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Say the name Kristen Ulmer in the company of skiers and you'll probably hear the same description: extreme skier, professional danger junkie, and poster girl for the ragged edge of control. Now add one more label to the list: personal-growth guru.

This winter marks the second season that Ulmer, often referred to as the "queen of extreme," is leading a combination ski clinic/therapy session called Ski To Live, a first-of-its-kind pairing of top-tier instruction with personal wellness and life coaching. And with record-breaking snow falling this season -- more than 750 centimetres by January at some areas -- this is the best winter in decades to ski and learn in Utah.

"There's a thousand ski clinics every year, and they all teach basically the same thing -- how many ways can you coerce someone into, say, putting their hands forward and leaning into the front of their boots?" she says, laughing. "Ask any professional athlete and they'll tell you their performance is 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical. A lot of people have the skill to ski like maniacs, but it's the mental toughness to do it that's lacking."

Ski to Live, she says, "is about getting in touch with the passion you have for skiing, and bringing that into other areas of your life, and at the same time learning on a very practical level how you learn new skills."

The four-day workshops, held at slope-side lodges, stick to a simple format: early-morning yoga, followed by four hours of ski coaching, then a few hours on your own, putting the lessons into practice. After meal breaks, participants spend the evening hours doing a variety of facilitated exercises designed to help identify both how they learn, and what may be holding them back from breaking through, either on or off the slopes. For example, along with fellow instructor and "life coach" Larry O'Neil, Ulmer will guide participants in determining whether they learn best by hearing, watching, or doing.

Ulmer may be the expert at carving turns, but for navigating the twisting terrain of the mind she's teamed up with Genpo Roshi, one of the world's leading Zen masters, and creator of the "Big Mind" school of Buddhist meditation.

A combination of Western-style therapy and Eastern Zen, "Big Mind" aims to allow anyone -- even someone who's never meditated before -- to connect with their deep inner self within an hour, accomplishing by dinner time the same sort of understanding of self that most Zen practitioners spend a lifetime seeking.

For people who are uncomfortable about bearing their souls to a roomful of strangers, Ulmer is quick to point out that "it's only as in-depth as you want it to be."

She's certain, however, that learning who you are as a person can teach you about skiing. For example, if you lack confidence in your day-to-day life, your stance on the ski hill will reflect that.

"My intention is to get people to take a look at themselves, learn how they learn and who they are as a person, and then get a chance to apply that understanding through something they're passionate about -- skiing."

Which, in the end, is what the weekend is all about. After being divided into groups by ability and paired up with teachers keyed into the ways each student best learns, they're let loose on some of the best snow in the world.

The clinics are being held at Alta and Snowbird in Utah's Wasatch Range, famed for its 12 annual metres of dry, light powder snow. Last year's group got to take advantage of Ulmer's industry connections when she surprised her campers one night with a visit from Alta's general manager, who promised "early ups" -- lift access 90 minutes ahead of everyone else. That night, Alta got pummelled with 66 centimetres of champagne-light powder. Her delighted students promptly put their new skills to work, plowing first tracks through the powder.

For many at last year's clinic, the chance to ski with a snow-sport superstar was draw enough, and that's just fine with Ulmer, named by various ski magazines as one of the top women skiers in the world 14 years in a row. "The clinic is different for everyone who attends," she says, noting that telemarkers and snowboarders are also welcome.

"The instruction is almost superfluous -- when your mind is opened to both how and why you do things the way you do, and whatever your personal process of learning is, you'll see it reflected in your skiing. We don't just talk about how you're skiing below your ability, we figure out about why as well."

That's all fine and good, but what does it mean for the average weekend warrior who wants to get out of their lifelong "intermediate" skier class? With the same confidence that sent her hurtling down 60-degree slopes and off 30-metre cliffs for more than a decade, Ulmer says that "with some work, you'll leave Utah skiing better than you ever have, and with a stronger sense of who you are, and where you want to be going in your life."

Then she adds, "and we'll have a blast skiing, to boot."

Ski To Live: Jan. 22-26, Snowbird, Utah, $1,695 (all amounts in U.S. dollars), and April 1-5 at Alta, Utah, $1,495. For more information, visit http://www.kristenulmer.com .