I lived in Salt Lake City a decade ago and used to make the Foundry Grill buffet a destination on Sundays for brunch. Buffets typically make me cringe (tasting more like sterno fluid than anything else) but Sundance’s is not to be missed. The award winning Tree Room (named for the tree growing up through the center of the restaurant) serves exceptional mountain cuisine and showcases Redford’s private Native American Art collection. With dishes like buffalo pot au feu and grilled elk for a beginning, or American pancetta-wrapped trout for an entrée, topped off with pluot crisp with homemade roasted almond ice cream, you won’t be getting cabin fever anytime soon.
Sundance offers some of the best women’s specialty clinics for skiing and boarding. I went to finesse both my skiing and boarding form. I’ve skied since I was a kid and boarded for the past ten years, but had heard great things about the alpine instruction program. I skied one day and boarded the next. Workshops will even videotape you to fine tune your form. There was marked improvement on my technique from both lessons, proving you can teach an old ski dog some new tricks. Just to round out the weekend, I also added in a day of cross-country skiing in Sundance’s twenty-six kilometers of pristine backcountry trails. There are also ten kilometers of dedicated snowshoeing trails.
If the name Sundance conjures up the famous Sundance catalog, you’ll appreciate the General Store on the resort property with handcrafted Native American and western-style jewelry, home décor, and casual apparel. I scored some hand-spun coffee mugs to bring a little bit of Sundance to my java back home.
Nightlife at Sundance is pretty atypical as well. Sure, you can grab a drink in the Owl Bar, but for something more unusual, don’t miss winter star gazing or birding in search of night owls. And Friday is film night in the Nature Center where you’re sure to catch an award-winning flick from the namesake film festival.
Combine art and snow during the Women’s Nature Journaling Workshop February 17, 2007. See the Sundance Web site for other calendar events for everything from photography lessons to more writing workshops.
