New Life Hiking Spa

I was looking for a low key affordable place where I can wear comfortable cloths, get in shape, and ditch the make up. A place that attracts cool interesting people, and offers gourmet, yet healthy food. In short, I wanted to drop a few lbs and kick start my fitness program with out having to deal with a «Mike Muscle» or a «Trisha Thong» ! This hidden gem in Mendon/​Killington Vermont is called New Life Hiking Spa.
Jimmy LeSage the dynamic gourmet chef who started New Life Hiking Spa in 1978 is a rare unicorn. If you took your favorite uncle, sprinkled him with the spirt of Jerry Garcia and the showmanship of Don Rickles… you will get the flavor of laSage. It’s this very odd combination that brings the interesting clientele that New Life attracts.
During my stay I met…
A young woman who designs planetariums all over the world.
A funny Cantor
An archeologist
A professional cat sitter from Manhattan
A young couple who make Indi films and documentaries.
A grandmother who taught outward bound programs!
An A list Blues guitar player and a glamorous self proclaimed Hill Billy!
New life is a total non judgment zone, where your are free to come as you are, and escape all the commercialism of the «Spa» scene! New life is where you go to get in great shape, jump start a healthy eating plan, and hike the breath taking vistas of Vermont! You can choose from 6 hour advanced hikes, intermediate hikes, and nature hikes for beginners like me. Not totally into hiking, but want to get in shape?
They offer fitness classes galore! Pool aerobics, body sculpting, Zumba, yoga, kayaking, …and plenty more. No wonder so many people arrive solo, New Life is that user friendly.
The food…
Beyond 4 star gourmet!
Whether your vegan, carnivore, or omnivore, you will be delighted to know that you are eating healthy food, that tastes like a million calories… but isn’t!
I had pork in apple sauce, so moist it cut like butter! For desert a raspberry crape! At the end of 7 days I lost 5 lbs and felt fantastic. The vegetarian dishes my husband had, were absolutely wonderful.
The Staff…
LaSage hires a professional mature staff, who return faithfully year after year. The instructors know exactly who their audience is, and are truly concerned that you may hurt a knee, or choose a program that will either over or under challenge you. «Safety first» IS A PRIORITY for all guests.
«Suzi» a highly experienced trainer gave me a one on one fitness class because I did not feel like hiking that day. She spent well over an hour with me, and even helped me to adjustment my form, and modify exercises that I felt were beyond my fitness level. This was part of the program at no extra cost!
The massages …
Massages come with every package!
I’m talking real deal reflexology (Thank’s Dave)
Swedish massage (Thank’s Deirdre)
Cranial …Ohhhhh Mike)
The property…
It’s clean, with new comfortable beds and crisp white linens. I was surprised to find an indoor saltwater pool and jacuzzi. A friendly welcoming dining room, in a typical Vermont Ski Lodge. Rooms all have HBO.
The service… extraordinary!
Warning …
This is not Canyon Ranch or a «champagne love tub retreat». You will not find rose infused mud baths or bedazzled mani/pedi’s.
This is a place for real men and woman who are serious about getting healthy, and passionate about hiking in the great outdoors. Staying in your room would defeat the purpose. I can’t wait to bring a group of my friends to share this wonderful experience.
In closing…
I wish I could keep this hidden-​gem all to my self, unfortunately cream always rises to the top. It’s comforting to know that New Life will continue to draw in like minded individuals, and not the main stream masses.
See you at New Life!

BEWARE of their $ 300 scam! Don’t provide your credit card info w/​out reading this FIRST. I should’ve known something was up. Not only was the website a little too austere for the hype and missing info on several pages, but my gut was telling me something was off when they asked for $ 300 to even check to see if my requested dates were even available. For whatever it is worth, I’ve been to many destination spas and reserved vacations online countless times and they always have an availability calendar that customers can check to before booking. Not New Life Hiking Spa… instead they require a credit card to charge a $ 300 deposit. Approximately 12 hrs later, I received a «confirmation» message from NLHS via email. I didn’t even know my requested dates were available until I received the email. Rather than simply telling me they had availability for my requested timeframe and ASKING to confirm/​charge my credit card w/​the deposit, NLHS had gone ahead and already done so on their own. When I reviewed the document attached to their email message, it was incorrect — the number of nights were wrong (not what I had submitted in my email), and thus, the overall quoted price was wrong. I sent an email back to NLHS and asked for a new quote based on the correct dates. When I didn’t hear back for almost 2 days, I called back to inquire. The man on the other end of the phone was quite rude and acted irritated when I asked that the dates be fixed and when I asked for a new estimate, to include additional info about applicable specials/​discounts. In fact, he said angrily (I won’t forget this because I couldn’t help but think how unprofessional it was), «I have to make a profit too, ya know!» After several attempts at explaining what had occurred and him realizing the incorrect quote/​dates were his fault, he was more attentive and apologetic, but by then I was already far turned off. He went ahead and sent a revised document with the correct dates and an updated quote w/​in a few hours of my phone call, but at that point, I had made my decision to try a different destination spa. I immediately wrote him back and let him know that I had decided to visit elsewhere instead. The response he sent was curt, but cordial; however, he also advised he charged my credit card a cancelation fee of $ 75!!! I was stunned. Not only was the reservation error on his part, but the fact that I had responded w/​in a few hours of receiving the corrected quote should’ve released me from any sort of penalty. Bottom Line: I WILL NEVER STAY AT NEW LIFE HIKING SPA and I strongly urge anyone entertaining the idea of visiting NLHS to listen to his/​her gut instinct… any spa website that requires you put down $ 300 to simply find out if your requested dates are available should be a red flag. Beware that as soon as you press «send» on their website along w/​your credit card info, YOU WILL BE CHARGED $ 75 if the dates are available and you wish to cancel! I’m kicking myself and I will not make the mistake again. I hope to prevent this same experience for someone else out there who enjoys spas and may fall into this same trap… trust me… it’s not worth it.
Thank you for responding to my review.
I absolutely wish my experience was different and that I was able to view dates available prior to inquiring and receiving the incorrect confirmation for which I was later fined $ 75. Unfortunately that was not the case. I’m hopeful that others will not have the same unfortunate experience.

The food is portion controlled which means, not the quantity we have become so used to but the high quality more than makes up for the amount served. The ingredients are all fresh, tasty and very very healthy. The hiking is tuff, beautiful, and expertly led with many levels of hiking to choose from. I only participated in intermediate and advanced. Their were many other activities to keep you busy after the hike including water aerobics yoga, strength training, Pilates and more. In the evenings their are movies, lectures (not very interesting) and several local options to choose from if your not too exhausted. The hotel was in need of a face lift but the rooms were spacious, great service and clean. I.e., more than adequate. This was a greT healthy active vacation.