Historic Squaw Valley ski resort changes derogatory and offensive name

A year ago, the Squaw Valley board of directors decided they needed to change the name of the ski resort in Lake Tahoe.

That new name has been announced:

Palisades Tahoe.

On their website, the board said the name "Squaw Valley" was derogatory and offensive.

The resort, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, and Alpine Meadows are under the same ownership. Alpine will retain its name. The two resorts, connected by a cable car, will be known collectively as Palisades Tahoe.

Palisades Tahoe president Dee Byrne said the name change shows the resort can adapt to the modern era.

"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," Byrne said in a news release. "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 honored to be leading our team into this new era.”

Darrel Cruz, Washoe Tribal historic preservation officer, said the name "Squaw Valley" was a reminder of unjust treatment of Native Americans.

"We have been in the area for thousands of years. Olympic Valley is within the ancestral homeland of the Washoe people," Cruz said. "It’s a constant reminder of those time periods when it was not good for us. It’s a term that was inflicted upon us by somebody else and we don’t agree with it.”

The resort's new logo is meant to represent the history of Olympic Valley and the Washoe tribe. There is an explanation on the resort's website: "The Eagle is a legendary symbol of freedom that keeps watch over our valleys."

"We added our two mountains in a way that can also be read as eagle feathers or the waters of Lake Tahoe," the site said. "The shapes reference the flat land and cliffs of the Palisades, while the wavelike forms exude the distinct vibes of California culture."

The board of directors said there have been many similar efforts across the country to replace the name "Squaw Valley."

The word "squaw," derived from the Algonquin language, may have once simply meant "woman," but over generations, the word morphed into a misogynist and racist term to disparage indigenous women.

When settlers arrived in the 1850s in the area where the Sierra Nevada resort is now located, they first saw only Native American women working in a meadow.

The land near Lake Tahoe was believed to have been given the name Squaw Valley by those early settlers.

Jim Krajewski covers high school and youth sports for the Reno Gazette Journal. Follow him on Twitter @RGJPreps. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com.