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Henri Aymonod: the approach makes the difference

Henri was born in the Aosta Valley. The alpine context in which he lives has shaped who he is, his choices and his passion for nature, for the outdoors and above all for mountains. He has two twin brothers: from an early age they were fundamental for his growth, even in sports. They are the ones who sparked his desire for challenge and competition. The games they played as kids led them to overcome their limits and discover the surrounding environment together. Each one of them then took his own path: he choses sports and now, also thanks to The North Face, he has managed to turn his passion into a job.

What is the link with your land?
It was easy and natural for me to approach the mountain with curiosity and a spirit of exploration. I live in a small valley of Gran Paradiso, the Rhemes Valley, and here I took my first steps. Now that I am more independent I have started touring all over the Aosta Valley and discovering every corner. For me, the Aosta Valley is also a training ground that allows me to develop a background of experiences and knowledge that will then be useful to me in any context I decide to undertake my projects. In this The North Face gives me a great help and allows me to dream big.

What kind of athlete are you? How would you call yourself apart from the name with which you are famous, Hombre Vertical?
From my point of view, it’s always about adapting. As a child I always wanted to look for the most direct way possible to reach a certain point, a peak, an alpine lake, even if this required taking a shortcut. I believe that these adaptations developed as a child turned out to be useful also in the competitive context. I approached the world of high-level running quite late, before that every challenges took place mainly within my family, with my brothers. It was after my first experiences on a national and international level, in 2014, that I really got to know the world of mountain running and I developed my passion for this environment and for what training looking for performance really is.

You have a recognizable running style, some certainties and securities that make you unique as an athlete. How important is the contamination of preparation? How do you find the balance in this?
I think that the different training theories are constantly validated, then denied and finally overcome. I believe that the most important thing is to make experiences, give different stimuli to your body, get into trouble in order to not to get used your body to the same efforts, just to get out of your comfort zone and succeed in overcoming your limits: especially when you feel more vulnerable. I believe that to grow as an athlete it is essential to have this kind of mentality: to know how to play even when there’s something that’s not closely congenial to you.

What is your way to grow? What is the approach you would like to follow?
I am convinced that I have large rooms for improvement in the races, and therefore should put myself to test me especially on the plains. I believe that this is currently my main weak point, considered that I come from the world of mountain outdoor sports and practiced so much winter ski mountaineering. An advice that I could give to other athletes that instead come from classic athletics specialties, such as middle-distance running or marathon, is to test themselves in contexts where they are more in difficulty: climbs and steep descents and technical terrains.

We often tend to consider any sports activity as a sacrifice that an athlete must face to reach certain results. For me it’s not exactly like that, meaning that I don’t make any sacrifice to run: if anything, sometimes it is the race that have to be sacrificed for other activities and commitments. Running for me is almost always the happiest moment of the day, my day revolves around it. Is it the same for you or do you see it in another way?
I think the same. Mountain races are my biggest passion and I have a nice relationship with both races and trainings. It is clear that there are some times in which even for me it is not always easy to remain focused on my goals, and the stimuli to train well can fail. In my case the motivation derives from the agonistic appointments, the technical comparison and the possibility of living new experiences. It’s something that I never forget, I simply feel it inside of me.

What does it mean to represent a brand like TNF?
I feel lucky to represent a brand like The North Face because its philosophy and mission are perfectly married with the kind of athlete and person I am. It is completely natural, given my affinities with the brand and my background. I often see athletes supported by companies whose image coincides little with their values and their features, and this is a shame. Before starting my current collaboration with TNF I was sponsored by a much smaller Italian brand and I was afraid that the approach with this new reality would have been more detached and complex. Instead I felt welcomed as in a family. Even among team athletes there is a beautiful feeling of mutual interest and sharing, we Amy practice different disciplines but we all feel united to the mountain. For me it is the approach that makes the difference: it is what we as The North face athletes have in common and from which our strength derives.

How is it to you share the sports experience and your projects with a team where there are people like Alex Honnold, Stefano Ghisolfi, Zach Miller and Markus Eder?
I met some of them for the first time in Iceland, during a workshop with TNF in November 2021. Although they are very well known athletes I immediately found themselves in them a wild side and at the same time a human side that unites us. They are all deeply in love with the mountain, genuinely interested in other people and for this reason they immediately make you feel part of a group. I remember the conversations I had with the freeriding team, in particular with Markus Eder, a person I respect a lot for his zen philosophy: I believe that we as trail athletes can learn a lot from these disciplines. One thing that struck me is how much these athletes are informed and follow my sport: I didn’t expect it and I was very pleased.

You’re a The North Face athlete since 2021, how is the collaboration with the Research and Development sector regarding equipment and footwear?
I work in close contact with a group of guys (Triangle) based in Annecy, which deal mainly with trail running and mountaineering. I feel free to provide them with my feedback in a sincere way, between us there is a very honest relationship without filters. Often after a run I send them some whatsapp messages and they try to translate my ideas into something concrete.

What is your shoe choice regarding the various terrains and distances?
I like the idea that the shoe is as much as possible a prolongation of the foot and leg of an athlete. I love reactive shoes that give a good feeling with the ground: so I need to have great confidence in the product I use. The shoe that best suits me in the whole TNF collection is the Flight Vectiv, the lightest and most developed model for competition, which gives me exactly these feelings. If I should give an advice to an athlete of any level, I would underline the importance of testing the product: there is no perfect shoe for an athlete or another. I appreciated the fact that The North Face is organizing shoe tests in collaboration with various shops all over the territory, in order to give people the opportunity to find the model that best suits their individual features.

You are one of the first athletes in Italy that can be defined as a professional in his discipline, because you are supported by TNF in all you challenges. How do you see the development of the environment in this sense, especially on national level? More generally, what do you think about the development of the trail sector and the opportunities that are opening to professionalize the figures of athletes, technicians and media that work in this sector?
Trail running is growing a lot, it is evident as there was a boom of people who like to run on the trails. I believe there is still a lot of confusion in the environment, between brands, circuits and federations that try to rule this sport sector. A problem that remains is how difficult is to recognize who truly high athletes are, the ones worthy of support and media attention. I wish there was more collaboration to develop sports at a professional level: the model could be the one of road marathons, where the great events that are based on the mass race are at the same time able to enhance the high-level activity of pro athletes. In the trail world it often happens that the overlapping of different events and competitions makes the level of the competition to be diluted: although there are several disciplines, which I consider equally interesting and worthy to develop regardless of distance or features, the most important thing must remain the competitive comparison between athletes and the technical level expressed by a competition. Simplify all this system would make the sport more attractive for sponsors and easier to follow for fans.