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

Hot-springs destinations are adding sauna circuits to compete with the social bathhouses pulling younger visitors. Photo: Unsplash.

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. The pattern matters more than any single opening.

Key Facts

Operator: WorldSprings (Co-Founder Rob Kramer, Managing Partner of Off Road Capital)

Property: Iron Mountain Hot Springs, 281 Centennial St, Glenwood Springs, CO

Opened: February 26, 2026 (construction began February 2025)

Saunas: Steam Room (Turkish Hammam), Traditional (Finnish Barrel, 190–194°F), Red Light Clay (South Korean Hanjeungmak, 160–168°F), Aromatherapy (Russian Banya, 182–190°F), Salt Sauna (Polish Salt Room, 184–192°F)

Plunge pools: Cold Plunge (45°F), Magnesium (104°F), Potassium (98°F)

Access: Premier Access (21+), $75–$125; $68 with advance online booking

Existing property: 35 mineral pools, including 12 WorldSprings globally inspired pools opened in 2023

Portfolio: Three properties across Colorado, Texas, and Utah

Dallas expansion: Aufguss sauna (first in the Dallas area), plus Finnish, Himalayan salt, red-light, and chromotherapy saunas in phased installation

What the Sauna Summit Actually Delivers

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.

The Portfolio Play

WorldSprings is not a single-property operator. The company, 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. The pattern is consistent: buy or build a soaking destination, layer in sauna and cold-plunge programming, position the property as a contrast-therapy venue rather than a place to sit in warm water.

Testing the Claim

WorldSprings calls the Sauna Summit “the nation’s most diverse sauna collection.” Five themed rooms is solid programming for a hot-springs property, and the global-traditions framing (Finnish, Turkish, South Korean, Russian, Polish) gives guests a narrative to follow. But 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.

That said, the combination of 35 geothermal pools, five saunas, and three purpose-built plunge pools in one outdoor venue is unusual by any measure. The scale advantage is real even if the “most diverse” label invites debate.

Why It Matters

Hot-springs operators have been watching social bathhouses, recovery studios, and sauna-as-entertainment concepts pull younger guests toward contrast therapy. WorldSprings is one of the first holding companies to respond with a portfolio-wide strategy: buy legacy soaking properties, add sauna and cold-plunge circuits, and reposition the brand around thermal wellness rather than mineral baths alone. The Glenwood Springs expansion is the completed model. Dallas is next. For operators who already have the water infrastructure, the question is whether bolting on saunas is cheaper than building from scratch, and whether the hospitality operators already investing in sauna are any guide, the answer is increasingly yes.

The Bottom Line

WorldSprings opened five themed saunas and three plunge pools at its Glenwood Springs hot-springs property and is running the same expansion in Dallas. This is a holding company converting legacy soaking destinations into contrast-therapy venues, and the Sauna Summit is the first completed proof point. WorldSprings has not disclosed the cost of the expansion or whether it plans additional property acquisitions.