Iron Mountain Hot Springs Bolts a Sauna Summit Onto Its Soaking Pools

Iron Mountain Hot Springs in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, opened a new addition called the Sauna Summit on February 26, adding five outdoor saunas and three plunge pools to a site already known for its 35 geothermal mineral pools along the Colorado River. The property is part of the WorldSprings portfolio, which also operates locations in Dallas, Texas, and La Verkin, Utah. WorldSprings is running the same sauna expansion playbook in Dallas, where it has already added a red-light sauna and is building the area’s first Aufguss sauna.

Five saunas, five bathing traditions

Each of the five saunas draws from a different global bathing tradition. The Traditional Sauna, inspired by the Finnish barrel sauna, runs at 190 to 194 degrees Fahrenheit with a bucket and ladle for löyly. The Aromatherapy Sauna borrows from the Russian banya, running 182 to 190 degrees with herbal-infused heat and snowball essential oil packs that guests place on the rocks. The Red Light Clay Sauna, modeled on the South Korean hanjeungmak, sits lower at 160 to 168 degrees, pairing radiant heat with red-light chromotherapy. The Salt Sauna references a Polish salt room, with a salt wall and dry heat at 184 to 192 degrees. A Steam Room rounds out the lineup as a humid-heat option modeled on the Turkish hammam.

Three pools sit within the Sauna Summit area: a 104-degree magnesium pool, a 98-degree potassium pool, and a 45-degree cold plunge. Guests can move through the circuit at their own pace or follow guided contrast-therapy circuits the property offers for muscle recovery, cardiovascular health, and nervous system regulation, according to the Post Independent.

“By introducing sauna culture, cold plunges, and intentional contrast therapy, we’re expanding the experience beyond soaking and offering new ways for people to recover, reset, and feel their best,” General Manager Aaron McCallister said in a press release.

Dallas gets the same build-out

WorldSprings, co-founded by Rob Kramer through his firm Off Road Capital, acquired Iron Mountain Hot Springs roughly six years ago with a stated goal of building “a truly outstanding wellness attraction in America.” The WorldSprings adult-only section opened in 2023 with 12 globally inspired mineral pools. The Sauna Summit is the next layer.

Dallas is getting the same treatment. The 10-acre WorldSprings property there, which already has 46 mineral pools, is installing Finnish, Himalayan salt, red-light, and chromotherapy saunas in a phased rollout and building a large-format Aufguss sauna that it calls the first in the Dallas area. CW33 Dallas confirmed in June that the red-light sauna is already operational. In April, WorldSprings Dallas was named the official wellness destination of the Dallas Cowboys.

A third property, Zion Canyon Hot Springs in La Verkin, Utah, rounds out the current portfolio. At each, WorldSprings adds sauna and cold-plunge programming to a soaking destination. WorldSprings has not disclosed the cost of the expansion or whether it plans additional property acquisitions.

“Most diverse” is the operator’s own label

WorldSprings calls the Sauna Summit “the nation’s most diverse sauna collection,” built on five traditions (Finnish, Turkish, South Korean, Russian, Polish). The claim is the operator’s own marketing. Purpose-built social bathhouses like Grotto Baths in Miami and urban recovery clubs like Portal are building sauna lineups designed from scratch for the contrast-therapy format. A hot-springs property retrofitting sauna onto existing soaking infrastructure is a different proposition.

Still, 35 geothermal pools, five saunas, and three purpose-built plunge pools in one outdoor venue is an unusual combination.