules and regulations. Courses are determined by participating ski areas or by individuals undertaking a challenge of their own design.
The event honors the legacy of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, their historic World War II ascent of Riva Ridge, and their post-war contributions to American skiing.
The 10th Mountain Division was a unit of expert mountaineers who trained for more than three years — often carrying 90-pound “rucksacks,” or backpacks — to fight the Axis powers in extreme cold and mountainous terrain. In early 1945, they were inserted into Italy’s Apennine Mountains to break Hitler’s Gothic Line, a fortified series of summits and ridges that had stymied Allied advances for more than 500 days.
To do so, the soldiers first had to take a feature known as Riva Ridge. It was an escarpment so precipitous the Germans barely guarded it, for they considered it impossible to climb.
At 7 p.m. on February 18, 1945, some 1,000 10th Mountain Division soldiers began a night-time ascent of the wall. Carrying packs that weighed up to 50 pounds, they climbed via four different routes that ranged from 1,500 to 2,500 feet to take the Germans on top without a casualty. Their successful ascent not only cracked the Gothic Line, it precipitated the German surrender of Italy and hastened the end of the war.
In the peace that followed, more than 2,000 veterans of the 10th became ski instructors, operated ski schools and developed ski areas around the country, including Aspen, Vail, A-Basin, Crystal Mountain, Sugarbush, Mount Hood and Mount Bachelor.
The Challenge is put on by the producers of the Ninety-Pound Rucksack podcast, which recounts the Division’s origin story and its impact on outdoor recreation in America.
Learn more about the 90-Pound Rucksack Challenge.
