Created in 1960 for the moment the world arrived in the Sierra, Heinrich Caesar Berann’s Squaw Valley U.S.A. Olympic Valley, California captures the VIII Olympic Winter Games with cinematic clarity and painterly grace. It is historically compelling as a portrait of the first Winter Olympics held in California—and in the American West—when a once-secluded valley transformed into a global stage for alpine sport. Berann, renowned for blending art and navigation, renders the Olympic venue as both spectacle and system: a living atlas of competition sites, circulation, and terrain. The result is a time capsule of mid-century ambition, documenting how Olympic Valley’s rugged geology and carefully planned facilities converged to host athletes, dignitaries, and spectators during a defining chapter in winter-sports history.

Berann’s signature oblique perspective turns the surrounding Sierra Nevada into a sculpted amphitheater. Squaw Peak, Emigrant Peak, and Granite Chief rise as orienting sentinels, their snowfields modeled with luminous shading that makes relief legible at a glance. Key elevations, noted in feet, punctuate the panorama, while the ridgelines sweep the eye toward bowls and drainages that define the skiing experience. The artist’s control of light and scale reveals the valley’s natural choreography—where headwalls steepen, where glades soften, and where gullies guide descent—without sacrificing cartographic precision. It is at once a landscape portrait and a working diagram of terrain, showing Olympic Valley’s inherent drama and the logic behind its athletic stagecraft.

Equally compelling is the map’s meticulous infrastructure: ski lifts and the Aerial Tramway are crisply labeled and annotated, their alignments threading Base Area to Upper Mountain and the Gold Coast. Lifts serving Shirley Lake, Headwall, and North and South Bowl are plotted with evident intentionality, reflecting the Games’ emphasis on efficient athlete movement and spectator access. The Village at Squaw Valley, the Olympic Village, Squaw Valley Lodge, and The Olympic Plaza are set in a practical layout that communicates purpose as much as place. In 1960, this concentration of venues and vertical transport was a blueprint of modern winter-sport logistics, and Berann records it with the balance of an engineer and a painter.

For skiers and historians alike, Berann’s treatment of the slopes is a masterclass in clarity. Divisions of terrain by skill level are embedded in his color and linework, from approachable pistes on the Lower Mountain to more demanding pitches off Headwall and the bowls. North Bowl and South Bowl open like amphitheaters; Solitude and Snow Valley promise quieter aspects; Gold Coast and Upper Mountain read as hubs of both training and recreation. The map is navigationally lucid yet emotionally evocative, conveying not just where one can ski, but how the mountain feels underfoot—steepening, easing, and funneling in rhythms that defined the Olympic courses and everyday runs alike.

As a historical artifact, this map embodies a pivotal convergence: the rise of lift-served Sierra skiing, the international spotlight of the 1960 Winter Olympics, and Berann’s lasting influence on alpine cartography. Its pictorial topography helped set the visual language of ski-area mapping for decades, marrying legibility with allure. Within its frame are the names and places that forged Squaw Valley’s identity—Granite Chief to Emigrant Peak, the Aerial Tramway to The Olympic Plaza—inscribed at the very moment they entered sporting lore. For the collector, it offers both provenance and atmosphere: a museum-worthy witness to Olympic Valley’s golden winter, preserved in the luminous vocabulary of a master cartographer.

Places on this map

• Squaw Valley
• Squaw Peak
• Emigrant Peak
• Granite Chief
• Olympic Valley
• The Village at Squaw Valley
• Snow Valley
• Gold Coast
• Solitude
• Shirley Lake
• Headwall
• Lower Mountain
• Olympic Village
• North Bowl
• South Bowl
• Base Area
• Aerial Tramway
• Squaw Valley Lodge
• Upper Mountain
• The Olympic Plaza

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Labels for ski lift and tramway routes
• Peaks identified: Squaw Peak, Emigrant Peak, Granite Chief
• Key elevations noted in feet
• Annotations illustrating various lifts and their specifications
• Winter sports facilities depicted in a practical layout
• Visual representation of the surrounding mountainous terrain
• Divisions of slopes for differing skill levels

Historical and design context

• Creation date: 1960
• Mapmaker: Heinrich Caesar Berann
• Interesting context about the mapmaker: Heinrich Caesar Berann was renowned for his artistic and cartographic skills, particularly his topographic maps that balanced artistry with functional navigation.
• Context about the design or style of the map: The map artfully combines a pictorial style with detailed topography, showcasing both the natural beauty of the landscape and the organized structure of the ski area during the Winter Olympics.
• Historical significance: This map serves as a historical artifact reflecting the importance of Squaw Valley as a winter sports destination and its role in hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics.
• Topics and themes shown on the map:
• Ski lift and tramway routes
• Overview of facilities for winter sports
• Historical representation of the Olympic venue
• Regions shown: Olympic Valley, California

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.