It’s a grey Wednesday morning at Milano Centrale station, and a bright orange train is piercing straight through the monochrome blur of the city’s well-heeled rush-hour crowds. It is the All Conditions Express: a full heritage Italian locomotive repainted in luminous colour, with a fully functioning “rolling basecamp” hidden inside. Set up by Nike’s newly relaunched ACG, the train is offering a limited number of trips into the Orobic Alps, just a short journey from central Milan.

Given the early February weather, it’s not a trip for the faint of heart. At this time of year, the mountains are still thick with snow and ice, with the constant threat of winter storms (when I arrived the day before, the rain was crashing down in sheets). But ACG is serious about its new position as a dedicated outdoor-performance brand. It wants to show, in real time, that it can guide people through the most challenging conditions.

There were four trips scheduled across the week, each lasting a full day. I joined the first, waiting outside the train as it prepared to board. Around me, elite athletes, runners, and hikers huddled in insulated ACG jackets and trail shoes, with backpacks full of extra layers to face the rapidly changing alpine weather. Among the group were tennis star Jannik Sinner and Paralympic champion Bebe Vio, who, in a surprise twist, took our tickets and helped us to our cabins.

The electric orange theme continued inside. Each carriage had been meticulously redesigned: custom seating compartments doubled as gear lockers, stocked with technical layers, trail accessories and equipment suited for shifting conditions. A café car, modelled after classic mountain refuges, served as the social heart of the train, serving piping hot coffee and nutritious breakfast boxes. There was also a mobile “gear lab” hosting workshops and product sessions, and a recovery space where runners and hikers could relax after long hours on the trail.

ACG has recently been repositioned as Nike’s dedicated outdoor-performance division, with a renewed focus on trail running, hiking and exploration. According to the brand, it exists “for all athletes who seek the challenge, adventure, and connection of thriving in the wild”. The All Conditions Express was designed as a physical expression of that idea: a rolling basecamp built for people serious about spending time in intense, demanding outdoor environments.

During the journey, members of Nike’s All Conditions Racing Department, including trail runner Drew Holmen, spoke with guests about training, racing, and product development. ACG works closely with a core group of athletes to develop and test its technical products, from the new Ultrafly trail racing shoe to the Lava Loft insulated jacket. Holmen, who has collaborated with the team since 2020, described how early versions were built by hand in Nike’s Beaverton offices. “The very first version was cobbled together,” he told me. “They were cutting up different types of shoes and putting them together, just trying to understand how we could make a super shoe for trail runners.”

He explained that the development process relies heavily on athlete testing. In the early stages, runners are given multiple unnamed prototypes and asked to focus only on feel and stability. “They’ll give us five or six different pairs and won’t tell us what’s in them,” he said. “They just ask, ‘How does it feel? How’s the stability?’ Then they narrow it down.” Before release, Holmen logged thousands of miles in different versions. “I probably put thousands of miles into it,” he said. “Hundreds and hundreds of miles, just trying to get it to where it is now.”

By late morning, the group arrived in the Orobic Alps, where we joined guided trail runs and hikes led by local guides. The hikers (my group) donned crampons to navigate frozen forests and thick snow, climbing steadily up to a mountain peak, overlooking Lake Como amid the clouds. The more ambitious trail runners did the same, braving the icy conditions in their tangerine Ultraflys, meeting us at the top. The terrain was demanding – steep climbs, rogue falling snowballs, a surprise yeti – but the collective energy remained upbeat.

After several hours on snow-covered trails, everyone regrouped on the train for the return journey. Wet layers were swapped for dry ones, with many heading to the recovery lab for a go on the compression therapy boots. Running from February 5 to 8, 2026, the All Conditions Express marked a new chapter in how ACG brings people into the wild – not only through product testing, but through experiences built around testing, community and immersion in real conditions.