Snowmass
By Kristine Hansen, kristineahansen.com
I’m tucked under a sheet on the massage table with my eyes closed shut, clutching a hot rock in each hand, their warmth coiling up my naked arms.
The therapist at The Westin Snowmass Resort’s Heavenly spa instructs me to relax. But it’s not instinctively easy. Under my back, my shoulders, my knees, are hot flat stones, bumping against my spine and shoulders. Any little move I make and the entire flow is disrupted. I have no choice but to succumb to relaxation.
Snowmass a ski village that’s a twenty-minute drive (or a hop on a shuttle) up the mountains from the glam town of Aspen welcomed me with arms as warm as those flat stones. And as my time at The Westin Snowmass Resort went on, I realized the idea was just like at the spa to give in, and to let loose against a wild and rustic mountain-town backdrop.
As one person told me, this is where Will Farrell vacations, not fashion-minded A-list celebs that grace tabloids with controversy. At the two-year-old, 254-room resort, which boasts ski-in, ski-out access and was thoughtfully built into a hillside, there’s a distinct cohesiveness between its dining, accommodations and spa. All are linked with an eco- and health-minded philosophy. This includes the only branded New Belgium Brewing Company bar outside of Denver International Airport. At New Belgium Ranger Station on the resort’s lower level near the ski lift, local beer mustard is folded into Bavarian-style pretzel rolls and one of the West’s most beloved game meats (bison) are in the chili and nachos recipes. Flights of small-sized beer pours are the best introduction to the Fort Collins brewery.
Back at the rooms, color hues are contemplative and there are Westin’s signature Heavenly beds along with White Tea by Westin bath amenities. Walk-in showers are outfitted with rainforest heads. The resort is also home to another hotel: Wildwood, a hipster-themed, retro-chic and colorful 145-room property with a pool and 70s-style lobby lounge. In the lobby each afternoon at The Westin Snowmass Resort, free chair massages are offered to help ease sore muscles, along with a view of Snowmass Mountain through a wall of windows.
Snowmass Kitchen kicks off its service each morning with a super-foods themed breakfast buffet. Lunch and dinner entrees are a nod to agriculture in Colorado and other Western states, including a grilled Colorado-lamb burger with Morrocan spices and cucumber tzatziki, and smoked California artichoke.
At Vue Lounge on my first night I enjoyed a craft cocktail (prepared with beets) paired with the artichoke. Double Black Noodle House opens later this month at Wildwood, bringing the noodle craze to the resort with dishes like Ippudo ramen.
But the relaxing vibe is felt the strongest at the spa, tucked into a lower corner of the hotel where life moves even slower and there is a stillness that seeps into the space. With just a few treatment rooms, but a plethora of treatments that include custom-blended body scrubs, facials and massages, it’s an intimate experience. A relaxation lounge and light lunch service round out the treatment of choice, whether it’s a hot-stone massage, organic oxidizing facial or sea-salt exfoliation. Yoga classes are taught on the lawn during the warmer months and indoors during ski season. For avid skiers, the sports/detox soak and “muscle ease” body treatment are the perfect compliment to a morning out on the slopes.
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