“When the sun rises over Lake Tahoe on opening day 2021, it’ll be the dawn of something new. Our storied past will remain, but we are evolving,” Squaw Valley, now known as Palisades Tahoe, announced in a video released today. The resort didn’t wait for opening day. By all records on social media and other public-facing marketing, the new name is going into effect a bit sooner than that, as the resort website, Instagram, and other social channels now sport the new logo and moniker.
According to the resort, the new name, Palisades, is “inspired by the sheer granite faces and chutes that compose this otherworldly terrain,” and will “honor the resort’s history as a land of legends.”
The decision to change the resort name was announced just over a year ago amidst the national movement to account for America’s racist past and present. The word “squaw” is a racist and sexist term for a Native American woman, and despite the resort’s rich history and semi-iconic status as the home of the 1960 Winter Olympics, the name had to go. The new logo represents a nod to the Washoe tribe’s sacred symbol, an eagle, which is also a native bird to Lake Tahoe.
“It is inspiring that after seven decades in operation, a company as storied and established as this resort can still reflect and adjust when it is the necessary and right thing to do,” said recently appointed Palisades Tahoe President and COO Dee Byrne in a press release. “This name change reflects who we are as a ski resort and community… It’s an incredibly exciting time to be part of Palisades Tahoe and after more than 10 years at the resort, I’m honored to be leading our team into this new era.”
