DAY 4 — I am face down on a table at the RockResorts Spa at The Arrabelle at Vail ( www.rockresortsspa.com/thearrabelle).
This place is huge—10,000 square feet and slopeside. The treatments are alpine inspired and I’ve signed on for a Mountain Wildflower—a refreshing body polish made of lemon verbena, jojoba and shea butter that the therapist promises will smooth my skin.
I don’t care, it feels so great. When she’s done, I rinse off in the adjacent shower with so many shower heads I can’t even count hem and hop back on the table for a massage with French alpine lavender. Excellent! I end in the steam room.
Skiing these days isn’t only about skiing with an ever growing array of spa services, including some for teens and younger children. Take your pick of massages, scrubs, wraps and more. The Arrabelle offers the “Ultimate Body Bliss” complete with a therapeutic body peel, foot treatment, massage and more.
In fact, this Colorado swing may be a spa record for me — three treatments at three different hotels in a week. One massage at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs (http://www.broadmoor.com/luxury-spa-resorts.php) and then after a couple of more days hitting the slopes in Aspen, a hot stone massage at the Viceroy in Snowmass (www.viceroysnowmass.com).
The Spa at the Broadmoor is more than four times the size of The Arrabelle–43,000 square feet and includes a fitness center, indoor pool, a studio where classes are offered, and outdoor whirlpool.
There are even Customized Oxygen Treatments. My daughter Mel and I each opt for a massage, followed by some time in the steam room and the aromatherapy lounge breathing in eucalyptus. “I really need this I have so many knots in my back,” says my outdoors-loving daughter.
Me too.
A few days later, I opt for a hot stone massage at the new Viceroy at Snowmass. I don’t know if it is all that skiing but those hot stones sure do the trick. “You are in much better alignment now,” my massage therapist tells me at the end of the treatment.
All I know is that I feel great.
Next: Reliving and revising a childhood legend