page_title: Squaw Valley Ski Resort
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Squaw Valley Ski Resort / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Squaw Valley 1960 - Alpine Skiing Venues
context_page_description: Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California, is the second-largest skiing complex in the Lake Tahoe area after Heavenly Mountain Resort. Squaw Valley covers 3,600 acres employing 30 chairlifts and the only funitel in the U.S.
  In 2012, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows were combined to become "Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows" which offers joint access to 6,200 acres, 43 lifts and over 270 trails. The resort attracts approximately 600,000 skiers a year. The site was the host site for the 1960 Winter Olympics.
  Located west of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada with a base of 6,200 ft and a skiable 3,600 acres across six peaks, the resort tops out at 9,050 ft at Granite Chief. the resort averages 450 inches of snowfall every winter. An aerial tramway rises 2,000 ft to an elevation of 8,200 ft above sea level. The resort is also home to several annual summer events.
  The use of the term "squaw" in the resort's name is controversial because it is an ethnic and sexual slur. Due to this, in August of 2020, the owners announced their commitment to remove the word “squaw” from the resort's name by summer 2021.
context_section_description: Former University of Nevada star skier, Wayne Poulsen, purchased the first 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) of Squaw Valley Ski Resort from the Southern Pacific Railroad. Poulsen already had a history in the area: in 1931, he had placed third at an Olympic trials at Granlibakken in Tahoe City. Shortly after, Poulsen met Harvard alumnus and trained lawyer Alex Cushing, who brought capital, political connections, and increased access to the project. Cushing had fallen in love with Lake Tahoe after a visit to the Sierra Nevada in 1946. After a disagreement over the resort's future, Cushing gained control of the project and became the chairman of Squaw Valley Ski Corporation.  The resort opened in 1949, and Cushing remained its chairman until his death.
  Cushing modeled the resort after European ski destinations by locating a swimming pool, ice rink, roller disco, and restaurants on the mountain instead of at the base. His designs also brought advanced lift technology to the U.S. for the first time. When Squaw Valley opened, its Squaw One lift was deemed the longest double chairlift in the world.
  Squaw Valley's success can be largely attributed to the visibility that came from hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics, a direct result of Cushing's effort and determination. During the planning stages of the 1960 Olympics, Innsbruck, Austria, was the leading choice for the Olympic site. In 1955, however, Cushing secured the bid after winning over the International Olympic Committee in Paris with a scale model of his planned Olympic site. The Winter Olympics in 1960 were the first to be televised live, making the games accessible to millions of viewers in real-time.  The event signaled the rise of U.S. skiing to the level of world-famous European skiing, and Squaw Valley's preparedness for the games showed the international community that U.S. ski resorts offered world-class facilities.
  Squaw Valley hosted World Cup races in 1969 with four technical events: slalom and giant slalom for both men and women. American Billy Kidd won the men's slalom, followed by U.S. teammates Rick Chaffee (4th) and Spider Sabich (10th) of Kyburz. The 1969 season saw a record snowpack at Squaw Valley; and over eight feet (2.4 m) of new snow cancelled the downhills. After an absence of 48 years, women's technical races returned in 2017 and overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin of Colorado won both events.
  In 1978, Squaw Valley experienced one of the worst cable car accidents in history.  On a stormy afternoon late in the season on Saturday, 15 April, the Tram came off of one of its cables, dropped 75 feet (23 m) and then bounced back up, colliding with a cable which sheared through the car; four were killed and 31 injured.
  Squaw Valley was purchased by private equity group KSL Capital Partners in November 2010. In September 2011, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort and Squaw Valley Ski Resort announced their intention to merge ownership. The merger united the two popular ski destinations under common management by Squaw's Valley's parent company, KSL Capital Partners, LLC.  A year later, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski Resort merged under the new umbrella leadership of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, LLC. The new company operates as one, with joint lift tickets and single season passes for visitors and free shuttles between its locations, but preserves the individuality of the two resorts. In 2017, KSL Capital, in partnership with Aspen/Snowmass (Henry Crown and Company), formed Alterra Mountain Company, which then became the primary owner of Squaw Valley.
  Squaw Valley was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1960 during the Olympic Games.  The area was dubbed the Pioneer Ski Area of America, commemorating 100 years of skiing in nearby Sierra Nevada mining towns that were the first U.S. locations where organized skiing took place.
  Ron Cohen is the resort's COO after the departure of Andrew Wirth.
caption: Alpine runs of the
  1960 Winter Olympics
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