Kristen Ulmer (born September 8, 1966) is a former professional

extreme skier Extreme skiing is performed on long, steep (typically from 45 to 60+ degrees, or grades of 100 to 170 percent) slopes in mountainous terrain. The French coined the term 'Le Ski Extreme' in the 1970s. The first practitioners include Swiss skier ...

who retired from the sport in 2003 to further study and teach about overcoming fear.

Early life and education

Born and raised in the small town of Henniker,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, she moved to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in 1985 to attend the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. In 1986, she started competing in mogul skiing and filming extreme ski movies, which led to her embarking upon a professional ski career that lasted for almost two decades. Since retiring in 2003, she has been studying with

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

master Genpo Roshi, and credits him as being the inspiration behind her teaching style and work on the subject of fear.

Professional athletics

Ulmer was on the

US Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and a ...

for moguls in 1991. She also starred in over 20 ski movies, and was named the best female big mountain extreme skier in the world from 1990 to 2001 by the ski media. In 1997, Ulmer was also voted in a ''Powder'' magazine ski industry survey as the best overall female skier in the world. She is known for jumping off up to 70-foot cliffs, throwing flips, and for ski mountaineering feats such as the first female ski descent of Wyoming's

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, in Northwest Wyoming, and a classic destination in American mountaineering. Geography Grand Teton, at , is the highest point of the Teton Range, and the second highest peak in t ...

in 1997. An avid rock and ice climber, paraglider pilot, adventure cyclist, and kiteboarder, Ulmer was voted by the outdoor industry in a 2000 ''Women's Sports and Fitness'' magazine poll as the most extreme woman athlete in North America. She eventually retired from professional athletics in 2003.

Later career

Alongside her ski career, Ulmer was known for writing in magazines such as ''Skiing'', ''Ski'', ''Powder'', ''Maxim'', ''Details'', and ''Outside''. Ulmer coaches athletes in various sport disciplines and runs mindset-only ski camps called The Art of Fear ski camps, at

Alta, Utah Alta is a town in eastern Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 383 at the 2010 census, a slight increase from the 2000 figure of 370. Alta is centered in t ...

. Ulmer's book ''The Art of Fear'' challenges existing norms about what to do about fear and offers an alternative approach to resolving anxiety issues.

Personal life

Divorced from aerospace engineer Kirk Jellum since 2021, she remains single today. She attends the Burning Man festival in Nevada each year and is known alongside her ex-husband for building and bringing the Praying Mantis and Scorpion art cars. The fire-breathing Praying Mantis can now be seen at the Container Park in

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the S ...

References

External links

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"The Princess of Extreme Skiing: That Girl"
''Powder'' Magazine
Forbes magazine interview on skiing the Grand TetonManage your Fear with guest Kristen Ulmer 11/6/2014 radio interviewOn Fear as the Mind Killer"New Years Destinations: Ski to Live"
1/28/13 ''Outside'' magazine
"Kristen Ulmer: From extreme skiing to mindset training"
Lifesherpa podcast
"Mind Over Mountain?"
''Wall Street Journal'' full page article about Ski to Live. 3/19/12
"Mind Over Mountain: Former Extreme skier Kristen Ulmer shows students that whether they think they can or think they can't they're right".
Ski Magazine Oct 2010

''Forbes'' magazine, 11/16/07 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulmer, Kristen 1966 births Living people American female alpine skiers 21st-century American women