Sundance Resort: A small Utah ski spot that is so much more – thanks to Robert Redford
By Eileen Ogintz
Need some good luck? Thank Robert Redford, the Sundance Kid.
Head to the Sundance Resort Art Studio in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains and watch expert glass blower Octavio Flores create these beautiful glass balls that according to legend, will protect homes from bad luck and evil spirits when hung in the window. You can buy one here for just $30.
You can take classes here in everything from jewelry making to pottery to painting –there are hour long classes for young children age 3-6, watch the local artists in residence create their work and purchase works made by the instructors.
Unlike other snow resorts, the arts have been central to Sundance Resort since Robert Redford bought the resort in 1969 in an effort to prevent this valley, which he loved, from being developed. His family sold the resort in 2020, and Redford died last year but that same mission continues.
“People come here to connect with the land and the land in turn inspires the creative spirit,” suggests Megan Ah You who oversees the Art Studio and its programs. The studio, in fact, is moving this spring to a far more visible location next to the brand-new Inn at Sundance Resort, the intimate resort’s first hotel to make it easier for guests to find the place.
“This is the only snow resort where you can make pottery or watch glass blowing at the base of a ski resort,” says Nick Como, the Sundance Resort executive who oversees marketing.
The luxe 63-room Inn at Sundance Mountain Resort joins some 90 cottages that are scattered in the woods and ideal for families while the Inn, complete with Ski Valet and Living Room for a help-yourself breakfast is more designed for an adult, perhaps romantic, getaway. (Rooms start at just under $1000 a night.) Guests are encouraged to leave their cars and use the resort shuttles. They can leave their gear at the Inn adjacent to the lifts.
Families love Sundance, about an hour from Salt Lake City because it is small and not frenetic and crowded like major Utah resorts. (No lift lines, wide open slopes, though more snow is desperately needed here as across the entire Western US right now.)
“There were just my two daughters in their ski class,” boasted Michelle Monhaut. “You get a lot more bang for your buck,” agreed her husband Jacob Monhaut. The couple, along with extended family, have been coming here for years from the Chicago suburbs.
Some come simply for the views and ambiance, never even getting on the slopes. “We like the small-town feel,” added Michelle Monhaut’s sister Jenny Copeland. They were waiting for their kids to finish ski school at the year-old Mountain Camp Day Lodge adjacent to Jake’s Lift near expanded parking and options for snacks and lunch. Locals and college students from nearby Provo also come out in droves for night skiing several nights a week. We watched them from our windows at the Inn.
There are heated pools and a spa that has been voted among the top ones in the world by Vogue. (We enjoyed a fantastic pre-Valentine’s hot stone couples massage.)
Later this winter, assuming there is more snow, 60 more acres including a new 1800-vertical foot ridge run, Storyteller, are expected to open. Next season, a new quad lift will debut on the back mountain allowing for the first time all of the terrain to be accessible with high-speed lifts and adding 105 more acres of terrain.
“It’s easy to navigate and great with kids,” said Shannon Jones, stopping for a break with two four-year-olds and her brother. “It’s not too fancy.”The Inn could have been double the size but was purposely designed to be small in keeping with the long-time vision for this resort where the focus from the beginning has been on the arts and conservation.
“Develop a little and preserve a great deal,” Robert Redford believed. He fell in love with this area as a young actor—his first wife was from nearby Provo—and acquired the resort from the Stewart family in the late 1960s to prevent the land and small resort and valley being developed. He wasn’t yet a superstar but that would come in 1969 with the release of “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. “You will see movie memorabilia and photos, even a 1971 motorbike outside at the Inn. Some of his spectacular Native Arts collection is on display at The Tree Room, the resort’s fine dining restaurant that is so named because the building was constructed around a large tree.
The Redford family members still have homes here in the Wasatch Mountain Range between Mount Timpanogos to the west and the North Fork Ridge to the northeast, offering a year-round respite through a combination of nature, recreation, and art.
Besides snow sports, people come to hike, mountain bike, zipline (the third longest in the US), horseback ride and flyfish in the summer and for a robust series of concerts in winter as well as later in the year, one series produced with the famous Blue Bird Café in Nashville. The resort boasts the longest summer season in Utah, from Memorial Day until Halloween and those coming from sea level will be comforted to know that the base is just 6000 feet above ski level and the summit 8,200 feet – considerably lower than other major snow resorts in the West. Besides the spa and fitness center, there are daily yoga classes, Sound Bath Healing sessions, Pilates classes, even après post-slope recovery stretching ritual designed to ease tired muscles.
There is a focus on locally sourced food here as well. All of the tabletops at the Tree Room have feen sourced from a single tree. Think Bison short ribs, tagliatelle with prosciutto and mushroom Alfredo. “don’t skip desert,” one resort employe said, recommending chocolate hazelnut mousse or cheesecake made with Utah honey perhaps.) This is not a place for kids.
The kid -friendly Foundry Grill is known for its steaks and Sunday brunch. (order the Parmesan rolls!) The portions were so big we were more than satisfied sharing.
And the Owl Bar, with live music several nights a week, is famous for the restored 1890s bar once frequented by Butch Cassidy and moved from Thermopolis, Wyoming here in 1994.
Even with all of the improvements, the mission and ambiance has remained the same. Just ask Alessia Adriazola, who visited 25 years ago when she was an exchange student from Italy. “it was my favorite place,” she said.
She now lives in San Diego with her husband and twin sons and wanted them to experience what so spoke to her as a young student. “I’m so happy,” she said. “it’s absolutely the same. I love it.”
So does her family. “we are already talking about next year,” she said.