YOUR AD HERE »

Minturn Fitness Center opens to public

Kim Fuller
Special to the Daily
The Minturn Fitness Center is located at Maloit Park in Minturn and was financed through a collaboration between the town of Minturn and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.
Anthony Thornton | athornton@vaildaily.com |

MINTURN — The Minturn Fitness Center in Maloit Park opened its doors to the public for the first time Monday, and John Cole, director of human performance for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, said there were people there at 6:30 a.m.

“There has been an overwhelmingly positive response,” Cole said. “We are bringing a different form of training to the masses; when people tour the facility and hear how we are going to do it, the facility and the program make sense to them.”

The Minturn Fitness Center is a collaborative project between the town of Minturn and Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, split financially for the benefit of both the community and the club’s athletes. Both entities paid $1.25 million toward the $2.5 million, 8,500-square-foot facility. There are several membership pricing tiers, but Minturn residents and business owners, as well as Ski & Snowboard Club Vail families, get a discount of 60 percent. This discounted annual rate comes to $480 per year for an individual and $720 for a family.



“We needed a larger facility, and the town of Minturn had a need as well,” Cole said. “What we have brought is a really good fitness center to the Minturn community, so it’s a very unique model that it’s half public and half private.

“We are targeting our Minturn residents first, making sure they realize this is a home for them as well.”

Support Local Journalism



General population pricing is about standard for the valley: $1,200 per year for an individual (or $135 per month without the annual incentive) and $1,800 per year for a family (or $185 per month). For more on the center’s rates, visit http://www.minturnfitness center.com or call 970-790-5090.

The Minturn Fitness Center’s soft opening special runs through Oct. 15, offering new members a two-month membership for the price of one month. Also, 25 percent of all annual memberships is available through Nov. 15.

FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

The spacious facility offers room for functional training, a methodology that Cole explained has always been a foundation for building athletic integrity and success — a program for which Ski & Snowboard Club Vail is known. Upper-level classes and training programs offered to the public through the Minturn Fitness Center are the same ones that are used for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s elite athletes.

Class-only memberships are available as well. All memberships include an unlimited amount of level 101 classes. Higher level classes carry an additional charge.

Walk into a facility where they train future Olympians and it may feel a little intimidating, or inspiring, however you want to look at it.

“High-level athletes can actually get a window into how we train Chris Del Bosco, Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin or Aaron Blunck or any of the rest of the elite-level athletes who come through our program,” Cole said.

Minturn Fitness Center members will have access to state-of-the-art functional movement equipment, certified personal trainers and physiological performance testing. Members can also work with Axis Sports Medicine physical therapists and relax in the welcome center.

The movement studio offers yoga, Pilates, TRX and barre-method classes, beginning as demand grows. Yoga starts Monday.

Breaking in the facility

Addy Stearns, 14, of Edwards, is going into 10th grade next week at Ski & Snowboard Club Vail. She is an alpine racer and said it’s the first time she has been in the new facility — a much larger space than she was accustomed to just 100 yards away at Ski & Snowboard Club Vail.

“It’s really nice,” she said, while spinning on a shiny and new Kaiser bike on Monday afternoon. “There is a lot more equipment, which will be really nice for weight lifting, and there is more room for everyone to work out, which is great.”

The Powell family just moved to West Vail from Pennsylvania and came to take a tour of the facility on Monday. If they decide to join as a family, they will get a Ski & Snowboard Club Vail family rate, since their son Apollo, 11, starts there this year. Keith Powell said the facility looks different than most gyms at first glance.

“There’s great equipment,” he said, “and you don’t have as many benches, so it looks much different because of that.”

Amy Powell said she is interested in doing some yoga classes but mostly wants to work out on the fitness floor.

Garage doors line the wall where the cardio equipment faces, so there will be days when treadmill runners get to catch a breath of fresh air. The space is free flowing, so elite Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athletes will not train far from other members. And if a non-elite athlete wants to learn how to use one of the facilities four Olympic platforms, there’s a class or training session available for that.

“This is something that we have been doing with our athletes for years, but there is absolutely no reason why the general population shouldn’t be doing it as well,” Cole said of the club’s functional movement training methodology. “It has the same benefit for you or I that it has for our elite athletes.”

For more information, visit http://www.minturn fitnesscenter.com or give the club a call at 970-790-5090.

Memberships are sold on site at the Minturn Fitness Center in Maloit Park in Minturn. Minturn Residents must have proof of residency with Photo ID, drivers license or mail with current mailing address.


Support Local Journalism