“How fast can we go before we can’t handle it anymore?” Join alpine ski talents Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin at their Norwegian fjord getaway

Norwegian alpine racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and his American fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin, one of the world’s most decorated skiers, have shared spectacular highs and devastating lows, including recent career-worst crashes. Taking a short break from the rapid speed of the ski runs (and their daily commitments), the pair invites us to their remote fjord hideaway outside Oslo to film a gentler time away from the slopes.

Capturing Norwegian alpine skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and his fiancée, another ski star Mikaela Shiffrin, necessitated a ‘off-piste’ excursion outside the beaten route, as is typical for Vogue Scandinavia photoshoots. To reach the shoot location, the Kilde family cabin on an island a two-hour drive (and a short boat trip) from Oslo, our crew members were transported back and forth across the fjord, a few at a time, by Kilde himself, carrying cameras, equipment, and clothing. Later, the pair posed for the camera, looking out over the surrounding inlets, pine trees, and undulating rocky terrain of the Langøy island from the same sailboat.

Kilde and Colorado-born Shiffrin have been in the same boat before, though recently in a more symbolic sense. In a case of synchronised extreme misfortune, both of the elite champions suffered their worst crashes of their careers about six months before our filming. Kilde, 32, was soaring downhill at 120 kilometres per hour towards the finish line of a race in Switzerland when he missed a corner and crashed into the safety net, receiving a series of lacerations, dislocations and nerve damage. He was quickly flown to a hospital in the adjacent town of Bern. When Shiffrin, 29, learnt of the crash, she left everything to be by his side when he awoke from surgery.

The couple properly connected whilst Mikaela was navigating the death of her father and Aleksander was overcoming a knee injury. He reached out to her on social media and they’ve been each other’s unwavering support ever since. Mikaela wears Classic belted trench coat, €2,131. Burberry. 18k yellow gold earrings with diamonds, €18,700. Ole Lynggaard. Cotton scarf. Mark Kenly Domino Tan. Aleksander wears Cotton sweater, €349, Denim trousers, €120. Both BOSS. Photo: Eivind Hamran

Kilde was watching a webcast of Shiffrin competing in the Italian Dolomites from his hospital bed two weeks later when she lost her footing after a jump and careened off the course at great speed. “It was a very strange situation,” Kilde explains. “I had a physiotherapist working on my shoulder as we watched Mikaela on the TV. She suddenly went ‘ka-bang’ into the netting. My physio just stopped moving; he didn’t know what to do,” he says, laughing at the absurdity of the scenario.

While Shiffrin’s injuries were not as severe as Kilde’s, the two were both quickly forced to transition from the pinnacle of their athletic careers to a bed-bound position, missing weeks of scheduled races and enduring rounds of rehabilitation. “It has been incredibly tough for both of us, especially during those first weeks,” Kilde tells me. “But maintaining the same positive mentality as each other, and being in the same boat, it really helps.”