K2's Ultimate Groove 2009; snow, sushi & sunshine!

Ultimate Groove had a fantastic year,  starting here in Colorado and spanning the globe, we found some new enthusiasm along the way and a lot of snow in our path.

The women of Ultimate Groove were busy this season spreading the gospel of telemark skiing far and wide.  We donned our Marmot attire and strapped on our Dawn Patrols and aimed to provide inspiration to men and women alike at our early season camp here in Crested Butte.  The limited terrain allowed us to work hard on the technical aspects of telemark skiing and get the season started without any bad habits.  This one day camp refreshed us all and introduced many future clients to Ultimate Groove's offerings.

January brought us to Bend, Oregon and Mt. Bachelor ski resort.  We were greeted with the biggest ice storm of the year and the most fabulous group of women you can imagine, (I think there were only 2 out of the bunch that were not doctors).  The sun came out, the ice melted and we found fresh powder in the trees.  The terrain offered a little bit of everything and all levels were challenged and saw great improvement.  Bend seems to be a little hot bed of tele mamas looking to share their experiences with other women and improve their technique.  We will surely be back in 2010.  The resort and the clientele were hard to beat.  Pine Mountain Sports & Marmot also invited patrons to a slide show Saturday evening which was a huge success and we were able to get the UG word out.

The beginning of February saw plenty of snow in Crested Butte but a knee injury for our rocket scientist, yes, really a telemarking rocket scientist, but she's back up on her feet and we're anxious to ski with here again next season.

Our 2 east coast camps knocked our socks off, we actually had to turn 3 people away as our group was so large in January.  Most of the women were beginners which we love, turning people onto telemark skiing is the easiest part of our job!  We got some great ladies hooked, several of whom already purchased their own gear.  Ultimate Groove is really gaining momentum in the east and we're planning more Sunapee events for next year as well as a custom tailored camp at Jay Peak...stay tuned!  Our east coast coordinator is certainly making it happen for us out there, Thanks Hoop!

You wondered what the sushi was all about....JAPAN of course.  We arrived in Sapporo on a beautiful sunny day and this was the last we saw of the sun for the remainder of the trip but don't feel too bad, it snowed non-stop for 2 weeks.  I have honestly never seen snow fall that hard anywhere in the world.  This was Ultimate Groove's first international telemark adventure and what a success!  We promised powder , sushi and hot springs and nothing disappointed!  The powder was deep, the sushi fresh and the onsen experiences really made it a relaxing and soothing trip.  After multiple soaks each day in the natural mineral hot springs, I bet we were the cleanest telemark skiers on the planet!  We enjoyed 3 days of resort skiing in Niseko and 4 days of backcountry skiing.  I can't remember even one run without face shots, now that is good skiing!  We hope to revisit Japan in 2011.

Lake Tahoe, California always delivers plenty of snow and ample sunshine for our UG events and this season was no exception.  This was our first time at Sugar Bowl and we will be back, the resort has amazing terrain, uncrowded trails, fast chairlifts and great people, (thanks Tory Jackson!).  We had a fabulous group of ladies with many returning clients.  We were able to get some of the ladies up into the Palisades area, super steep and gnarly terrain.  We'll be hitting Sugar Bowl again in 2010, we hope to see you Cali women there!

The staff of Ultimate Groove stays very busy through the end of ski season;  Kirsten Fraser ripped the tele extremes here in CB.  Heather Peterson & I judged the event.  I also have been working with K2's alliance team and will continue throughout the summer months.

We had a successful season and are looking forward to some more unique offerings in 2010, including avalanche courses here in Crested Butte, custom camps, a ladies expert trip to ski the fjords of Norway next May and return camps in CB, Sugar Bowl, Mt. Bachelor and a few east coast stops to keep our momentum rolling.  We are anxious to introduce our participants to the new K2 line next season.  I hope to see all you telemark enthusiasts out there.