Palisades Tahoe
Host of the 1960 Winter Olympics in California's Sierra Nevada.
Last updated
Where it is
Coordinates: 39°11′46″N 120°14′06″W (39.1960, -120.2350) · Open in OpenStreetMap
Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Palisades Tahoe (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.
Palisades Tahoe is a ski resort in the Western United States, located in Olympic Valley, California, northwest of Tahoe City in the Sierra Nevada range. Founded in 1949 as Squaw Valley, it changed its name in 2021 due to the derogatory connotations of the word "squaw". It was the host site for the 1960 Winter Olympics. The resort is the largest skiing complex in the Lake Tahoe region, and is known for its challenging terrain.
Palisades Tahoe (not including Alpine Meadows) has a base elevation of 6200 ft and a skiable 3600 acres across six peaks, employing 23 chairlifts, 4 carpet lifts, a tramway, a gondola connecting it to Alpine Meadows, and the only funitel in the United States. It tops out at 9010 ft at Granite Chief, and averages 400 in of annual snowfall. The resort attracts approximately 600,000 skiers a year, and is also home to several annual summer events.
History
Wayne Poulsen, a former University of Nevada ski racer, bought the first 2000 acres from the Southern Pacific Railroad. Alexander Cushing partnered with Poulsen to develop the resort, later gaining control and becoming chairman of Squaw Valley Ski Corporation. The resort opened in 1949. Cushing secured the 1960 Winter Olympics bid in 1955 after winning over the IOC in Paris with a scale model, despite Innsbruck being the leading choice.
During the Olympics, the site was designated California Historical Landmark Number 724. World Cup races were held in 1969 with four technical events; women's technical events returned in March 2017 and men's in February 2023. On 15 April 1978, a tram came off a cable, dropped 75 ft, and collided with another cable, killing four and injuring 31.
More in Olympic Alpine Skiing Venues
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Palisades Tahoe (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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