Kristen Ulmer


Kristen Ulmer is a former professional extreme skier who retired in 2003 to study and teach about fear.

Early life and education

Born and raised in the small town of Henniker, New Hampshire, she moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1985 to attend the University of Utah. In 1986 she started competing in mogul skiing and filming extreme ski movies, which led to her almost two decade long career as a professional skier. Since retiring in 2003 she has been studying with Zen master Genpo Roshi, and credits him as being inspiration behind her teaching style and work on the subject of fear.

Professional athletics

Ulmer was on the US Ski Team for moguls in 1991. She also starred in over 20 ski movies, and was called by the ski media the best woman big mountain extreme skier in the world from 1990 to 2001. In 1997 Ulmer was also voted in a Powder magazine ski industry survey to be the best overall female skier in the world, beating even Olympic gold medalists. She was 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 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 to be the most extreme woman athlete in North America, beating women in all sports disciplines not just skiing. She 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 a sport disciplines and runs mindset-only ski camps called Ski to Live, at Alta, Utah.
Ulmer's book The Art of Fear intends to challenge existing norms, as a path to end these problems.

Personal life

Married to aerospace engineer Kirk Jellum since 2009, they have two savannah cats as pets. The couple attends the Burning Man festival in Nevada each year and are known 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.