What was the tragedy of Squaw Valley?

It was 3:45 p.m. on April 15, 1978, when a particularly muscular Sierra blizzard struck Squaw Valley ski resort. The red tram, filled with 44 occupants, was heading steadily toward the base of the mountain when an unknown event caused it to dislodge from its support cables.



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From its founding in 1949, the resort was known as Squaw Valley, but it changed its name in 2021 due to the derogatory connotations of the word squaw.

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Support from community members. Last summer, Roman Rain Tree, a member of the local area Dunlap Band of Mono and Choinumni tribes, started the initiative to change the name, saying that Squaw Valley was offensive to Indigenous people in the region. Squaw Valley is a census-designated place in Fresno County.

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Squaw Valley—also known as Olympic Valley—is one of the largest ski areas in the United States and houses a popular landmark for Northern Tahoe, the 1960 Olympic Games. It all began in 1942, when two ski adventurists, Wayne Paulsen and Alex Cushing, began building Squaw Valley Ski Resort.

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The Department of Interior has announced that the Board on Geographic Names has voted on the final replacement names for nearly 650 geographic features around the U.S. that featured the word “squaw”. Squaw Creek, which flows from Lower Girard Lake into the Mahoning River is now Girard Creek.

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