55 rooms thirty seconds from the Palisades Tahoe lift line — the Gavin Newsom and Gordon Getty-founded 1994 boutique that brought wine-country food and wine-list discipline to a ski hotel for the first time, with breakfast still included and the bar still open until close.
"The Bay Area's outpost in the Sierra. Newsom and Getty's 1994 wine-country export to the slopes is still the only Tahoe hotel where the wine list (1,500 bottles, no corkage on a producer it doesn't already stock) genuinely matters. Thirty seconds to the Funitel, breakfast still included, and a bar that closes when the last person leaves."
The PlumpJack Inn opened in December 1994 as the third hospitality concept of the PlumpJack Group — the Bay Area food-wine-and-hospitality venture co-founded by Gavin Newsom (now governor of California) and Gordon Getty in 1992. The brand had launched with a wine merchant on Fillmore Street in San Francisco; the eponymous restaurant on Fillmore Street followed; the PlumpJack Inn was the alpine extension, taking over a small 1960s ski lodge at the base of what was then Squaw Valley (renamed Palisades Tahoe in September 2021) and rebuilding it as a 55-room boutique with a ground-floor restaurant of the same standard as the San Francisco original. Newsom retains an ownership interest through the PlumpJack Group; the property remains family-operated.
The 55 keys are arranged across the lodge's three floors in a deliberately small footprint. Standard rooms run a compact 280–340 square feet — the inn doesn't pretend to be larger than it is — with refreshed contemporary mountain interiors (warm whites, dark walnut, slate, photography of Olympic Valley terrain). Junior Suites and the four PlumpJack Suites add separate sitting areas. Every room has a fireplace (most are gas), down comforters, and a Nespresso machine; six rooms have private patios with hot tubs. The property is deliberately not a full-service resort — there is no spa, no kids' club, no pool of any consequence (a small heated outdoor pool and one hot tub serve the inn). The hotel does not require children to be over a certain age but the operating model is unmistakably adult-leaning.
PlumpJack Café is the substance of the proposition. The contemporary Californian menu under chef Trevor Robinson runs serious Sierra Nevada-sourced cooking that holds its own against any ski-region restaurant in the western United States; the cocktail bar is the Olympic Valley pre-ski-and-après-ski meeting point. The wine list — built on the foundation of the PlumpJack vineyard in Oakville (Napa Valley) and run by sommelier Kelli White — is the strongest in the Tahoe basin. The PlumpJack Group also owns the Cade and Odette wineries in Napa Valley; the by-the-glass programme leans heavily on the group's own production but the bottle list runs to 1,500 producers across both hemispheres. Continental breakfast is included in every rate and served in the café; après-ski runs from 3 PM in the bar.
The position is the second proposition. The PlumpJack Inn sits thirty seconds from the Palisades Tahoe Funitel and Olympic Tram base stations — closer to the lift line than any other hotel in Olympic Valley, including the much larger Everline Resort up the road. In summer the inn becomes the Sierra Nevada base for hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (which runs the ridge above the valley), the Truckee River fly-fishing programme, the Granite Chief Wilderness trailheads, and Lake Tahoe boating from the Sierra Boat Company in Carnelian Bay. For two-night and three-night ski weekends — particularly for Bay Area guests who don't want a 400-room resort — PlumpJack remains the most considered choice in the Tahoe basin.
For Olympic Valley ski weekends with eight to fourteen guests PlumpJack is the property a wine-aware group books. A block of Junior Suites or the four PlumpJack Suites for the principals, a private dining table at PlumpJack Café (the wine pairing dinner is the headline event), and the lift line thirty seconds from the door for the morning. The bar runs late on weekends and the operating model handles the volume without strain.
For solo Sierra Nevada travel PlumpJack is the strongest property in the Tahoe basin. Single occupancy is fully accommodated; the small-room categories are sized for one guest at an accessible rate; the café handles solo dining at the bar without making it feel transactional; the position thirty seconds from the lifts means the day starts on skis, ends with the bar, and doesn't require navigating a 400-room resort to get from one to the other.
For ski anniversaries that don't need a full resort experience PlumpJack delivers. A PlumpJack Suite for the milestone version, dinner at the café both nights with the wine pairing, the ground-floor bar before bed, and the lifts thirty seconds from the door for the morning. A more accessible pricing level than the Ritz at Northstar across the basin, and arguably a more characterful one.
1920 Olympic Valley Road
Olympic Valley, CA 96146
United States
Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) 50 minutes; Truckee 15 minutes; Palisades Tahoe Funitel base station 30 seconds; Tahoe City 12 minutes
55 rooms (incl. 4 PlumpJack Suites)
Standard Rooms from $329/night
Junior Suites from $475/night
PlumpJack Suites from $725/night
Hot-tub patio rooms from $599/night
Continental breakfast included
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened December 1994 by PlumpJack Group (Gavin Newsom and Gordon Getty)
PlumpJack Café (the basin's strongest hotel restaurant)
1,500-bottle PlumpJack Café wine list
30 seconds to Palisades Tahoe Funitel
Continental breakfast included
Heated outdoor pool and hot tub
Gas fireplaces in every room
Pet-friendly (one or two dogs accepted)
From $329/night including continental breakfast. PlumpJack Suites and hot-tub patio rooms book three months ahead for December–February peak ski; six months ahead for Christmas–New Year. Summer rates run roughly 25% lower; July weekends still book six weeks ahead.
Book This Hotel →The 405-room full-service resort up the road on the same Olympic Valley meadow with the Loyle Spa and three pools.
170-room ski-in / ski-out mountain five-star at Northstar California with the Highlands Spa and Manzanita.
154-room lakefront five-star at Stateline with the only championship-course-on-the-water in the basin.