Makeup-free, hair pulled back into a classic braid, a pair of earrings worn with elegance even while gliding across the snow. Ana Alonso Rodriguez looks like the girl next door, but don’t be fooled by appearances. Once past the starting line, the 29-year-old from Granada, who takes a modern approach to ski mountaineering, knows how to attack her opponents with the killer instinct of a predator. The Andalusian athlete is a clear talent and has one of the most complete profiles on the international scene. She’s also played a role in the rapid rise of the Spanish skimo race movement that we’ve been witnessing in recent seasons.

Born on December 7, 1994, Ana Alonso Rodriguez took her first steps in the outdoor world in her local mountains, the Sierra Nevada, refining her descending technique with alpine skiing, thanks above all to instruction by her father, Gerardo Alonso. She began ski mountaineering when she was little more than a teenager and found that this discipline allowed her to take advantage of her engine on the climbs and the gentle but rapid accelerations that distinguish her style on the descents.

Her entry into the international racing circuit came in 2016. After her first successes in the sprint and vertical specialties, Ana suffered a serious injury on the first stage of the Pierra Menta in 2017. Her recovery was long, but her motivation was greater than her anger. In fact, the forced pause represented a turning point in her career. Beginning in 2020, Ana Alonso Rodriguez has achieved increasingly prestigious successes and placings in the Spanish National Cup and on the ISMF circuit.
 
The ultimate validation came in 2023, with her first gold in Val Martello and another, a few months later, in Tromsø, both in the mixed relay together with Oriol Cardona Coll."
"Ana is capable of surprising even when she isn’t wearing a race number. In 2022, she became the first woman to complete descents of the three large northern peaks of the Sierra Nevada (Veleta, Mulhacén, and Alcazaba) in a single day, carrying on the legacy of her father, Gerardo, who was the first to achieve the feat of descending from Pico del Veleta.
 
Her career, already characterized by records, is well on its way to a future full of success.

You’ve already taken part in all the most important events in international skimo racing. But skimo touring is a discipline that suits you particularly well. What team competitions do you dream of participating in?
Definitely the great classics of the Grande Course. The Pierra Menta and the Mezzalama are the events that excite me the most. Finishing those two races would be worth more to me than a victory in other competitions.

Aside from the mountains at home, which are special to you, what place has excited you the most?
Probably Tromsø, where I competed in the World Cup finals in April 2023. I’d never seen such a place before. On those days I felt particularly good, and I was able to perform at a high level. A week I won’t easily forget.

What’s your relationship with mountain sports?
I learned to experience the mountains with respect and gratitude. These are the values ​​that I carry with me even today. The mountains are my second home: I go there to feel better, to recover my energy and motivation.

What’s your favorite Karpos product?
The Karpos Race Suit, of course, which I wear in all the Grande Course races, and the garments in the Alagna line. In particular, I always take the Alagna Plus Evo Jacket with me, even in everyday life — to the point where my friends ask me if I don’t have any other jackets to wear (laughs).