Morgins, Switzerland. The ski resort on the French border that is hosting the 2025 Ski Mountaineering World Championships was not chosen by chance: Morgins is a hotspot for the discipline, and is where many athletes train and compete. In March, it was the scene for a gathering of the world's best. The elite of ski mountaineering converged on the small Valais resort to battle it out for a week, with Olympic selection at stake as the sport makes its Olympic debut.

Alba Di Silvestro and Michele Boscacci belong to this global elite and are pillars of the Squadra Azzurra. Italy, a pioneering nation, is recognized and respected in the ski mountaineering world and consistently appears at the top of the rankings. Alba and Michele are key players.

They kicked off the competition in Morgins, racing for Italy in the mixed relay. It’s extremely rare to see a married couple competing together at this level. "It’s a bit rare and strange, yes, for a couple to ski together at this level, but at the same time, it’s easier – we do everything together, our relationship grew with this shared career, we essentially have the same job, and it’s what defines us," Michele tells us. It’s true: they know each other inside out, share every training moment year round, and have practised their transitions countless times, perfecting those technical gestures to shave off those tenths of a second that will make all the difference on race day.

2026 will be an Olympic year, and ski mountaineering will make its debut in the Games. There will only be two events: the sprint and the mixed relay. Just 36 athletes will be selected – 18 women and 18 men, one pair per nation. These pairs must compete in both the relay and the sprint. Selections will begin in December in Italy, and only the very best will make the cut. The competition promises to be intense. It's been two years since the prospect of the Olympics sparked a sudden interest in many countries. Ski mountaineering was long dominated by European nations: winning a European Championship often led to World Championship too. But times have changed. At this year’s Worlds in Morgins, athletes from China, Canada, and beyond claimed world titles – an unprecedented shift. In an added twist, the 2026 Olympic events will be held in Bormio, the very town where Alba and Michele live. Coming home in the evening, like on any ordinary day, after racing in the Olympics, that's got to be a surreal feeling. For now, Alba and Michele choose to laugh about it. They know they’ll need to be ready; they will be.

By competing in the Worlds, the two Caravan athletes skipped the Pierra Menta this year. The Pierra Menta is to ski mountaineering what the UTMB is to trail running, and those who did line up at the legendary ski mountaineering race were eager to seize the chance to shine in the absence of the sport’s strongest competitors. Over the past seven years, Michele has claimed victory four times with an Italian teammate (2018, 2021, 2022, 2023). In 2021, the podium’s top steps were entirely Italian. I’ll let you guess who finished first among the women that year.

Alba and Michele have shone – and continue to shine – in legendary races like the Pierra Menta, the Patrouille des Glaciers, and the Trofeo Mezzalama. Alba recalls her first Mezzalama as one of her best memories of her career. She was the new face on the Italian team, gave everything she had and, even though she didn’t win, the long, exhausting race left an indelible mark on her.

When asked about the best memory of their international careers, Michele recalls his first European Cup victory – that moment when you're crowned the best in the sport, the one no one could beat that day. It was 2016, and the media was all about a certain Kilian Jornet, who had to settle for a lesser placing – Michele was the strongest. Alba, on the other hand, looks back on her first World Cup victory in Andorra, in an individual event, as a truly extraordinary day: "You work so hard to achieve that result, and a victory like that is the moment you savour your personal accomplishment."

Before the Olympic year, summer will come, and the two athletes will get back out on their bikes. We once followed Alba and Michele on an easy ride up the slopes of the Stelvio, but Michele tells us that his go-to bike is now a mountain bike. The parallel with ski mountaineering is obvious: the forest, the single tracks, the silence. In summer, road cycling in the Dolomites has become as stressful as it is tiring. It’s better to escape the noise and climb alone to the surrounding peaks. Alba, who had only mild enthusiasm for technical descents and threading between trees, has grown to love these new challenges – because sharing a passion means trying new things and, eventually, loving them together.