By Jenn Weede

 

No natural light shines in the spa. Instead, a dimness prevails, like candles on cave walls. Therapists move like monks, silent, reverent. Sitting in the stillness—in the hottub, the cold plunge, the steam cave, the sitting room with tea and spiced almonds, the oxygen lounge with champagne and cookies—is just the beginning. Waterfalls, rock walls, hot rock massage, and now farm-to-table massage—the Remède subtly and powerfully recreates Mother Nature’s medicine in the basement of Aspen’s luxurious St. Regis hotel. The dichotomy is that bringing the natural elements into the underworld heightens their other-worldly-ness.

The first resort spa in Aspen, the 10-year old Remède is a sensory experience that’s embodied and etheric. The most curious example is the farm-to-table massage. It pairs spa treatments with a tasting menu using the same aromas, textures and flavors to awaken and stimulate the senses so the body feels what the mouth tastes. Spa Director Julie Oliff and the St. Regis’ Executive Chef David Viviano collaborate to create a five-course treatment and tasting menu using ingredients from local growers. For example:

Amuse-Bouche

Rejuvenate in the oxygen bar with fresh-pressed juice.

Appetizer

Savory salt glow scrub using salt harvested from the Great Salk Lake is infused with grape-seed oil and paired with custom edibles based on your flavor choice, including Cabrales served on a miniature toast point with bitter orange marmalade, chilled cucumber consommé served in a shot glass with freshly-picked mint ‘caviar’ garnish, and a baked miniature oatmeal cake topped with local, organic honey butter.

St. Regis Spa

Main Course

A customized hour-long ma-ahhhhh-ssage.

Intermezzo

A “palate-cleansing” warm Eucalyptus compress.

Dessert

Whipped body butter application in your choice of flavor paired with a chilled glass of champagne, and a decadence such as blueberry financier topped with vanilla-lavender Chantilly sauce, almond biscotti dipped in dark chocolate and topped with almond mousse, or coconut-poached Maine lobster topped with a mango espuma.

Foodies, oenophiles and locavores quiver in ecstasy.

“The unexpected aspect is what it does to you. We’re just not used to seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling similar things all at once. It’s intense, and it doesn’t matter what flavor you pick,” said spa director Julie Oliff.

Massage is shown to increase sports recovery time by 80 percent, so if more slope time is your goal, nevermind the cucumber consommé. Hit the sports recovery ritual or hematite and basalt stone massages to get you back on track. Had a really rough day? The complete renewal revives like a double-shot of Red Bull. Prone to sucking wind at altitude? You can just pop into the oxygen lounge and suck some straight-up oxygen to acclimate.

If your skin is what needs the nurturing, do what Katy Perry, Naomi Campbell, Jessica Biel, Eva Longoria, even Justin Timberlake, do and opt for the O2 Intraceuticals Infusion Facial. Wielding a magic wand, an esthetician pumps rehydrating, anti-aging potions deep into your epidermis so it literally shines. It’s the only facial where you actually look better immediately afterwards, and the rehydration is a welcome counter to all that fresh mountain air, wind and fire.

For sheer decadence, go for The Diamond Experience from Natura Bissé. Remède’s newest treatment, it’s a multi-sensory cosmetic lift that offers long-lasting hydration, and improves the elasticity, natural defense system and the cutaneous tone of the skin with aromatherapy, chakra balancing, cleansing and toning, exfoliation, energizing concentrate and Shiatsu, myofacial and aroma massage finished with a cryo-lifting mask.

No matter your treatment of choice, you can’t go wrong.

“Our therapists are some of the best in the world, and they are accustomed to servicing world-class athletes and clients who expect high-caliber body work,” said Oliff.

She’s not the only one who thinks so. Travel + Leisure magazine rated Remède the #2 hotel spa in the United States and #6 in the world and Forbes Travel Guide deemed it worthy of its Four Star Award.

So, to maintain its impeccable reputation, the spa itself is getting its own re invigoration treatment this year with new carpeting, stonework, soft goods, couches, and hopefully still moodily dim, lighting. www.stregis.com/Aspen

Spa St. Regis Aspen