After this year’s Sundance Film Festival, I headed into the mountains to the stealthy and uber-luxurious Auberge Resort that I’d been scoping online for months––the Lodge at Blue Sky. I first heard about it through their Macallan Whisky Yurt. Then, through a series of coincidences, the chance fell into my lap to extend my time in Utah after a family ski trip at Deer Valley and Sundance, to stay at Blue Sky for the better part of a week while I waited for a DPS Skis media ski day with Ted Ligety.
Acura was a sponsor of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and they loaned me one of their new ZDX EVs to test out on the mountain roads that would bring me to my new lair for the week. After passing through the main gates of the property, the winding mountain road left me doubting my sense of direction. Then I passed the massive tanks and chimneys of the High West Distillery––with whom the resort shares the property––and knew I was on the right track. The final curve is a blind one, and so the Lodge appears out of nowhere––one moment you’re on a tiny mountain road and then suddenly you’re under the giant, modern porte cochère and valet is walking out to meet you.
I stepped through a massive door into the bright lobby with a mountain wear (and -ware) boutique, a lounge space with a chess board by a glass wall, and access to the bar and restaurant. It felt like I had been invited to a weekend retreat at the home of a tech oligarch. Owners Barb and Mike Phillips bought the 4,000-acre ranch in 2004 and transformed it into a luxury retreat that opened in 2019, and which is managed by Auberge Resorts. You still feel the fact that the ranch is at the heart of things.
My room was one of the Earth Suites––modern structures that emerge from the slope of the landscape like rock formations, each with a private entrance and a private patio with an outdoor fireplace. These suites have doors to make them adjoin, so you could come with a group and have one big modern mountain luxury pad. With natural stone tile floors and thick wood paneling on the walls, the use of materials to mimic the earth, stone, and wood of the landscape create a sense of unity that the best architecture possesses; that rare ability of a new building to feel like a fresh idea and a timeless part of its surroundings at the same time.
The in-room mini bar was well-stocked, everything was included in the room, and it was re-stocked daily. The bathroom was massive and had both indoor and outdoor showers. In the morning, one push of a button on the bedside table would bring up the blackout curtains and a gleaming mountainside would urge me out of bed.
DINING AND DRINKING
Breakfast, and all of my meals, were at Yuta, the hotel’s main restaurant. The food of Executive Chef Guillermo Tellez is exciting, inventive, and refined. Mexican-born, you feel his native influence in subtle ways that add an important dimension to the menu. The wine list is extensive and earned it aWine Spectator award as one of 2024’s Best Restaurants for Wine. Yuta and the adjoining bar look out over Blue Sky’s heated infinity pool, and the mountains beyond.
Seasonally, Blue Sky offers Guy Ritchie’s WildKitchen, inspired by the British filmmaker, which is an outdoor dining tent set in a high alpine field. The cuisine is open-fire centric, with things like native trout and elk, and produce grown on the property. Natalie Hamilton, Blue Sky’s sommelier, leads unique wine and whisk(e)y tastings throughout the property in summer and winter.
On my visit, she hosted me for a private Macallan tasting in a yurt with a wood-burning fire. Alongside a cheese and charcuterie board, we sipped inventive hot toddies, with ingredients like Star Anise, Sage, Pink Peppercorn, and fresh ginger juice.
ON THE RANCH
After breakfast I would head to the spa, where a massive sauna and hot steam room would erase the wine from the night before. It’s one of those spas that have no red tape about guests using them whether or not you have a treatment booked. So, any time I wanted to go, I’d just call ahead, and they’d the prepare the sauna for me. Afterwards, in a chillout room with chaise lounges and floor-to-ceiling windows, I relaxed in a robe with green tea and complimentary superfood balls.
You’ll need a few trips back to Blue Sky to do all there is to do here, but sporting clays, horseback riding, 4X4 tours, hiking, mountain biking, fly fishing, and various wellness options will keep you busy, whether you come in the winter or the summer. Even without a planned activity, it’s a nice property to explore. On one morning stroll, I saw coyotes and multiple bald eagles.
Blue Sky shares a property with High West Distillery, and guests can book tours, or eat lunch at the distillery with a whiskey tasting. Hotel staff can drive you back so there’s no issue with imbibing. High West produces some of my favorite whiskeys, so this is no token distillery but a serious producer of world-class bourbon and rye. If you want to get off property and you didn’t bring a car, Blue Sky has a fleet of Mercedes that guests can take out for a few hours at a time. For skiing, Blue Sky offers daily shuttle service (seasonally) to their own private ski lounge in Park City, as well as shuttles to Deer Valley Resort.
Maybe because it’s the first mountain I ever skied, but Deer Valley is my personal favorite mountain in the country. New for the 2025/26 season, Deer Valley will have 7 new chairlifts, and nearly 100 new ski runs. As part of an aggressive expansion plan, the resort has doubled their skiable terrain to a total of 4,300 skiable acres for this upcoming season.
THE LAST DETAIL
The Lodge at Blue Sky is one of only seven Auberge Resorts properties in the Mountain West. Room rates begin around $2,700 for a one-bedroom, with all-inclusive options beginning at $3,685. The property offers tailored activities for summer and winter visitors and only closes for a few weeks in April and November.
