Granite Chief

Needle Peak is an 8,971-foot-elevation (2,734 meter) mountain summit in Placer County, California, United States.

Washeshu Peak is an 8,855-foot-elevation (2,699 meter) mountain summit in Placer County, California, United States.

Lyon Peak is an 8,891-foot-elevation (2,710 meter) mountain summit in Placer County, California, United States.

Tinker Knob is an 8,949-foot-elevation (2,728 meter) mountain summit in Placer County, California, United States.

The Granite Chief Wilderness is a 19,048 acre (77 km2) federally designated wilderness area of the Tahoe National Forest. Created by the California Wilderness Act of 1984, it is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains west of Lake Tahoe in the U.S. state of California. It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service Tahoe National Forest. Elevations range from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) to 9,019 feet (2,749 m) at the summit of Granite Chief. Events such as the Western States Endurance Run and the equestrian Western States Trail Ride, (popularly called The Tevis Cup) cross portions of the wilderness. The Pacific Crest Trail also passes through along the east edge of the wilderness. This region is extensively glaciated and has features such as hanging valleys, cirques and U-shaped valleys, but few lakes. Just outside the wilderness boundary there are two large recreation reservoirs, Hell Hole Reservoir to the south and French Meadows Reservoir to the west. The Sierra Club had maintained the Bradley Hut, which was a ski hut located at the Five Lakes Basin, but in 1994 the Sierra Club was asked to remove the hut by the Forest Service as it was now inside the newly created wilderness. The hut was dismantled and relocated four miles (6 km) away. Because no mechanical equipment can be used in a wilderness, the dismantling of the Bradley Hut took until the fall of 1996 to finish.

The Palisades Tahoe Aerial Tram (originally called the Squaw Valley Aerial Tramway) is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long aerial tramway at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort in Olympic Valley, California. It was inaugurated in 1968, and was called the Cable Car. At its opening, it was the largest tramway in the world, built by an Austrian company Garaventa. It carries passengers from the Base Camp at 6,200 feet (1,889m) elevation to High Camp at 8,200 feet (2,499m) elevation. The tram operated operates year-round.

The 1962 NCAA Skiing Championships were contested at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California at the ninth annual NCAA-sanctioned ski tournament to determine the individual and team national champions of men's collegiate alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping in the United States.Denver, coached by Willy Schaeffler, captured their sixth national championship (and second consecutive), edging out rival Colorado in the team standings.Scheduled as the opening event on Thursday, the downhill was postponed to Saturday due to heavy snowfall, and the jumping moved to Sunday.Utah's Jim Gaddis reclaimed the alpine title he won two years earlier; he won the slalom, and was runner-up in the downhill, just a tenth of a second behind.

Palisades Tahoe is a ski resort in the western United States, located in Olympic Valley, California, northwest of Tahoe City in the Sierra Nevada range. 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". It was the host site for the 1960 Winter Olympics.The Palisades Tahoe resort is the largest skiing complex in the Lake Tahoe region, and is known for its challenging terrain. Palisades Tahoe (not including Alpine Meadows) has a base elevation of 6,200 feet (1,890 meters) and a skiable 3,600 acres (1,500 hectares) across six peaks, employing 23 chairlifts, four carpet lifts, a tramway, a gondola connecting it to Alpine Meadows, and the only funitel in the United States. It tops out at 9,010 ft (2,750 m) at Granite Chief, and averages 400 inches (33.3 feet; 10.2 meters) of annual snowfall. The resort attracts approximately 600,000 skiers a year, and is also home to several annual summer events. The spotlight of the 1960 Olympics raised the resort's profile, and it went through several ownership changes beginning in the 1970s. In 2012, it merged with nearby Alpine Meadows, and became Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, to offer joint access to 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), 43 lifts, and over 270 runs. However, a constructed gondola connection between the resorts, as well as a proposed development at its base, has met with controversy from environmentalists.

The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Valley (now known as Olympic Valley), California, United States. The resort was chosen to host the Games at the 1956 meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Squaw Valley was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so the infrastructure and all of the venues were built between 1956 and 1960 at a cost of US$80,000,000 (equivalent to $791,361,080 in 2022). The layout was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to reach most of the venues on foot. The 1960 Winter Games hosted athletes from 30 nations, competing in four sports and 27 events. Biathlon and women's speed skating made their Olympic debuts. Bobsled was not on the Winter Olympic program for the only time; the organizers had decided the events did not warrant the cost of building a bobsled venue after a poll indicated that only nine countries were planning to participate.

Olympic Valley (historically and informally known as Squaw Valley) is an unincorporated community located in Placer County, California northwest of Tahoe City along California State Highway 89 on the banks of the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe. It is home to Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley Ski Resort), the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Olympic Valley is the smallest resort area to host the Olympic Winter Games.

Blyth Arena was an ice skating arena in the western United States, located at Squaw Valley, California. It was built in 1959 as venue for ice hockey, figure skating competitions, and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1960 Winter Olympics. With a seating capacity of 8,500, standing-room crowds of 10,000 were reported for the hockey games between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (on the penultimate day) and the U.S.-Czechoslovakia game during the final day. The elevation of the rink was 6,200 feet (1,890 m) above sea level. Named for Charles R. Blyth, an investment banker who led the California Olympic Commission, Blyth Arena was open on its south side, enabling a view of the mountains. The 400m speed skating track was just to the south of the open side of the arena. This side of the arena also faced the 70m and 90m ski jumps and the slopes of Squaw Valley now known as the Red Dog. Following the Olympics, the wooden ski jump facilities were left unmaintained and slowly deteriorated over time. In 1963, the 400m speed skating track was replaced by a parking lot in spite of protests from California speed skaters; since at the time it was known to be the only mechanically frozen 400m track in the country. From 1963 to 1983, the Squaw Valley ski area operator appealed regularly to the state of California to have the arena torn down to provide additional parking.

Papoose Peak Jumps was a ski jumping hill located at Palisades Tahoe in the US state of California. The hill consisted of three jumps, with K-points of 80, 60 and 40 meters, respectively. Constructed upon the hill-side of Little Papoose Peak, it was built for the 1960 Winter Olympics; the 80-meter hill hosted the ski jumping event and the 60-meter hill the Nordic combined event. The jump was designed by Heini Klopfer and opened in 1958. After the Olympics the venue saw little use; it was renovated for the 1976 US National Ski Jumping Championships, but has since fallen into disrepair and demolished to make room for the Far East Express ski lift.