Museums: Tahoe's Snow Museum

A progress report.

History was made when Squaw Valley, now Palisades Tahoe, hosted the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. A museum honoring that legacy is fundraising to start construction next year.

What’s taking you so long?” That’s the question asked way too often about the future SNOW (Sierra Nevada Olympic and Winter) Sports Museum. The answer is a long story.

When the 1960 Winter Olympics concluded, Squaw Valley founder Wayne Poulsen and ski historian Bill Berry agreed that the region’s history, combined with the events of the recent Olympics, was worthy of a ski museum. But then nothing happened.

They were convinced that stories of California gold miners racing downhill on 14-foot longboards, and the feats of Snowshoe Thompson, needed to be collected and displayed as an historical attraction. But they had to wait until 1969 for the Auburn Ski Club to open the Western SkiSport Museum at Boreal Ridge, where Berry’s sizeable collection of Sierra ski history artifacts still resides, waiting to be archived and moved to the future SNOW Sports Museum.

Then, in 2008, Poulsen’s youngest son, Russell, rallied a group of local supporters to establish a museum foundation and explore the feasibility of constructing a modern facility in or near Olympic Valley. Keeping in mind that the museum will represent the history and development of all northern Sierra ski resorts, in 2015 a site was selected in Placer County’s Olympic Valley Park at the entrance to Olympic Valley.

Now, with financial support from Placer County, $1 million from the Cushing Family Endowment, the backing of enthused and effective board members and support from local Olympic athletes, the SNOW Sports Museum Foundation looks forward to completing an Environmental Impact Report in 2023, followed by a capital campaign to raise funds for construction in 2024. Meanwhile, volunteer “Snow Angels” are cataloguing artifacts at the Western SkiSport Museum and other locations for future exhibits.

As Bill Clark, longtime Western SkiSport Museum curator, Auburn Ski Club executive director and SNOW Museum board member, recently told the Tahoe Quarterly, “the SNOW Museum is not just about winter sports history. It’s also about the culture and passion that exists in mountain communities everywhere.”

ISHA Launches Museum Grant Program

The International Skiing History Association has created a new grant program to help ski museums do what they do best: increase public awareness of the sport’s heritage.

Eighty-two ski museums around the world were invited in early December to apply for the $5,000 grant. One grant will be awarded each year.

“The idea to support our colleagues at nonprofit ski museums was first suggested by former ISHA executive committee member Bernie Weichsel,” says ISHA chairman Rick Moulton. “Bernie believes, as we do, that this will support our mandate to preserve and publicize the histories of the people, places and products that led to the sport’s growth.”

ISHA is offering funds for capital projects intended to help a ski museum increase its awareness and community support. Applications are being accepted in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian or Japanese. The deadline for submission is January 20, 2023.

Funds granted must be earmarked for a capital project, such as a new exhibit, artifact acquisition or remodel of an existing exhibit. The project must contribute to the museum’s knowledge base and aid in the preservation of skiing history.

Selection of the winning museum for the grant’s inaugural year will be announced on March 1, 2023. This year’s grant will be awarded at the ISHA Annual Awards Banquet, to be held in Big Sky, Montana, on March 22, 2023. The winning museum will receive an ISHA engraved award for display, lodging at Big Sky Resort and admission to the ISHA Awards banquet where information about the winning museum will be displayed.

The May-June 2023 issue of Skiing History magazine will profile the winning museum and its project.  

For more information on the grant program, contact Janet White, ISHA Executive Director, janet@skiinghistory.org.