W hat does a typical day look like for you? A typical day starts with a high-protein breakfast followed by morning training, a good lunch, a short siesta, some admin and then an appointment with the physiotherapists. I always try to motivate myself to do some stretching in the evening to help my body recover. Since last January, I have been taking a break from my studies to devote myself fully to preparing for the Olympic season. This decision has allowed me to avoid overloading myself and get used to the mountain to improve the quality of my training. Are your studies a source of extra stress or a necessary “bubble”? Both. For me, maintaining the link with my studies is fundamental to developing my cognitive ability as well as my physical ability, but also to preparing for my future. Of course, the specific requirements of studying biology and ski mountaineering at an elite level make them hard to reconcile. However, it wasn’t an option for me to choose an education in a field I didn’t like simply to make this dual career easier to manage. Do you think this dual career is a strength? Yes, because elite sport never lasts your whole life. Learning new things about the world around you also allows you to escape from the context of elite sport that can sometimes be claustrophobic. Do you prefer the unspoilt effort of the trail or the adrenaline of the descent? Ski mountaineering allows you to hang on to this solitary, unspoilt feeling as well as the freedom of being able to go wherever you want. The main difference is the polarisation between the effort of the climb and that of the descent, which brings with it the euphoria of gliding and puts less strain on the joints. In this sense, I would perhaps choose a beautiful day of powder ski mountaineering. You seem to be most resilient in the mountains. Is that where you feel most like “yourself”? Yes, I like the idea of taking my body to a place I have seen from a distance beforehand and the feeling of freedom that creates. What is your message to young people who are afraid of the mountains? There are plenty of ways to enjoy the mountains, each with their own level of risk. I understood that I didn’t need to go to exposed places to find the feeling I was looking for. How did you get into ski mountaineering? It was thanks to my family; my parents have always been into ski touring and, naturally, taught us how to do it. After that, my brother wanted to have a go at competing and I followed him into it. Has ski mountaineering been a way of keeping alive a link to your father and brother who died in the mountains in 2016 and 2021 respectively? I lost my dad and then my brother after I had started out in ski mountaineering and maybe, after that, those events did help me continue along this unusual path. It pushes me to be even more attentive and conscientious when it comes to making decisions in the mountains. But it is also important to be careful not to turn caution into fear.
In elite sport, the level is so high that every element is important and can decide the outcome of a race. – Caroline Ulrich Swiss ski mountaineer and Elite ambassador
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ELITENESS 2026 | Elite Performance
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