Traveling spas: MountainFit and Global Fitness Adventures offer fitness seekers alternatives to the typical health resort scene

Combine the benefits of a spa (daily exercise, healthy food, professional pampering) with the allure of adventure travel (scenic vistas, exoctic locales, exposure to nature) and you have one of the hottest new trends in holidays--spa vacations that travel.

"It occured to me that there are a lot of people who are tired of the spa scene," says Diane Wechsler, director of MountainFit, a San Francisco-based company that offers hiking vacations in Montana, Utah and Hawaii. "Our trips are for people who want to be challenged. People who want the health benefits of a spa experience, but who are also looking for a bit of adventure."

Adventure is also a key ingredient in the trips that Kristina Hurell leads to the rain forests of Guatemala, the moors of England and the plains of Africa. "Our trips go beyond the goals of the typical spa experience," says Hurell, president of Global Fitness Adventures. "From the different cultures we visit, we learn about other approaches to longevity, stress management and personal empowerment."

Both of these women are walking testaments to the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle, and the companies they head offers fitness seekers exciting, outdoor alternatives to the typical spa experience.

Wechsler and her MountainFit staff lead groups of eight to 12 people on week-long trips that include fitness classes, yoga, massages, river rafting, snorkeling and horseback riding. The central activity, however, is hiking. "I've always been a jockette," says the 30-year-old Wechsler, who started MountainFit three years ago, after excursions into law and the film industry. I've done track, skiing, dance, horseback riding. But when I go hiking in the mountains, I realize this is when I'm happiest, most centered. I wanted to share that good feeling with other people. Hiking is also need of the best aerobic exercises you can do. People generally lose three to five pounds in a week, and it's weight that stays off."

Trips generally entail four to eight hours of hiking a day. "Our first day out, we must have hiked 20 miles," remembers Dan Callahan who took MountainFit's "Big Sky Adventure" in Bozeman, Montana last August. "We hiked throuhg some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. The views were spectacular."

On their week-long adventure, Callahan and the others in his group explored five different mountain ranges in Montana and hiked through parts of Yellowstone National Park. "It got me completely away from everything I was doing," says Callahan. "It was totally mind cleansing."

The Montana excursion is offered each summer. In spring and fall, you can opt to hike through Zion National Park on the company's "Rugged Splendor" trip in Utah, or explore the extinct volcano of Haleakala and other attractions of up-country Maui on a "Tropical Paradise" trip to Hawaii Accomodations are mostly in mountain lodges or in, Hawaii, in beachside houses.

Food on all MountainFit trips is low-calorie and low-fat, and no alcoholic beverages are served. Chefs are graduates of the Cullinary Institute of America. "The food was great," remember Callahan. "Pita sandwiches for lunch. We only had red meat once-elk shishkabobs."

Hurell's Global Fitness Adventures also involve a lot of hiking, but aerobics and weight-training classes, as well as other activities, are sprinkled liberally throughout the itineraries. A typical day starts around 6:15 a.m. with a morning drink of lemon juice, cayene pepper and a dash of maple syrup. A yoga class with meditation follows, then breakfast. The morning hike may be six to 15 miles, and after lunch there might be horseback riding, river rafting or aerobics and muscle-tonning classes. A short afternoon hike and dinner are followed by an evening program, a lecture on nutrition, perhaps, or a demonstration of stress management technique. Three times a week guests get a message, and the schedule is flexible enough to allow for impromptu sketching classes and meditation sessions.

"I was amazed at how much activity was packed into a day," says Paddy Munro, a Calgary, Alberta homemaker who took a Global Fitness Adventure to Aspen, Colorado last June. "Kristina motivates you to do your best, and the encouragement and camaraderie I received from the other guests was absolutely wonderful."

Global's Aspen trips include hikes in the Rocky Mountains in the summer months, and skiing and snowshoeing in winter. Adventures in Devonshire, England involve treks across Dartmoor, visits to quaint country villages and walks along the rugged coastlines of Devonshire and Cornwall. Guests on the company's excursions to Lake Como, Italy, stay in a lavish lakeside hotel and hike to historic villages in the Italian Alps. Global also offers trips to Nepal, Siberia, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Kenya, Palm Springs and Malibu, California and Sedona, Arizona. "On each of the trips, we explore places that are unique to that area," explains Hurrel. "We examine Mayan ruins in Guatemala, visit ancient chapels in Italy, study Indian petroglyphs in the American West."

The average group size of six to 10 people allows for individuals attention to each person's fitness level and dietary needs. "I was trying to lose weight, so I got smaller portions than my friend Marguerite, who was just there to tone," remembers Munro. "The food was delicious, and very satisfying for such low-calorie dishes. One night we had fabulous lentil soup; another time, steamed vegetables and tofu that tasted like chicken."

Both MountainFit and Global Fitness Vacations have corporate wellness programs. "Companies are finding that the healtier and more fit their employees are, the fewer sick days they take," says Wechsler. "We do three-to-five day corporate retreats that involve stress management, nutritional guidance and techniques of working together as a team."

Global Fitness Adventures' Executive Fitness Retreats include lectures on work place illness prevention, minimizing the aging process and nutrition. "Male executives in particular prefer the kind of trip we do to a regular spa," says Hurell, a former model and actress who had extensive experience in the spa industry before forming Global Fitness Adventures three years ago. "They like the outdoor activity and the spirit of adventure."

As with typical spa vacations, success stories for the traveling spas are abundant. "One man lost 25 pounds after coming on one of our trips," says Wechsler. "Another woman stopped smoking, ending a 20-year habit." But for most, the benefits go beyond the physical.

"It's not about losing weight," says Hurell. "It's about finding yourself--having a time in your life, away from distractions, when you can listen to the core of your inner being."

Alumni of both programs agree.

"I felt I was seeing everything with greater attention, remembers Munro. "To see a deer, a beaver, all the flowers was wonderful. The general sense of well-being I felt was exhilarating."

"The trip gave me a new appreciation of my natural surroundings," says Callahan. "Before, I hardly noticed the mountains near where I live. Now I go hiking there at least once a month."

Global Fitness Adventures, P.O. Box 1390, Aspen, CO 81612, (303) 920-1780 offers one ad two-week trips in Africa, Asia Central America and the United States. Prices range from $1,800 per person for week-long adventures in Colorado, Arizona and California to $4,500 for a two-week Kenya "Spa-Fari" and include accomodations, meals and activities.

MountainsFit, One Jackson Place, 633 Battery St., 5th Floor., San Francisco, CA 94111, (800) 926-5700 offers one-week trips in Utah, Montana and Hawaii. Prices range from $1,750 per person for trips in Utah and Montana, to $2,100 for Hawaii trips, including accomadations, meals and all activities.

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