How the Sundance Mountain Resort Is Surviving the Loss of Its World-Famous Film Festival

For nearly 40 years, the Hollywood glitterati traded their stilettos for hiking boots in service of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford’s celebration of independent cinema in the Utah mountains. Redford’s nonprofit Sundance Institute grew what was originally the U.S. Film Festival from a two-theater event in Park City to a hallmark of the global film-fest calendar. Just prior to the pandemic, the 2019 festival set records showcasing 242 projects to 122,313 attendees in Park City, Salt Lake City, and at Sundance Mountain Resort, Redford’s protected 5,000-acre haven in Provo Canyon. Even as a near-octogenarian, he told CNN he was “constantly looking for new ways to tell stories, for innovation,” inspired largely by the place he put down roots. On September 16, 2025, Redford passed away at his home in Sundance, Utah, at the age of 89. Legend has it that it rained heavily in the canyon the morning of his death, despite it being one of the driest summers on record. His friends and family mourned the loss of a great benefactor: an actor, yes, but also an auteur, a connector, and a conservationist. Perhaps foreseeing the end of his own long walk in the woods, Redford sold the Sundance Mountain Resort in 2020 to Broadreach Capital Partners and Cedar Capital Partners. The film festival will migrate to Boulder, Colorado, in January 2027, but the legacy of the Sundance Institute remains strong in the wild spaces around Provo. “Once I get to Provo Canyon and come up this narrow road, I start to breathe differently,” said Redford. Sundance Mountain Resort As part of the transition, the Redford family, along with Sundance Resort ownership, partnered with Utah Open Lands to place additional acres into the Redford Family Elk Meadows Preserve; now, more than 70 percent of the property is a nature sanctuary. Meanwhile, Sundance added a new 63-room Inn and a high-speed chair lift in 2026, following the script (approved by Redford before his passing) for the mountain resort’s second act. Chad Linebaugh looks the part of a Redford protege, with the blond hair and screen-worthy smile. The general manager and president of Sundance Mountain Resort started as a waiter here when he was 24 and never left. He recently siphoned off the title “general manager,” hiring Kit Pappas as the new managing director. Pappas brings a background in opening Capellas, Ritz-Carltons, and high-end mountain resorts, seeming well poised to help Sundance scale (within reason) its luxury product. It was only Day 4 on the job when Pappas, with Linebaugh, guided a group of eight on a three-mile hike to Stewart Falls, the sort of VIP experience Linebaugh hopes to offer with his freed-up time. Weddings and group bookings are also up 30 percent from 2025 to 2026 (just look up “Sundance” and “wedding” on TikTok to see why). Neighboring ski resorts Snowbird and Alta are visible from the peak of the Sundance property—and soon, Deer Valley will double its skiable terrain to make a sort-of Deer Valley East. Sundance doesn’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, Linebaugh explains. “I want this to remain its own thing with its authentic personality,” he says, “with nature and art at its core and a commitment to protecting the environment.” Golden hour at Sundance is prime time to enjoy the heated outdoor pools and sauna (or take a quick cold plunge in the natural springs). Sundance Mountain Resort Given the sanctuary status of nearly three-quarters of the property, nature is front, center, over, and under Sundance. Arriving by car (usually from the Salt Lake City or Provo airports) is part of the experience, as strip malls and Mormon temples give way to glacier-cut granite and limestone canyons, covered in a half-dozen shades of red, orange, and aspen yellow in the fall. Evergreens dot the land, and waterfalls trickle or surge, depending on the season. Mount Timpanogos, an 11,752-foot peak in the Wasatch Range, is a towering mascot, viewable at all hours from the sky-high windows of Cascade Ridge, one of 10 privately owned luxury homes Sundance manages (in addition to several smaller cottages and the Inn). This six-bedroom, six-bath playground is the former home of a makeup artist for Pierce Brosnan; the signed movie posters downstairs are the only lingering note of nostalgia. Nowadays, it’s one of the biggest bookable homes here, with an all-seasons outdoor Jacuzzi tub that could fit an entire film crew, multiple grand stone fireplaces, and plenty of taxidermy to keep guests company. A mountain lion and bear flank the living room, set beneath a vaulted timber ceiling, and a misunderstood steer we called Bessie is the guardian of a book-filled bedroom. Like everywhere else at Sundance, Cascade Ridge is full of character—it’s clearly a place where creatives will feel at home. The resort has a legacy of being a talent incubator; the Sundance Institute has hosted director’s labs that welcomed everyone from Quentin Tarantino to recent Oscar winners Ryan Coogler and Chloé Zhao. Guests can also stretch their skills at the Art Studio, where pros hold two-hour painting, printmaking, pottery, and silversmithing classes, a true highlight of any trip that ends with a handmade souvenir. The new 63-room Inn at Sundance has a Living Room that doubles as an all-day gathering place. Sundance Mountain Resort Do you have to be a maker to fit in? Hardly—though the clientele is inordinately good looking, a mix of Hollywood types and blue-eyed BYU students. Celebrities still retreat here despite the relocation of the film festival. Now, they hang like the locals do: to Zen out at the spa and outdoor hot springs, to enjoy the pepper steak and roasted brussels in the Tree Room, live music at the Owl Bar, and come December, to ski on a practically private mountain. Eighty percent of the skiers are local, says Linebaugh, and half the runs are expert level, while the other half are well suited for beginners, intermediate, and ski school. It won’t be long before East and West coasters are seeking out a place that Redford discovered by happy accident. “I came to this canyon by mistake,” Redford told Linebaugh in a two-hour interview not long before his death, an audio clip of which Linebaugh played as our hiking group looked out over the wilderness. Hearing Redford’s iconic voice again, floating over the wind, adds heft to what’s blatantly obvious: This place is special. “Coming up the canyon, coming from a world of chaos, and busyness … once I get to Provo Canyon and come up this narrow road, I start to breathe differently,” the late actor said. “It’s always been that way. It’s never been dull coming up this road. It always feels new. It always feels fresh, and it sets in motion a different attitude.” Sundance Mountain Resort starts from $433/night for a room in the Inn; prices for cottages and homes vary.