Palisades Tahoe chosen as new name for legendary California ski resort

By Skier & Snowboarder on 21st October 2021

The Californian ski area of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows has changed it’s name to distance itself from a word considered to be a racist and sexist slur.

The recently announced new name is Palisades Tahoe and was chosen to honour the resort’s history as a land of legends – home to freeskiing pioneers, Winter Olympians and cultural icons across more than seven decades of ski history. The change will bring both mountains of the former Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows together under one unified name.

The resort has already begun implementing the new name and branding, but expects the full changeover to be a multi-year process. The base area village on the Olympic Valley side will now be known as The Village at Palisades Tahoe, and Palisades Tahoe also plans to debut new names for the Squaw One and Squaw Creek chairlifts, to be selected with input by the Washoe Tribe, Resort at Squaw Creek, and the public.

The recently appointed Palisades Tahoe President and COO, Dee Byrne, said: “This name change reflects who we are as a ski resort and community. We have a reputation for being progressive and boundary-breaking when it comes to feats of skiing and snowboarding. We have proven that those values go beyond the snow for us. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be part of Palisades Tahoe and after more than 10 years at the resort, I’m honoured to be leading our team into this new era.”

The 2020 commitment by the resort to rename the destination was made after extensive research into the historical and current usage and regional history of the word ‘squaw’, and discussions with the local Washoe Tribe, which affirmed the position that it is widely considered a racist and sexist slur against Indigenous women.

Going beyond the name change, Palisades Tahoe has begun building a partnership with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California to continue to give the tribe a platform to educate the public about their culture and the valleys’ origins as the ancestral land of the Washoe Tribe, and to ensure mountain accessibility for present and future Washoe generations.

This summer, the resort launched the Washoe Cultural Tour series, which offers guests a view of the mountains through the eyes of the Washoe people. Darrel Cruz, Director of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Cultural Resources Office of the Washoe Tribe, shares stories of Washoe history and culture at the High Camp mid-mountain lodge. In addition, Palisades Tahoe will install a Washoe exhibit at High Camp, complete with tribal artifacts that show the Washoe way of life that members seek to preserve to this day. The groups are also exploring future programming centred on making skiing more accessible to Washoe Tribe members.

Palisades Tahoe is the largest ski resort in the Lake Tahoe region, with 6,000 skiable acres across two mountains. The 70+ year-old resort’s history includes hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics, and it is the home mountain to dozens of Olympic and World Cup athletes across multiple snow sports.

With an average annual snowfall of 400 inches, Palisades Tahoe frequently operates the longest ski and snowboard season in Lake Tahoe. The Village at Palisades Tahoe offers year-round events and over 50 bars, restaurants and boutiques, many of which are locally owned and operated.