To celebrate the 2026 Winter Olympics, it’s worth looking back to when the games once reshaped the Sierra—and how the Tahoe Basin continues to shape athletes today.
In July 2025, the ski-industry site Unofficial Networks named Palisades Tahoe the “Ski Area That Produces the Best Skiers.” While the rankings came from a poll on the outlet’s Facebook page rather than an Olympic committee, the message hints at a deeper truth: Tahoe has become one of the most reliable training grounds for elite winter athletes in the country.
This year, at least 10 athletes with roots in the Truckee-Tahoe region are competing on the Olympic stage, with four of them making their Olympic debuts. They span disciplines from alpine racing to halfpipe and cross-country skiing, but share a common foundation shaped by the variable winters, demanding terrain and deeply embedded mountain culture of our backyard.
“What makes it special is how people grow up skiing here,” said Bryce Bennett, who’s competing in this year’s downhill skiing games, in an interview for the Palisades Tahoe blog. “You’re free skiing all the time, exploring terrain, figuring things out on your own, and skiing in a lot of different conditions. That creates skiers who are adaptable, creative, and confident across the whole mountain, not just in one discipline.”
However, before the 1960 Winter Olympics, many people across the world didn’t realize that California had snow—or even mountains—to begin with.
“Everyone was surprised,” said Osvaldo Ancinas, then an Argentinean ski team member, in an article for The Union in Grass Valley. “We thought California was all beaches and palm trees. That’s what Squaw Valley (renamed Palisades Tahoe in 2021) did for skiing in California, it opened it to the world … (and) it opened the gates for the rest of the world to come over and enjoy beautiful Lake Tahoe.”
The valley in which Palisades now sits was not developed, and the mountain itself only had a couple of tow ropes and a single lift.
After resort owner Alexander Cushing won the bid for the Olympics––in an unpredictable turn of events that included beating the favored Innsbruck, Austria, by only two votes––the valley and the Tahoe region itself were reinvented. The single dirt road that used to lead into the small ski area was replaced by paved, graded roads. The highway leading from Reno (at the time U.S. 40) and other state routes saw major improvements and expansions. Utilities were installed. The single lodge at the base of the mountain was joined by accommodations for nearly 1,000, along with restaurants and other amenities. Chairlifts were added to the ski hill.
At the time, Tahoe was considered a summertime escape, not a year-round destination. The 1960 Olympics changed that. Businesses that were only open during the summer began offering services in the winter as well, such as Sunnyside Resort on the west shore. New ski resorts popped up around the basin including Alpine Meadows (1961), Homewood (1961), Diamond Peak (1966), Northstar (1972), and Kirkwood (1972). Sierra-at-Tahoe and Heavenly expanded their existing operations in the decade that followed the games.
The Olympics may have only jumpstarted the inevitable, but the 1960 winter games absolutely played a part in the prominence of the basin’s snowsports legacy.
Here are the 10 Truckee/Tahoe athletes competing in the winter Olympics:
Eileen Gu, freestyle ski
Gu is from San Francisco and trained at Northstar. She is representing the People’s Republic of China. This is her second Olympic games; she previously competed in women’s freeski halfpipe, women’s freeski big air, and women’s freeski slopestyle in the 2022 Beijing games. She won a silver medal in the freeski slopestyle on Feb. 9, and she is set to compete in the snowboard women’s freeski halfpipe and women’s freeski big air.
Keely Cashman, alpine ski
Cashman trained with Team Palisades Tahoe. This is her second Olympic games; she previously competed in women’s downhill, women’s super-G, and women’s combined at the 2022 Beijing games. She competed in several women’s downhill events and placed 23rd in the alpine skiing women’s team combined race on Feb. 10.
AJ Hurt—alpine ski
Hurt is from Carnelian Bay and trained with Team Palisades Tahoe. This is her second Olympic games; she previously competed in mixed team parallel, women’s slalom, and women’s giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing games. She was part of the team ranked 15th in the alpine skiing women’s team combined race on Feb. 10.
Nina O’Brien—Alpine Ski
O’Brien is from San Francisco and trained with Team Palisades Tahoe. This is her second Olympic games; she previously competed in women’s giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing games. She competed in the women’s team combined downhill event on Feb. 10.
Bryce Bennett—alpine ski
Bennett is from Tahoe City and trained with Team Palisades Tahoe. This is his third Olympic games; he previously competed in the men’s downhill and men’s combined at the 2018 Pyeongchang games and men’s downhill and men’s super-g at the 2022 Beijing games. He ranked 13th in the alpine skiing men’s downhill event on Feb. 7.
James “JC” Schoonmaker—cross country ski
Schoonmaker is from Tahoe City and trained with Auburn Ski Club and later Sugar Bowl Academy while in high school. This is his second Olympic games; he previously competed in men’s team sprint classic, men’s sprint free, and men’s 15km interval start classic at the 2022 Beijing games. He ranked eighth in the cross-country skiing men’s sprint classic semifinals on Feb. 10.
Abby Winterberger—freestyle ski
Winterberger is from Truckee and trained with the Olympic Valley Freestyle Freeride Team. This is her Olympic debut. At 15, she is the youngest member of Team USA this year. She will be competing in women’s freeski halfpipe; her schedule of events has not yet been released.
Alessandro Barbieri—freestyle snowboarding
Barbieri is from Portland, Ore., and competes with Tahoe Select Snowboard Team in the USASA Mount Hood Division. This is his Olympic debut. He is scheduled to compete in the men’s snowboard halfpipe finals on Feb. 13.
Hahna Norman—freestyle snowboarding
Norman is from Truckee and trained at Northstar before graduating from Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy. This is her Olympic debut. She ranked 28th in the women’s snowboard big air and plans to compete in the women’s snowboard slopestyle, date TBA.
Hanna Percy—Snowboard Cross
Percy is from Truckee and trained at the Gould Academy in Maine. This is her Olympic debut. She is set to compete in women’s snowboard cross on Feb. 13.