Sometimes, you just don't feel like a rodeo cowgirl. As spouses, parents, bosses, volunteers, we often wear more hats than a Stetson salesperson. Even planning a beloved annual ski trip with friends or kids can feel like one more chore in an already packed schedule. It's time for a wellness weekend.
Wellness means different things to people, but for many, it means putting aspects of your life into balance—mind, body, and spirit. It's the feeling you have when you're able to let go of the reins and run free. Utah resorts have wellness packages and services to help guide you from slipping away from the slopes for a few hours to retreating to the spa for an entire weekend or more. So, it's time to get off the saddle or sofa — no judgment — and head to the mountains to rest, recover and rediscover the cowgirl, warrior or whatever goddess frees and fires your spirit.
Stillwell Spa at Snowpine Lodge
Tucked into the granite hillside of Little Cottonwood Canyon between Alta Ski Area and Snowbird is the Stillwell Spa at The Snowpine Lodge. The spa, built upon the foundation of a 19th Century mine and general store, literally and figuratively aims to keep guests grounded.
Start with a Boots Off Massage (ski or cowgirl boots, optional), a foot and ankle treatment that includes reflexology upon your pressure points, range of motion, stretching, massage and foot exfoliation. Be sure to include the spa's most popular add-on, topical CBD products by locally-produced Acrely.
Afterward or the next day, enjoy Stillwell's curated menu of treatments, including its renowned Oxygen Inhalation Therapy, a powerful and efficient way (especially if you're coming from lower altitudes) to detoxify the body, cleanse the blood and increase stamina and endurance. Then, plunge into the heated pool inside the softly-lit grotto (reserved for private 30-minute sessions) and feel all remaining worries float to the surface.
The Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge
Awarded the United States Best Ski Hotel, Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley Resort boasts exceptional service and elegance and is the perfect place to unwind. But it's even better shared. The spa's couple's package is a weekend of wellness and wonder. Featuring the finest locally sourced and all-natural products, fabulous foods and stunning surroundings, you'll feel like you've struck gold in these hills.
The package includes lodging accommodations for two people, two 60-minute spa treatments, full access to the resort fitness facility, daily Verdandi Wellness Studio classes and breakfast at Troll Hallen. It also includes internet access, but after such pampering, getting online (other than sharing pictures with friends and followers) will be the furthest thing from your mind.
Montage Deer Valley
The Montage Deer Valley has designed its Elements of Wellness rituals combining the best modern spa science and ancient healing wisdom. At Spa Montage, wellness incorporates body balancing using each of your senses to inspire rejuvenation, transformation and stillness of mind. A Montage therapist selects from a spectrum of spa therapies and practices from around the globe to create a unique and comprehensive wellness journey for you with treatment rituals to address your specific concerns and wellness goals.
For example, its Peace Within therapy draws on "Ayurvedic wisdom in one powerful and transformative treatment that provides balance, soothes and rejuvenates your body and mind, and brings you to a profound, deep relaxation." First, using an aromatherapy essence and chime ritual, the therapist directs your journey with a dosha-specific massage oil applied to energy centers along your spine to create openness and flow. Next, an Ayurvedic Kansa wand awakens the Chakras as a prelude to a whole-body massage. This ritual culminates with a traditional Shirodhara to bring deep rest to your nervous system. Finally, you'll wake from this restful state with a scalp massage as chimes again transition you back to a restful consciousness.
Goldener Hirsch
Just past the summer horse corral at Deer Valley's Silver Lake, the Spa at Goldener Hirsch finds its inspiration and places its healing focus on the waters that flow from the converging Bald and Flagstaff Mountains.
Taking advantage of its stunning views and luxurious accommodations, this Auberge Resort Collection property invites you to unwind with a customized massage in the comfort of your room. Afterward, enjoy the rooftop pool featuring a transparent side wall beside an infinity-edge hot tub allowing for summit and distant reservoir views.
For a more inspired bathing experience, immerse yourself in elemental bath meditation. Goldener Hirsch has partnered with Jobi Manson, artist and creator of Sēfari, a platform specializing in multi-sensory guided immersions. This journey combines guided water-focused therapy and natural sounds, such as falling rain or crashing surf, to restore balance, relieve stress and prepare the body for deep sleep.
The Edge Spa at The Lodge at Blue Sky
The Edge Spa at The Lodge at Blue Sky, another Auberge property, takes your wellness journey one step further. Minutes from Park City but a world away, this "cliffside wellness sanctuary" overlooking Alexander Creek is centered on physical and energetic alignment. But to enjoy all that nature and this resort have to offer, you must first recharge with deep and, for some, decadent sleep.
The Edge Spa features a unique program to enhance sleep. Its team of wellness experts will help you achieve better somnolence through yoga poses, breathing and journaling exercises, meditative rituals and other methods. Explore guided sleep meditation with a mind coach and THE WELL practitioner Manjit Devgun, who will lead you toward a peaceful state to help enhance REM sleep, diminish anxiety...and, perchance, to dream.
The Edge Spa will even prepare a multi-day Wellness Warrior Itinerary for the remainder of your stay. This could include relaxing in the Creek Lounge with tea crafted from locally-foraged ingredients. Next, see where that rodeo cowgirl is and where she's going by booking numerology or tarot-card readings. Then, following your rest and reset, take your new wellness regime outdoors and experience forest bathing, guided meditation or mountaintop yoga.
What's a cowgirl without a horse? And what's a day of horseback riding without a massage? The Edge Spa offers both as part of its Back in the Saddle Massage. After riding the property's hills and trails, relax with a deep tissue massage incorporating percussive therapy and breathwork to release tightness and tension. Muscle liniment and cooling arnica gel soothe inflammation and strain, "allowing you to get back in the saddle again." (Their words, not mine.) A portion of the treatment's proceeds supports the equine massage therapy program at The Saving Gracie Healing Foundation.
Wellness is about finding balance. Resorts whose guests come to ski, bike, hike, ride or, sometimes, just stare at the sky understand the importance of balance and how to help you find or restore it. They'll help you get back on that horse and help you feel like a rodeo cowgirl again.
