Playing in Crested Butte’s snow globe brings joy to winter travelers. However, the freezing weather, dry air, and outdoor excursions can also lead to dehydration, soreness, and, for some, shortness of breath.
While a handful of established wellness centers in Gunnison Valley, like The Fountain and Fusion, administer rapid IV hydration treatments, others specialize in non-medical therapy, from heavenly facials and massages to infrared sauna sessions and oxygen bars.
Fortunately, a handful of the best self-care spots are in Crested Butte.
Here’s where you can recover and rejuvenate this season.
Native Nectar Botanicals
Eight minutes in, I broke into a sweat. Sitting at 141 degrees, the snug one-person infrared sauna forced me to relax, calming my bustling mind during a busy work day.
Beyond the chamber’s red light therapy, the heat softened my skin as a primer for a 60-minute Signature facial. I’d never stacked those back-to-back therapies before, but Native Nectar Botanicals is the only location in Crested Butte that offers both — plus its own cosmetics — so I signed up.
The holistic treatment center, with a stoop on Elk Avenue, was founded by esthetician and clinical herbalist Jess Taylor. Taylor opened the spa and store in 2020 after launching her namesake plant-based skincare line in 2014.
From a foamy purifying charcoal and chamomile cleanser to the cooling cherry peel mask — which resembles and smells like pie filling — and the sweet rose-hibiscus aroma of the brightening, toning mist, all of Taylor’s products are formulated to nurture skin that’s facing this harsh, high-altitude climate.
“My products are very potent with no fillers, and they’re backed by science,” said Taylor, as she softly brushed my cheeks with the youth glow preventative serum, which is loaded with Allantoin: the Comfrey plant extract promotes new cell growth, soothes irritations, and heals minor wounds, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Next, in November, she’ll launch a residue-free mineral SPF sunscreen in travel size and refillable bottles alongside a new and renovated site in the former Sea Level Spa.
In addition to carrying over the oxygen bar, “I’m excited to introduce wellness technology including SoundBed VibroAcoustic Therapy — which vibrates to match your meditation or music for a nervous system reset — and a pressotherapy suit that pulses, which is great for recovery, healing injuries, and reducing water retention,” said Taylor while performing a lymphatic drainage face massage, circulating the mango seed butter and marshmallow root mask from my collar bone to my forehead. The nectarous scent was refreshing and calming while the mega-moisturizer plumped up my parched face.
“Softened skin pores from a sauna not only helps get good products in, but helps get debris out during extractions,” said Taylor, as she gently grazed my face with an ultrasonic cleansing tool before moving onto an arm and hand massage with the silk hydration body cream — during which, I completely nodded off. Maybe I’ll always do a sauna session before a facial.
308 Elk Ave.
970-251-5164 nativenectarbotanicals.com
Sunday Morning Skin
If I had a 25-hour day and a bottomless bank account, I’d book daily 60-minute facials with Sunday Morning Skin.
Floating out of our appointment onto Elk Ave, I experienced my first-ever blissed-out “facial fog,” as owner and esthetician Hope Bradford called it.
Bradford opened the peaceful and glowing treatment space and quaint retail foyer of Sunday Morning Skin in June 2023. She shares the storefront with Slate Skin & Body, another spa business owned by Irwin-based esthetician Chloe West, specializing in waxing and facials.
Bradford graduated from the Denver School of Botanical and Medical Aesthetics in 2020. That same year, she began field testing natural skincare collections nationwide.
“I struggled with acne during the height of the pandemic and did a lot of product research before discovering Botnia Skincare, a small, female-owned, California-based business,” Bradford said while circling my chin and neck with the brand’s lathery gentle cleanser, a goldenseal leaf and chamomile blend grown on the company’s micro-farm. Bradford operates only one of only five Botnia spas statewide.
In a farm-to-facial approach, each ingredient is harvested on-site, and the products are scientifically tested in its Sausalito lab and Botnia Atelier treatment room.
Behind the cozy facial table, Bradford’s apothecary-style back bar features nearly 23 raw powders and additional tinctures to mix and match for a completely customizable regime.
While Bradford is certified in routines like waxing and micro-needling, she prioritizes her greatest joy and passion. “I love focusing on the art of a good facial,” she said as she smoothly applied an antioxidant-loaded pumpkin and pomegranate exfoliation mask to my face.
Unlike the texturized facial scrubs I’ve used, this exfoliant was an enzyme that tingled, non-abrasively removing dead skin cells.
She placed decompressing chamomile-soaked eye pads on my closed eyes, which were homemade with flowers Bradford sources from Rebecca’s Herbal Apothecary & Supply in Boulder.
After delicately using a hot compress to clear the surface, Bradford performed breath-holding extractions, which effectively cleared up blemishes.
Next, she told me she was starting an intraoral buccal massage, a tension-releasing therapy in which the tender muscles inside the mouth are manually released while simultaneously kneading the exterior jaw.
The remedy is effective for folks suffering from temporomandibular joint disorder, which causes jaw pain and stiffness, or teeth grinders, like me. I’d never had an interior mouth massage, and now I know why the Valley’s dentists refer patients to Bradford. She’s the only Crested Butte practitioner certified in the practice, and it’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed for tension and headache relief.
After a second mask with freeze-dried kale and oats, an LED treatment (typically an add-on with other facialists), and a coat of finishing products, I peacefully roused my way out of the spa.
115 Elk Ave
720-628-2510
sundaymorningskinandbody.com
Slate Skin & Body
970-239-1877
slate.glossgenius.com
Golden Hour Skin Club
After graduating from the School of Botanical and Medical Aesthetics in March 2024, esthetician Abby Whitaker opened Golden Hour Skin Club the following month.
Her vibrant retro-inspired studio, five blocks south of Elk Ave., is best known for brow lamination — the only spot in town offering the service — and airbrush tanning, a regimen that Whitaker has provided to clients for several years.
Beyond body waxing, dermaplaning, lash lifts, and tints, one of the best menu items for travelers is the CBD and Oxygen Facial. The CBD soothes sensitive zones while the oxygen cosmetic line promotes cell renewal and rehydrates skin compromised at 9,000 feet.
“People think they have dry skin, but that’s a type, and dehydrated skin is a condition,” Whitaker said. “You deal with the two differently and undergo changes at high altitude.”
611 4th Street
970-505-7264
goldenhourskinclub.square.site