At Sundance Mountain Resort, a New Addition Extends Robert Redford's Vision

"When late actor Robert Redford began acquiring the land in Utah's Wasatch Range that would become Sundance Mountain Resort, he did so with the preservation of its beauty in mind. What started off as a $500 purchase of two acres in the mountain region in 1961 quickly expanded to thousands of acres, forming a resort the Academy Award winner would name Sundance, after the outlaw he played in his breakout film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. From the outset, Redford's guiding principle was simple: "develop a little, preserve a lot.""

"By 1969, the visionary had taken over a small, family-run ski resort in the Provo Canyon, gradually adding an assortment of cottages and mountain homes scattered about the property. Keenly aware of the dangers of overdevelopment, Redford remained faithful to his ethos, employing materials, design, and scale that would allow the landscape's beauty to shine. Although Redford passed away in September 2025, the principles he adhered to continue to guide construction at the Sundance Mountain Resort today."

""This was the first true new-build project at Sundance in a long time, so it required a particularly careful process," says Tom Parker, cofounder of Fettle, the design studio behind both the cabin upgrades and The Inn. The team worked within a strict set of parameters rooted in the guidelines Redford established before passing the property to new ownership in 2020. Per those guidelines, any addition had to sit lightly within its surroundings without demolition or removal of existing nature or the built environment."

Robert Redford acquired land in Utah's Wasatch Range beginning in 1961, expanding a $500, two-acre purchase into thousands of acres that became Sundance Mountain Resort. He named the resort Sundance after the outlaw he portrayed in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Redford's operating principle was to develop minimally and preserve extensively. He took over a family-run ski resort by 1969 and added cottages and mountain homes while avoiding overdevelopment through careful choices of materials, design, and scale. The resort continues to follow Redford's guidelines, and a new 64-room Inn opened after careful, rules-driven design.

Read at Architectural Digest