Actor Robert Redford bought the land in Provo Canyon that would become Sundance Mountain Resort in 1969. On Friday, Redford announced the sale of the resort to Broadreach Capitol Partners and Cedar Capital Partners. When Redford bought the land in 1969, the year of the famed Woodstock music festival, he was coming off of the release of âButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.â The name comes from Redfordâs role in what would turn out to be one of his most popular movies. The big push from investors around the time the land was bought was to quickly start commercializing it. There were thoughts of building massive hotels and condominiums to fill up the space and make a profit.