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It has been a long road back for Juliette Pelchat.
After COVID-19 all but wiped out two competitive snowboard seasons at the turn of the decade, the Whistler native broke her ankle in 2021 and missed a third straight campaign. At 18 years old, Pelchat is already a full-fledged member of Canada’s national snowboard team alongside Olympic medallists like Mark McMorris, Max Parrot and Laurie Blouin, but injuries and a global pandemic have unfortunately slowed her development.
In fact, December’s historic World Cup big air event in Edmonton was just Pelchat’s second competition in the past three years.
“I was definitely, like, scared-nervous at the start of the season just to come back,” she admitted. “It’s been hard on my mental health, going through an injury and just watching a lot of people around me progress. I’m super stoked for them, but just like for my own sake, I was kind of bummed.
“Now I’m back, and I’m taking advantage, and I’m really excited for all the opportunities to come this season.”
A new challenge
Pelchat, a slopestyle rider by trade, will compete in her preferred discipline later in January. There were no FIS World Cup slopestyle events scheduled in the last few months, forcing her to return to the circuit in a relatively unfamiliar event: big air. Unlike slopestyle, which combines the technicality of rail-riding with three consecutive jumps, big air—as its name indicates—is all about flying high and executing spectacular tricks.
Finishing 21st in Switzerland last October, Pelchat was glad to reintroduce herself to the competitive scene, but promptly faced a new challenge in her next outing. Edmonton’s big air event was notable for being the first of its kind to take place in a stadium, featuring one of the largest scaffoldings ever built for the FIS World Cup.
Unlike natural jumps, scaffoldings tend to force riders to hit the jump in a straight line, rather than preparing themselves with a series of setup turns. The artificial snow used on a scaffolding also feels markedly different from natural snow.
The Commonwealth Stadium jump proved difficult even for seasoned big air veterans. Eight of 21 originally-slated competitors refused to participate, and defending Olympic bronze medallist Kokomo Murase withdrew after qualification. An inability to build up sufficient speed was the main issue, especially for female athletes who tend to be lighter than their male counterparts.
Pelchat remembers being terrified to launch herself off of the 45-metre ramp in Edmonton. She watched as rider after rider went airborne in practice, but failed to make a clean landing. Then McMorris, a three-time Olympic bronze medallist, walked over to her. “Just stay low,” she remembers him saying. “If you pump [your legs], that’s how you lose your speed.”
Even with that advice in mind, Pelchat’s legs felt like Jell-O as she accelerated down the jump for the first time. Somehow, her lower body ended up over her head in midair and she hit the curved part of the landing hill on her back. The only thing she hurt was her pride.
Nonetheless, Pelchat had gained confidence. She was able to maintain speed fairly consistently on competition day, though she chose to be realistic and keep her tricks, including a back 360, on the conservative side. She finished 11th, short of the final, but got to watch fellow Whisterite Jasmine Baird snatch gold.
“Me and Jasmine weren’t really friends in the past because we had a huge age gap, and we just recently started to get close because we’re travelling together,” said Pelchat. “She’s been such a good person to have on the team with me because she’s so encouraging and has such a good vibe.”
Love your sport
Pelchat is well-known throughout the Sea to Sky for spreading good vibes herself. As the daughter of Whistler backcountry legend JF Pelchat, she began snowboarding at three years old and fondly remembers learning the basics at Whistler Blackcomb’s beginner-friendly Magic Chair.
She didn’t limit herself to fresh powder either. Pelchat also branched out into skateboarding with her younger sister, Amalia, and together they run an all-girls skateboard group called the Real Wild Kittens (RWK). Although she focuses on slopestyle and admits that Amalia has become better on four wheels than her, Pelchat still thinks it is important for her to keep a foot in the skateboarding world.
“The more board sports you do, [the better it is] for snowboarding,” she said. “And now, Amalia and I are trying to create a brand out of [RWK] for awareness of female involvement in male-dominant sports. We’re trying to promote girls learning in a safe environment, and feeling comfortable to be part of the board community.
“A lot of people that I talked to who have [succeeded] said it was a pretty lonely road on the way up. They didn’t really have a girls crew to shred with, and it was difficult, they weren’t having fun. I kind of wanted to help girls avoid that, because I feel like you should be loving the sport that you’re competing in.”
With injuries hopefully in the rearview mirror, Pelchat loves her sport as much as ever and has “too many” New Year’s resolutions to think of. She hopes to learn as much as possible from every experience: every training camp, practice, contest or bad weather day. She wants to add a front 1080 to her arsenal of tricks and qualify for the finals of a World Cup event.
Above all, she hopes to inspire more girls from Whistler, Canada, and anywhere on Earth to take up board sports and pursue what could ultimately become their passion.
