Sundance Mountain Resort is probably one of the more under-the-radar ski resorts in the state of Utah. With numerous changes and improvements this offseason, that is about to change. This past March, they announced two new lifts, new snowmaking equipment, and snowmaking reservoir, a parking expansion, and a renovation of the Creekside Building. Sundance has been mostly quiet about their big offseason changes, but did a post about the progress on the high-speed quad, as well as announcing an auction for the Arrowhead Chairs that happened earlier in August. Curious about the changes, I traveled to Provo Canyon to check out Sundance for the first time.
The first major change is the construction of a new Doppelmayr high-speed quad. This detachable services the base area to the right of Ray’s base terminal and will go up to the Mandan Summit. Construction is well underway on the base terminal. At the base, I saw the team install the bull wheel. The lift will take seven minutes to reach the top, and will feature a mid-station for beginner skiers. I then took a ride up the soon-to-be-closed Ray’s Lift to check out the footers of the lift towers, which are mostly in place, and the placement of the snowmaking equipment.
Snowmaking pipes are being laid out across the mountain. Excavation work is being done on multiple trails. One of the cool finds from the chairlift ride up Rays was a trail full of snowmaking pipes and various pieces of new chairlift equipment that have yet to be installed.
I did not notice any construction on the backside Mandan Summit fixed-grip quad lift but based on the small scope of the project compared to the high-speed quad, along with the fact that the lift will mostly be open only for summer operations, this could be a project for the later fall.
I could also see work being done on the Creekside building, which is located in Sundance’s quaint base village. Overall, I was really impressed at how beautiful the mountain and base village was, and will hopefully come back when the wildfire smoke doesn’t affect the views.
Image Credits: Sundance Mountain Resort
