Eagle County's Secret CIA Training Site Joins State Historic Register

Aspen —In 1958, the Central Intelligence Agency didn’t send its agents to the jungles of Southeast Asia or the frozen tundra of Siberia. They sent them to the high country of Eagle County, Colorado. For six years, until 1964, the CIA trained hundreds of Tibetan freedom fighters at Camp Hale, a site that had already made its name in World War II. It was a secret operation, shrouded in mystery, designed to stem the tide of communism and support the Chushi Gangdrug Army in their fight against Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army, which had invaded Tibet in 1950.

The training site itself, known internally by the CIA as “The Ranch” and by the Tibetans as “Dumra,” meaning Garden, remained a puzzle for decades. The exact location was lost to time, buried under the layers of Camp Hale’s complex history. That changed in 2024, when Tracy Walters of EagleVail joined forces with Dr. Carole McGranahan, an anthropology professor at CU Boulder who has spent years studying the Tibetan experience of China’s invasion and occupation. Together, they pinpointed the precise spot where the Tibetan soldiers had trained, a discovery they celebrated at Camp Hale that year alongside Bruce Walker, the sole surviving CIA officer from the operation, and a group of Tibetans.

Now, that site, designated as #5EA.197, has received formal recognition. On September 24, 2026, it was officially listed in the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties. The designation, announced in an October 19 letter to Eagle County officials, cites the property’s contribution to the state’s heritage. Dawn DiPrince, the State Historic Preservation Officer, extended congratulations on behalf of Governor Polis, the Colorado Historic Preservation Review Board, and History Colorado.

Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr welcomed the news, calling it long overdue. “It’s high time we recognize Camp Hale’s fascinating history in geopolitical intrigue,” he said. While the world knows Camp Hale for its role in the 10th Mountain Division and its connection to the birth of the American ski industry — home to veterans like Peter Seibert and Earl Eaton, who went on to help build Vail — the Cold War chapter has been quieter. This listing brings that story into the open, adding a new layer to the monument’s identity. For locals, it’s a reminder that the land they hike and ski on holds secrets beyond the postcards, a place where the echoes of a distant war still linger in the mountains.