Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort

Palisades Tahoe is a phenomenal all-rounder ski resort near Lake Tahoe in California, yet in recent times it's been very well known for the wrong reasons. The Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort was formerly and unfortunately known as Squaw Valley, with the name change announced in September 2021 to remove the potentially racist and misogynistic slur. Strange that it wasn't just called Olympic Valley Ski Resort, considering that the valley also sometimes has this nomenclature. The Olympic heritage of the ski resort developed from hosting the 1960 winter games, a major turning point in the development of the resort and skiing in the area.

Warren Miller probably also bestowed the ski resort with more notoriety when he filmed the exploits of daredevils jumping off cliffs in the early 1980s. The impressive pedigree of extreme skiers continues, and when you ride some of the chairlifts at Palisades Tahoe you can feel like you’re watching a live viewing of a Warren Miller movie.

Pros and Cons of Palisades Tahoe 

Pros

• Palisades Tahoe is a fantastic ski resort that caters generously to all levels.
• The ski area is particularly renowned for its impressive terrain for experts and huckers.
• The village is big enough to be interesting without being overwhelming. The “scene” is rather diverse with upscale shopping and some immaculately dressed visitors, along with true ski bums who are just there for the terrain.
• There is a good range of bars and restaurants that cater well to the diversity of visitors. Après ski festivities can be vibrant, particularly on the weekends when the Bay Area folks arrive.
• The Palisades Tahoe lodging options are top class.
• As one of the Lake Tahoe ski resorts, Palisades can be used as a base to access the many other ski resorts in the area. Having the fabulous Alpine Meadows just next door and on the same lift ticket is a major bonus.
• The Lake Tahoe area has plenty of activities on offer.

Cons

• On powder days the place is a zoo and the lift line culture can be brutal. Everyone within a 200 mile radius knows that Palisades has amazing terrain, so there is some fierce powder day competition from a couple of thousand of the best skiers congregated together.
• Palisades Tahoe CA can be a little challenging for low end advanced riders. Firstly the pedigree of the riders at Squaw (and their attitude) can be intimidating, and the trail map or signage doesn’t differentiate between single black runs and lines that are truly frightening. And with minimal tree skiing, this can become rather challenging on low vis days to figure out where the cliffs are!
• Like the other high profile Tahoe destination resorts, it can be pretty expensive. Lift tickets cost a pretty penny (unless you use your Ikon Pass), and most of the lodging is for an upper end budget. 

Palisades Tahoe Skiing Terrain

The 3,600 acres of the Palisades Ski Resort terrain is spread over multiple peaks with 2,850 feet (870 metres) of vertical. The bowls near the top of the peaks are tree-less, offering European style wide open spaces, rather than the traditional US named trails. The Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort also features some glades, groomed highways, steep chutes, and terrain parks.

Even though this is a mecca for extreme skiers, you don’t have to be a stunt skier to enjoy the terrain. Those that like to keep the sticks or board in contact with the snow can also take pleasure in it. There is terrain for everyone from gnarly to nice, from tough to tame, and from scary to sedate. Officially, intermediates and beginners get 45% and 25% of the terrain respectively, but there seems to be many more black and double black trails than 30% due to the classification blurring of piste and off-piste terrain.

If you don’t know what the hell a funitel is you can check out one at the Palisades Tahoe Resort (a wind-friendly gondola type lift attached to two cables). There is also a cable car, four 6-pack fast chairs and various high-speed quads, making this one of the most advanced lift systems in the USA.

In regards to the weather, the gods are generally kind. The resort boasts 400 inches of snowfall annually (albeit somewhat heavy at times and supplemented by snow-making) and the classic Californian sun that shines 300 days a year – perfect for the fair-weather powder hound (if they even exist?).

Where is Palisades Tahoe CA?

Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort is located about 8 miles inland of the town of Tahoe City (don’t be fooled by the name!) which sits on the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe in California. The town of Truckee is about 12 miles to the north of the ski resort.

The closest airport is in Reno Nevada which is 49 miles to the northeast; about a one hour drive. Palisades Tahoe Resort is 208 miles northeast of the San Francisco International Airport via Interstate-80.

Palisades Tahoe CA is located adjacent to Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, and whilst the two ski areas are not inter-connected (yet!), they operate on the same lift ticket and there are frequent shuttle buses between the two resorts.

Palisades Tahoe Lodging

The village at the base of the ski area is medium sized, and there are several luxury and deluxe priced condos and hotels. The ski-in ski-out Palisades Tahoe lodging at the Resort at Squaw Creek is also very popular.

More economical lodging options abound in nearby Tahoe City and Truckee.

Palisades Tahoe Accommodations Listings