Hot Tub Craze Spreads To the World’s Premier Ski Resorts
Just skiing isn’t quite enough to attract visitors, many resorts are finding. This is why Mark Bell, the hotel manager at the Sunshine Mountain lodge in the Canadian ski resort Sunshine Village, decided to try something new: hot tub bingo.
High in the Rockies in Banff National Park, the only way to access the resort is by gondola. Every Saturday night, guests are invited to jump into the gigantic hot tub, which can accommodate 40 people, to play a game of bingo with waterproof boards and pieces.
Ski destinations around the world have upped their game in the past few years when it comes to extra-skiing activities — particularly by cornering the hot tub market. A chance to rest sore muscles after a day of skiiing makes hot tubbing a very attractive apres-ski activity.
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, in Lake Tahoe, hosts a daytime hot tub party on its mountain peak, where guests can enjoy stunning views of the Sierra Nevada and local music.
Valle Nevado, Chile’s largest ski resort, also offers daily hot tub parties, with a pool side bar and house music from a DJ.
There are 477 ski resorts in the U.S., but none is as grand as Park City, the country’s largest ski resort. The resort sports a Waldorf hotel (only 175 rooms as opposed to New York’s 1,413, but no less glamorous), 41 lifts, more than 300 trails, and eight terrain parks.
This ski resort giant has kept up with the hot tub craze — the Waldorfs “Hot Tub Apres-Ski” comes complete with chilled champagnes, cheese and cured meat plates, and chocolate dipped strawberries.
The town of Breckenridge, CO, nodded to the international hot tub craze with a hot tub party for the participants of Ullr Fest, a celebration of the Nordic god and a way to pray for snow.
