MNN - Mother Nature Network

If you're venturing out to a cold weather destination this winter, you may want to consider warming up and winding down in one of these spas as a way to treat yourself. Each one mentioned below features at least one eco-themed massage, using local or organic products.

 

The Hawthorn and Mallow Body Glow at The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole uses locally harvested berries and marshmallow leaves to moisturize and finishes with a barley body wash and whole-wheat lotion. The Après massage accommodates modest skiers, since you wear comfortable clothing during the rubdown.

 

Teton Mountain Lodge's new Solitude Spa uses only organic products or those made by green-minded companies. The Balance massage aids stiff skiers' muscles by pairing warm stones with oil — ask your therapist to use locally produced arnica oil to further aid muscle recovery.

 

The Spa at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel features all-natural and organic products. The Herbal Hibernation treatment wraps you in gauze steeped in tea bags to warm you up and extract toxins from your body.

 

The new Allegria Spa at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek features a Mountain Juniper Berry Scrub that revives and exfoliates, and the therapist finishes with a honey rinse and rosemary mint lotion to help restore moisture.

 

The Mountain Man body treatment at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Vail Valley stimulates with a scrub, a liniment rub, and an herbal spice lotion massage.

 

The Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa uses both local and organic products in many of its therapies. The Vermont Maple Body Sugar Polish treatment hydrates skin with a vitamin-packed maple scrub and locally handmade body butter. The Green Mountain Coffee Body Treatment starts with an organic, fair-trade coffee scrub, moves on to a nourishing Dead Sea mud wrap, and finishes with a coffee-oil massage.

 

At nearby Topnotch Resort and Spa, the Mount Mansfield Saucha wraps you in linen sheets steeped in organic oils, indigenous herbs and flowers before the therapist begins your massage.

 

The Spa at Sundance Resort is a cozy retreat — mostly built from reclaimed wood — that offers natural and organic treatments inspired by Native American traditions. Its signature Sundance Stone Massage loosens tired muscles with heated rocks, and the Warming Ginger Scrub combines the freshly ground spice with organic sugar and essential oils to exfoliate and improve circulation.

 

The High Altitude Massage at the Cliff Spa at Snowbird Resort uses a custom-blended mix of essential oils to help skiers acclimate to the thin mountain air. And Styrofoam packing peanuts find new life as toe separators for pedicures.

 

Story by Cathy Garrard. This article originally appeared in Plenty in January 2008. The story was added to MNN.com in December 2009.

 

Copyright Environ Press 2008