Local? Then Feel Like A Queen (or King) at Dakota Mountain Lodge's Golden Door Spa
It's the first week in March and I'm sitting outside, in a spa robe, relaxing in a lounge chair with a glass of lemon water, basking in the sun by a beautiful pool and watching workmen on tall ladders knock icicles off the roof of the Dakota Mountain Lodge. Quite the contradiction. While they're chipping away at winter, I've already left it behind. Because of my glorious day at the Golden Door Spa, I am exercised, steamed, massaged, exfoliated, hot tubbed, hydrated, nourished and warm from the inside out.
Here's the deal, locals. If you purchase a treatment at Dakota Lodge's Golden Door Spa, you get to enjoy the entire facility for the rest of the day. AND, better yet - all Utah residents get special locals pricing. All year long. So a 50-minute Swedish massage is normally $145. Guess what? For a Park City local, it's $100. Regular spa manicure is $50; for a local, it's $30. So for $30 (and 18 percent gratuity), you can have a manicure and then take advantage of all that the Golden Door has to offer for the rest of the day. That means the 2,000-square-foot fitness center, with a wall of glass overlooking the ski slopes at The Canyons; the fantastic outdoor pool and two hot tubs (one with its own fireplace and lounging couch) and the poolside restaurant/bar service from onsite restaurant Spruce; and Park City's biggest spa so far (16,000-square-feet), including the glorious Men's and Women's Onsens - not "locker rooms" - but delightful quarters named after Japanese hot springs and the bathing areas around them. Aside from the basic necessities of showers, lockers and water closets, the onsens include whole new worlds of relaxation like the "Fireside Lounge." As you wait for your treatment, or bask in its glow afterwards, you can enjoy this sleek room with nearly an entire wall of warming fireplaces, drink warm potassium broth (like a light V-8 juice) or tea and read inviting fashion and health magazines. The Repose room, in the heart of the onsen, is all glass-tiled and features heated stone lounge chairs that are amazingly comfortable and warm you through and through. The lavender-lit steam room allows you to focus on your breath, meditate a bit and let the toxins out.
My own day started with a kinesis class with only six participants (they limit the class sizes). Kinesis is like circuit training using resistance cables to pull, twist and push your way to stronger muscle tone. The instructor, Jada, was fantastic, encouraging and pushing us, yet knew just how to realign everyone's positioning so that we were doing the exercises in a healthy and easy-on-the-back manner. It was like having a personal trainer at a fraction of the cost. Interestingly, most of the other ladies in my class were locals who have bought memberships here at Golden Door. There are just 36 memberships of 200 offered still available. Locals can buy a family membership for a one-time fee of $1600 and then a $187/month rate and individuals can buy a membership for a one-time fee of $1000 and then a $123/month rate. For this, you get to treat the Dakota Lodge (which is one of three Waldorf Astorias in the country, by the way) like it's your own country club. You get full use of the spa and fitness center and can take any of their classes at no extra charge - pilates, yoga, kinesis, spinning and more - and receive member discounts at the spa, Spruce restaurant and the hotel, free ski storage and use of the Timberwood gondola to get up to The Canyons' ski slopes. Several of the women in my class told me they'd chosen to buy the membership because they thought it was a good deal for what they get; and some said it was because Golden Door has all of the best fitness instructors from all over town working here. The club also offers all sorts of full-service wellness programs like life coaching, nutritional counseling, meditation guidance, personal training and fitness assessment and monitoring. You feel more beautiful and in shape just by being in the gorgeous, airy space, so I can see the allure of becoming a member.
Next, I met with Spa Director Scott Cowdrey, who many in town will know from his years working at Silver Mountain Spa or Marc Raymond Spas and Salons, or because he has been one of the most sought-after spinning instructors in town for 17 years. Scott is pretty much the only Park City local in management at The Dakota Lodge, and he has been a huge proponent of reaching out to locals with special pricing. We settle into the elegant onsite restaurant, Spruce, and Scott starts telling me about the fitness testing they offer at Golden Door - everything from body mass index and resting metabolic rates to the VO2 Max test. Then, as if to illustrate his low-key approach to the whole health/wellness/spa world, he orders us coffee and fresh-from-the-oven warm beignets with crème anglaise and caramel apricot dipping sauce for breakfast! I figured we'd be eating egg whites and wheatgrass, but no! How refreshing - as is Scott's credo for the spa. "I love having locals be part of the day-to-day experience at Golden Door," said Scott. "Whether they're here for a day, or buy a full-time membership, being here is like having a social membership with fitness and wellness all tied in. And remember that wellness is not an indulgence - it's an investment."
I "invested" in what's become our Golden Door's signature treatment: the Lavendar Zen. This part-body scrub, part aromatherapy (with lavender, birch and eucalyptus), part hot stone massage (on neck and feet), part being wrapped in hot towels, part get your entire body oiled to a silky smooth, sent me into an oasis of relaxation that I wouldn't have thought possible on a Monday morning. So be a local and live like a queen (or king) at Dakota Lodge's Golden Door Spa. Check it out at dakotamountainlodge.com or 435.647.5555. Ask for the Utah local pricing … and enjoy.
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Kristen Gould Case is editor of Park City Magazine and a freelance writer who publishes nationally. Weaned on the blue ice slopes of New England, she moved to Park City 25 years ago and hasn't looked back.
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Reader Comments:
OH wow! Kristen, lovely description. I enjoyed it vicariously. Well, not really the same thing, but you've inspired me! V