The clear morning sky didn't give any clues that it would be a powder day. Those girls who left their houses early enjoyed a beautiful drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon, with views of Tanner's slide path and Mt. Superior on the north side of the road. They were on their way to Alta. Little did they know that, later on, the same road would be closed from all the fresh snow that gushed from the sky.

The women met at 8:30am at Alta's Albion grill. They were there for the Wasatch Women's Telemark Day, an all-levels clinic where telemark skiers — both first timers and experienced skiers — gathered to spend a day improving their turns at the mountain with the largest annual snowfall in Utah. Alta would live up to it's reputation today.

In this respect, the Wasatch Mountains are not unique. Over dinner last night, a friend from Telluride, Colorado, was describing a very similar scenario shaping up there; early season promise has been replaced by the surety that snowfall will lead to eventual deep slab instability. These thoughts concern us. Then the phone rings.

A day of high winds and blowing snow were not an event organizer's dream. But none of the women who signed up were disappointed.

Though on the verge of closing due to the inclement weather, the lifts were running. All the women around me, including myself, were interested in getting on the mountain. For some, this was their first time on telemark skis (many of these skiers were already experienced alpine skiers). Others wanted to gain confidence and learn to stick their telemark turns on harder, steeper terrain, or simply explore the mountain while sharing stories with other girl telemarkers.

Within the main groups — never ever, beginner, intermediate or advanced — you could fine-tune your skills by choosing a specialized group. For example, a couple categories were: "I can go off trail and use the telemark position but sometimes revert back to parallel," or, "I am comfortable anywhere on the hill but want pointers."

I couldn't decide which to take until one woman said to me, "Women usually underestimate themselves, and men usually over-inflate themselves." I chose a harder one, hoping not to hold anybody back, but also wanting to fully push myself on this amazing powder day.

I ended up in the A3 group: "Comfortable all-mountain skier, but don't always make telemark turns." I was tired of getting riffed by my purist tele friends for my survival skiing that occasionally included a parallel turn here and there.

A total of 119 women showed up for the telemark clinic. Alta didn't have enough women instructors to fill all the spots, so four out of 18 instructors were guys. Our group's instructor, Chris Ulm, was outnumbered by women seven to one. He didn't seem to mind. An 11-year veteran at Alta, he started by asking each one of us what our goals were. Chris assured us we'd get plenty of skiing in during the day. His motto was, "The mountain is your best teacher."

He showed us a few basics to get us going. From there, he encouraged each of us to find what worked for us and to develop our own individual styles and ways of expression when our skis and the snow interact with the force of gravity. I found we always came back to a few fundemental concepts such as positioning the body, maintaining rhythmic turns and timing our pole plants.

We went in for a quick lunch and headed back up the lifts. The snow was still dumping. When we got to the top, we huddled together in the blowing snow for a moment. All the blood was in my stomach, digesting a greasy lunch from the grill — perfect for this kind of day. We didn't spend too much time standing around talking. Fueled up and ready for more, Chris asked each one of us what was the number one thing we each were thinking about from our morning session. Some of the answers were: "hands in front, earlier pole plants, simultaneous turn transitions (switching both feet at the same time rather than one after the other). Quentin, who was shadowing Chris as an instructor, thought about it for a minute and said, "Make as many turns as possible."

Thanks for saying what the rest of us were thinking, Quentin. From the looks of her skiing, she didn't need many tips. In the morning session, she had remained pretty quiet, sweeping up the rear as we made our way down and generally enjoying the huge pockets of powder everywhere. After watching her rip a few runs, I rode the lift with her (where she loaned me her scarf to combat the frost nip on my nose). Turns out her mother, Andrea Mead Lawrence, was an Olympian from the 50s. She won two gold medals, a slalom and a GS, during the 1952 Olympics. She still holds the record for the best acheivement by a woman skier in a single Games.

"My mother is a beautiful skier," Quentin said.

No wonder she skis as well as she does. Quentin's mom taught her, albeit alpine, and now she's a master at telemark.

We picked our way through the trees, and all the pointers Chris had given us from the morning clicked. As we skied more through the chutes by Germania, I had this epiphany. It was the type of feeling you have, name the activity, when all of a sudden the light goes on. You forget the apparatus that makes the activity possible — the skis, the boots, the poles — and the only thing left is your intention, the place you want to go, and the bliss of getting there.

The way my feet registered pressure and balance from the balls of my feet to the rest of my body — everything worked.

Skiing all day until the last lift with a bunch of girls was a total blast. We talked about how girls are often first introduced to a sport such as skiing through a boyfriend or brother. It was fun to have an entire day skiing around the mountain with other women. What works for a man in a particular sport does not always work for a woman, especially if you're talking about gear. And it was great to share ideas, turns, laughs and beers at the end of the day.

Most of the women were Wasatch locals. Coming from Seattle, I found a cheap flight ($135 round trip) into Salt Lake City. I had been looking for an excuse to enjoy some early season snow in Utah, so I also spent a few days skiing at Snowbird and Park City. If you're from out of town, it's a great opportunity to ski with some of the best women telemarkers around and be one up on your friends back home.

The next one is at Sundance, Jan 13. For more information, call 801-424-3961 or check out www.wasatchtelemark.org.

— Michelle Quigley Pearson, MountainZone.com Staff