David Jackson/Park Records
At the Pendry and Montage hotels, both located within Park City’s ski resort, the spa experience goes beyond relaxation to include overall wellness.
The eucalyptus steam room, indirect lighting, thick robes and slippers, silk sheets and aromatic essential oils tick all the boxes for a luxurious spa experience, but ultimately it’s made for the outdoorsy, adventurer, Park City type.
For Matthew Pansalan, spa director for both Pendry Park City and Montage Deer Valley, the ability to serve these guests was what drew Wasatch Back to him.
As a hurdler at the University of Virginia, Pansalan learned the importance of health and recovery when she spent most of her collegiate career rehabbing a torn Achilles tendon.
It wasn’t until he began working at the resort that he began to understand that spa treatments could incorporate recovery as a pillar of wellness, and he also learned about the business side of programming and supporting providers, developing his own unique wellness philosophy over time.
When he came to Park City, he combined his experience as an athlete with his knowledge of running luxury spa facilities, a combination that is reflected in the spa offerings at both Montage Deer Valley and Pendry Park City.
Pansaran said the spas are for athletes who live and vacation in Park City — skiers, snowboarders, mountain bikers, hikers and possibly Olympians.
He began studying the Division I athletic programs at Utah Valley University and the University of Utah for inspiration.
“Just like an athlete needs to recover and prepare their body for intense exercise, that’s what I wanted to know,” he said. “The consumer needs it even more, because they’re people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who don’t have an athletic background and somehow think they’ll be fine after six runs on the slopes.”
In terms of the massage element, we have introduced specific pre- and post-activity treatments that are important for improving performance and preventing injury.
“First, we treat them – that is, minimize the injury – and then allow them to fully recover,” he said.
Montage’s “Drift to Sleep” service (120 minutes, $580) is designed to signal the immune system through sleep, which Pansaran says is essential for recovery, and involves guided breaks to allow the body to recover.
“What we’re really trying to do is calm the body so that it can be centered and restored, and then we have you sleep for 20 minutes on a weighted blanket with different oils on it, and while you’re sleeping we activate your immune system because while your body is resting we want your immune system to be activated and protect you and determine what it needs,” he said.
Pendy Park City’s Sticks + Stones Massage (90 minutes, from $340) uses bamboo sticks and heated river stones to loosen muscles before or after a workout.
“The muscle becomes like a lump of dough,” Pansalan says, “and what the provider does is try to find the knots and then use organic materials to stretch the muscle, because organic materials also have a really great energetic effect.”
Pansaran serves as spa director for both hotels, tailoring the spa menus to the differences between the properties. The Pendry is owned and operated by Montage International, and the two Park City resorts are sister resorts.
“You can play in two different sandboxes under the same umbrella,” Pansaran said with a laugh.
At each facility, Pansalan staff considers each individual’s strengths and the client’s needs to create a special treatment plan. These plans take into account all of the spa’s services, including not only treatments but also training facilities.
Depending on past injuries, problem areas, activity goals and schedule, Pansalan staff will suggest ways you can take advantage of the spa facilities, such as taking a stretching class the morning before you hit the slopes, or booking a steam room or recovery-focused massage or soak in the hot tub afterwards.
“Guests can come here and be active, relax, recuperate or calm down, all in one place, and then they can get out on the mountain and do whatever they need to do,” he said.
At 35,000 square feet, the spa at Montage Deer Valley is the largest in Utah. The gym features private studios for classes and a row of weight training machines, treadmills and stationary bikes, all connected with an online account that lets you track your workouts across all Montage and Pendry hotels. The indoor mosaic pool and hot tub overlook the valley through floor-to-ceiling windows, and the facility also features a eucalyptus steam room and wood sauna.
The Pendry Park City spa is smaller, but the facilities are much the same, the design is a bit more modern and the treatments here are geared towards a more active clientele, like snowboarders.
“These treatments are really focused on protecting the body, because we know that they’re trying to tax the body even more than it’s designed to do,” Pansalan says.
Skin health is another priority at both hotels, with a range of facial treatments personalised by aestheticians to best meet your needs.
When it comes to facials, Pansalan said that while beauty is an important factor, health is the primary concern, and when it comes to skin, a large part of the treatment is exploring internal health needs and concerns.
“We’re looking at the health of the skin and trying to figure out how we can maintain that person’s skin long term,” he said. “‘You’re beautiful. You’ve got it. Now what we’re trying to do is understand how your skin is reacting to the environment, and then let’s attack that and get in there and address it.'”
Montage Deer Valley employs the popular medi-spa technology with a variety of attachments designed to address skin needs, including moisturizing, exfoliating, oxygenating, etc. Pansalan says the machine also features energy modalities to target and address internal issues affecting the skin.
The wellness benefits of spa treatments like those at Montage and Pendry should be more than just an extracurricular activity, he says. Ideally, it’s something to be visited regularly and integrated into a lifestyle, not just a one-off special occasion experience. In other words, spa facilities aren’t just for tourists, but also for locals looking for a go-to place for pampering.
Pansalan says that’s one of the reasons Montage Deer Valley created its Summit Wellness Pass program. It starts at the Access level ($3,000) and includes three months of benefits such as one personal training session per month, unlimited fitness classes, access to spa and gym facilities, and 10% discounts on treatments and retail. Going up to the Premium level ($20,000) gives you six months of two one-hour premium treatments per month, two personal training sessions per month, unlimited access to facilities and classes, and multiple monthly guest passes.
For more information, visit montage.com/deervalley/spa/menu-services/#fitness and pendry.com/park-city/menus/spa-pendry..
“Nature is healing,” says Pansaran, “and unlike a typical spa, our goal is to have you spend as much time in nature as possible.”
