Sundance Mountain Resort

In the late 1960s Robert Redford bought a modest ski hill and the surrounding land on the flank of Mount Timpanogos, and set out to build something different from the resorts booming elsewhere in the Wasatch. His idea was to develop lightly, protect the mountain, and weave the arts into the life of the place, so that skiing and film and craft all shared the same canyon.

That vision gave rise not only to the resort but to the Sundance Institute, founded to nurture independent filmmakers, and to the Sundance Film Festival, which grew into one of the most important gatherings in world cinema. The festival itself moved down to Park City to accommodate its crowds, but its heart and its name came from this mountain. The resort remains modest in size by choice, holding to the founder's belief that less can be more.

Rising above the resort is Mount Timpanogos, one of the tallest and most beloved peaks in the Wasatch Range, a long, dramatic ridge that dominates the skyline of Utah Valley. Locals call it Timp, and its summit hike is a classic Utah outing, a long climb past waterfalls and wildflower meadows to a high, windy crest with views across the valleys below.

The mountain gives the resort its grandeur and its weather. Snow piles deep on Timp's slopes in winter, feeding the ski runs, and in summer its meadows burst with wildflowers. A long-loved legend, the story of a maiden asleep along the mountain's silhouette, has attached itself to the ridge, and whether or not you can pick out the shape, the peak lends the whole canyon a sense of being watched over by something large and ancient.

In winter Sundance is a skier's mountain of a friendly, human scale, with terrain for a range of abilities and a relaxed atmosphere that draws people who want good snow without long lift lines or a party scene. The runs thread through aspen and evergreen, and the small size means you quickly get to know the mountain rather than getting lost on it.

In the warm months the resort turns to hiking, mountain biking, and the arts, with trails leading up toward Timpanogos and out along the canyon. The Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, which climbs over the shoulder of the mountain nearby, is one of Utah's great drives when it is open, winding past groves and overlooks. Throughout the year the resort's arts programming, from crafts to film, keeps Redford's original blend of mountain and culture alive.

Sundance sits within the larger world of Provo Canyon and the Alpine Loop, a stretch of the Wasatch famous for its scenery. The Alpine Loop road is narrow and winding, with limits on vehicle size, and it closes through the snowy months, but when open it links the Sundance side of the mountain to American Fork Canyon and the caves of Timpanogos Cave National Monument on the far side.

The canyon itself is a corridor of aspen, maple, and evergreen that blazes gold and red in autumn, one of the best places in the state to watch the fall color turn. Whether you come to ski, to hike, to catch a bit of the arts, or simply to drive the byway, Sundance rewards a slower pace, in keeping with the founder's idea that the mountain, not the crowds, should set the tempo.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.