Squaw Valley New Name: Why It Changed to Palisades Tahoe

The California ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley is now called Palisades Tahoe. The new name of Squaw Valley was announced in September 2021 by Alterra Mountain Company, which owns the resort near Lake Tahoe, after leadership concluded the old name contained a slur used historically against Native American women.¹ The name covers the combined Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows sides of the resort, which had operated together as Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows.

Why the Old Name Was Dropped

Resort leadership announced the commitment to change in August 2020 after researching the word’s history. They concluded there was “insurmountable evidence, dating back to the early 1800s, that the word ‘squaw’ has long been used as a derogatory and dehumanizing reference to a Native American woman.”² Oxford and Merriam-Webster classify the term as offensive. The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times had already adopted policies against using it.³

In the mid-1800s the term appeared in contexts tied to state-sanctioned violence against Native Americans, including bounties placed on their lives.³ Darrel Cruz of the Washoe Tribe Historic Preservation Office described it as a “constant reminder of the unjust treatment of the native people, of the Washoe people” and “a term that was inflicted upon us by somebody else.”⁴

Ron Cohen, the resort’s former president and chief operating officer, said the resort “was compelled to change the name because it’s the right thing to do, especially for the generations yet to come, who will grow up without having to use a slur to identify the place where they chase their dreams down the mountain.”¹

How Palisades Tahoe Was Chosen

The renaming project ran for nearly 13 months. A resort-led team gathered more than 3,000 survey responses and held focus groups with local residents, longtime pass holders, athletes associated with the resort, employees, and members of the Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada.⁵ A branding agency was hired to synthesize the feedback and cultural research into a new identity.²

“Palisades” refers to the granite cliffs and steep chutes on both the Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows sides of the resort. “Tahoe” carries broad name recognition and honors the Washoe people’s connection to the lake, whose name derives from the Washoe phrase “Da ow aga,” meaning “edge of lake.”⁶⁵ The choice was also intended to preserve continuity with the resort’s history, including its role hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Dee Byrne, the resort’s president and COO, led the transition. She framed the change as consistent with the resort’s identity: “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.”¹

The Washoe Tribe’s Role

The Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada are the Indigenous people of the Lake Tahoe region. Tribal members and activists from groups like the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada had urged the resort to drop the old name for roughly two decades before the 2020 decision.⁷ The tribe participated in a yearlong planning and discussion process with the resort, although it was not consulted on the final name selection.⁸

Washoe Tribal Chairman Serrell Smokey said, “We are very pleased with this decision; today is a day that many have worked towards for decades.”⁴ Some Native individuals criticized the tribe for not pushing harder for a Washoe-language name, though Darrel Cruz reported that overall public response was largely positive.⁸

Since the renaming, the Washoe Tribe has co-curated an educational display at the resort’s High Camp area, and tribal members lead weekly cultural talks. The resort committed to compensating Washoe members for work on educational and environmental projects and to providing free mountain access, including lift tickets, rentals, and lessons, to all Washoe Tribe members. The resort acknowledged that the former name had “actively kept members of the Washoe Tribe from being able to or wanting to visit their ancestral lands.”⁹

Other Names That Changed Nearby

The resort renamed its chairlift formerly called “Squaw One” to “Wa She Shu,” drawing from the Washoe language. The Washoe people refer to themselves as “Wašišiw,” meaning “people from here.”⁶ The Washoe Tribe worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to rename two nearby geographic features: the peak that carried the slur became Washeshu Peak, and the adjacent creek became Washeshu Creek. “Washeshu” is a Washoe word meaning “the people.”¹⁰

In February 2022, the Placer County Board of Supervisors renamed three county-maintained roads. Squaw Valley Road became Olympic Valley Road, Squaw Peak Road became Shirley Canyon Road, and Squaw Peak Way became Marmot Way.¹¹ The community itself has long been known informally as Olympic Valley, a designation dating to the change of its post office name after the 1960 Winter Olympics.

The Wider Federal and State Effort

The resort’s decision was followed by a broader push. In November 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland signed Secretary’s Order 3404, formally declaring “squaw” an “offensive ethnic, racial and sexist slur” and ordering its removal from all federal geographic names.¹² In September 2022, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names announced final replacement names for nearly 650 features across 37 states, with the heaviest concentrations in Arizona, California, and Idaho. The task force received more than 1,000 public recommendations and consulted with nearly 70 tribal governments.¹³

California went further at the state level. Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2022 in November 2022, mandating removal of the term from all California geographic features and place names by January 1, 2025.¹⁴

A Note on the Fresno County Squaw Valley

California had another place with the same old name: an unincorporated community in Fresno County, unrelated to the ski resort. After a contested local process, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted on January 12, 2023, to rename that community Yokuts Valley.¹⁴ If you’re searching about the Fresno County community rather than the Tahoe-area ski resort, that is the current name.

The Resort Today

Resort leadership had said early on that replacing the old name and logo across thousands of signage locations, uniforms, and materials would take multiple seasons. By the 2025–26 ski season, the resort operates entirely as Palisades Tahoe, with recent investments focused on snowmaking upgrades and improved lift infrastructure.¹⁵

1
Los Angeles Times. Squaw Valley Ski Resort Adopts New Name
2
Palisades Tahoe. Our New Name
3
Palisades Tahoe Blog. The S Word
4
NPR. Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort Changes Name
5
Alterra Mountain Company. Palisades Tahoe Chosen as New Name
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Palisades Tahoe. Washoe Display
7
KUNR. Squaw Valley Discussing Name Change With Indigenous Leaders
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High Country News. After the Palisades Tahoe Name Change, Where Is the Washoe Tribe Looking Next
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Palisades Tahoe Blog. The Name Change Part Four: The Washoe Tribe and the Resort Today
10
Sierra Sun. 5 Areas in Placer County Renamed to Scrub Racist Term for Native Women
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Placer County. Placer County Removes the Name Squaw
12
Department of the Interior. Secretary Haaland Takes Action to Remove Derogatory Names From Federal Lands
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Department of the Interior. Interior Department Completes Removal of Sq From Federal Use
14
ABC30. Yokuts Valley Name Change Board Vote
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Reno Gazette Journal. Palisades Tahoe Ski Season Plans