Another Cold-Plunge Challenger, Kolm, Has Entered the Arena

I didn’t mean to make cold plunges and saunas my beat, but it’s not my fault that after putting out a feature last year tracking the rise of cycle-spa culture, new spas just kept on opening. Since going to press with that story, Tality Wellness opened in Mount Pleasant right down the street from (friendly) competitor Gatherwell, just as a mysteriously bougie spa called Aether began construction in the West End.

The latest of the lot is Kolm Kontrast, which quietly opened its doors just before Christmas. Located in the lobby of an upscale apartment at West 8th Avenue and Cambie (someone, please, tell me once and for all if that’s Olympic Village or Cambie Village or Fairview), it’s the joint venture of Julia Glynn and Landon Goold, who collectively bring experience in branding, PR, real estate and fitness to their own wellness-chic hideaway.

READ MORE: The Ultimate Vancouver Spa Guide

‘Kolm’ is pronounced “calm” but means ‘three’ in Estonian (reflecting the spa’s trifecta of goals: relax, recover, reconnect). If you’ve ever been to Othership in Toronto—which Glynn says is unaffiliated—the vibe here will feel familiar. A giant, 50-person sauna is lit with soft, colour-changing neon and equipped with a state-of-the-art sound system. Kolm staff pop essential-oil infused snowballs onto the heating element (one mixture smells like a sophisticated creamsicle) to amp up the steam and aromatherapy.

The cold-plunge tubs in the next room are deep enough for two people; if you dare to dip, you’ll be coached by sound-bowl wielding Kolm team members, who encourage you to stay in for the full two minutes but still offer kind high-fives when you only last 10 seconds. And after all the hot and the cold and hot and cold, the lounge awaits, equipped with a tea and water station and plenty of cushy spots to let the stress melt away.

The recommendations for moving through the hot-cold-relax cycle are similar here to other sauna houses, but Kolm stands out from its hot-cold brethren with a regular schedule of classes that range from chill (like the guided Deep Stretch sessions) to more intense (like the breathwork-and-visualization focused Courage class). If you’re less interested in introspection and more interested in meeting people, Kolm offers popular After Hours sauna socials, too, where the lights are low, the music is loud and new friends are ready to sweat and gab at the same time.

My visit featured all the hallmarks of the modern Vancouver sauna-spa experience: pore-opening sauna sessions that warmed up my winter-cold bones, icy plunges that shocked me out of my head and into my body (even if only for those 10 seconds) and tea blends that definitely involved some chamomile. But the glowing pink lights and gentle guidance of our host for the evening—through stretches, self-massage and whatever lymph drainage is—made for a pleasant night out in Camblympic Villview.

Stepping back out of the bougie apartment lobby and onto the street, a new, tulip-shaped wool sauna hat in hand (because this is my brand now), I felt loose and limber and ready for any stressors life wants to throw my way next. So, sure, you could ask, skeptically, if Vancouver really needs another sauna. Or, you could take a page out of my book and instead ask (while wearing the tulip hat, of course): in these tumultuous times, don’t we need as many moments of restoration as we can get?

525 W 8th Ave., kolmkontrast.com