Mallory Hewlko had shaped her entire life and career to maximize the amount of time she could spend snowboarding. And then she found out she was pregnant.
“Once I got over the initial shock, I was excited,” she says. “But I almost went into a bit of a depression. I started reading these online forums and it was so negative. Everything was ‘Don’t do this. Don’t drink coffee, don’t cycle past this date.’ It was all this ‘don’t, don’t, don’t.’ I was like, ‘What did I do?’ I went into this spiral of ‘My life is over before it’s over.’”
She laughs a little at the memory now. Rather than stewing in fear for too long, she set out on a quest to find examples of what was possible instead.
“I started seeking out blogs of women who had snowboarded into their pregnancy,” she says, pointing to pro-snowboarder Kimmy Fasani as a particularly helpful example. “I have dedicated my life to this. I’m more comfortable on my snowboard than walking up stairs … What struck me was how hard it was to find those stories. In this sea of negativity I found two or three blogs that were telling me it was OK and how they managed it.”
As her pregnancy progressed, she bought bigger bibs and step-in bindings—so friends wouldn’t have to help her strap in as her belly got bigger—got the greenlight from her midwife, worked with a kinesiologist, and took it powder day to powder day.
“At no point did anybody say, ‘Oh, you should stop.’ They said, ‘If you feel good, you feel comfortable, it’s OK.’ They gave me agency to do what I wanted,” she says. At 38 weeks pregnant, one week before being induced, Hewlko was still riding Khyber’s laps, top to bottom. But she didn’t exactly advertise her accomplishment.
“I kept my pregnancy pretty quiet. I didn’t do any big announcements or anything like that. I barely alluded to the fact I was pregnant until I was about to have [my son]. One of the reasons was I knew I was going to get flak from people who were close to me, but I didn’t want flak from random people,” she says.
As Hewlko discovered, it can be hard to find examples of pregnant people who continue their mountain sports—skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, climbing, and trail running—well into the third trimester. Many decide they’re uncomfortable with the risks; others just don’t feel up to it. A few have conditions that prevent them from being active in the first place.
But plenty of women in the Sea to Sky corridor in particular quietly continue with sports that take them on or up the mountains as their bump grows. While most say they faced some criticism—sometimes from complete strangers who felt entitled to weigh in—more often they were encouraged.
Still, considering the corridor’s current baby boom (according to Vital Statistics, that added up to 385 babies born in Squamish and Whistler in 2020 and 405 in 2021. There is no data for Pemberton), pregnant athletes remain a novel sight to see. But that could change as more studies reveal the
benefits of prenatal exercise, doctors and midwives get on board with a larger range of sports, and society starts to trust women to be the experts on their own bodies.
For Hewlko—who chose, for example, to end her backcountry days sooner than her time in the resort due to her comfort—the benefits of snowboarding while pregnant were immense.
“There is something to be said for staying strong and healthy,” she says. “I think my mental health would’ve suffered a lot more [without riding].”
***
It’s a hot, sunny Thursday afternoon, and I’m a gigantic, almost-35 weeks pregnant.
I’ve spent the last few days in a spiral: will I be able to handle two kids? I have literally nothing prepared yet for this baby. How will we find childcare for two children when we can’t even manage for one?
Due to circumstances that have nothing to do with pregnancy, I haven’t run—trails, pavement, or otherwise—in a week.
I strap on my belly band, leash up the dog and hit a narrow, treed path next to a river. I’m honestly a little shocked as all that mental noise melts away. My feet do what they’ve done for the last 22 years: negotiate rocks and roots and propel me forward as if it’s second nature.
Is there a risk of tripping? Yes. I’ve tumbled countless times while not pregnant, in fact. But I’ve slowed down and cut back immensely. (Let’s just say no one would be impressed by my pregnancy pace or distance on Strava.)
Skiing pregnant? Not for me. I’m simply not confident enough in my ability. Cycling? Not at this stage. Frankly, I struggle to pick anything up off the ground right now. But point me towards a running trail and suddenly I feel comfortable in my skin again. (A big thanks also to pelvic floor physios.)
During two pregnancies, I have fielded two “comments” from strangers about this: one, a mountain biker in her 20s who shouted (maybe jokingly?) that I better not shake up the baby. Another, an older woman who shot me an unmistakable dirty look as I slowly plodded past her.
Mostly though, strangers hoot their amusement and encouragement as I pass.
Maybe, I thought, this wouldn’t be such a novel—or even scary—thing for people to see if women who were able and wanted to continue their mountain sports through pregnancy felt comfortable doing it. Maybe if we saw more examples of what’s possible, we’d be inspired to try.
So, I put a callout to the corridor looking for women who managed to keep up their sport through pregnancy—unsure of whether anyone would want to risk the potential online backlash—and was inundated with responses.
Ski touring, horseback riding, mountain biking, backcountry hiking—even though, historically, pregnant women have been advised to avoid these sports, especially past the second trimester, many were safely and successfully continuing them. (Disclaimer: the general rule of thumb these days is it’s safe to continue what you did regularly before pregnancy. The women Pique talked to were all very experienced in their sports.)
And they wanted to share their stories.
***
Let’s get something out of the way first: every woman I spoke to wanted to ensure their story didn’t make other women who were unable or just not up to exercising during pregnancy feel bad about it. The point, instead, was to showcase one possibility for how this sometimes-gruelling, sometimes-magical, nine-month stretch of your life can go.
Increasingly, though, research is showing more and more reasons to be active during pregnancy if you can. And even some pregnancy complications—like gestational hypertension—that prompted doctors to advise against exercise are being rethought.
One study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in June 2020 (“Why can’t I exercise during pregnancy? Time to revisit medical ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ contraindications: systematic review of evidence of harm and a call to action”) concluded that most medical conditions deemed contraindications to pregnant women exercising were actually based on opinion rather than evidence.
“Based on empirical evidence, we provide a call to re-evaluate clinical guidelines related to medical disorders that have previously been considered contraindications to prenatal exercise,” it concludes. “Removing barriers to physical activity during pregnancy for women with certain medical conditions may in fact be beneficial for maternal–fetal health outcomes.”
Other studies note the benefits of moderate exercise as preventing excessive weight gain, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and even lower back pain, among other things.
A small, more recent study (“Maternal and Fetal Cardiovascular Responses to Acute High-Intensity Interval and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training Exercise During Pregnancy: A Randomized Crossover Trial,” published in May 2023) actually concluded an “acute bout” of high-intensity interval training was well tolerated by both the pregnant mother and fetus. (Currently, advice is to rely on the “talk test”: if you can talk during your workout, you’re probably exercising at a safe intensity.)
Another study from 2019 (“Effects of Aerobic Exercise during Pregnancy on 1-Month Infant Neuromotor Skills”) found one-month-olds whose mothers took part in 50 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise three times a week scored higher on neuromotor development tests.
So, the literature is clear. Exercise in pregnancy is well worth it. But what exactly should that entail, and how do you know your limit?
Alongside the talk test, official bodies like the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada recommend 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week (which can include walking) spread throughout the week.
That organization also says fewer than two out of every 10 pregnant women in this country are doing that.
“I agree with taking the patient’s individual exercise knowledge into account,” says Dr. Karen Nordahl, who practices family medicine and low-risk obstetrics at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and published the book Fit to Deliver, in an email. “I do not necessarily want someone to start marathon training when they are pregnant, but most patients will have a lot of common sense about it all!”
Closer to home, Sara Niblock, Whistler kinesiologist and founder of Mountain Mom Strong, a program to help postpartum people successfully return to their sports, says individual athletes have to decide what they’re comfortable with.
“The guidelines say [avoid] collisions, anything that risks a fall, but it’s tricky because there’s no evidence [from studies] for that,” she says. “There’s good reason for it, but also, I’m a really good mountain biker. I felt comfortable biking pregnant. I biked the Lost Lake Trails, pretty mellow stuff. I wasn’t going down big rock rolls or anything gnarly.”
There are ethical challenges around conducting studies with regards to pregnancy and high-risk sports, she adds. Instead, researchers can conduct surveys to find out what birth outcomes were in certain circumstances.
Changes to guidelines can often be slow as a result.
“I definitely had the ‘What are you doing mountain biking? You could cause trauma! You could take a handlebar!’’’ she says. “The guidelines are the guidelines—they’re there for a reason. Trauma can cause harm. But I think in the Sea to Sky, a lot of people who continue these mountain sports into their pregnancy are super comfortable and competent and do dial back what they’re riding.”
***
Carrie Meltzer, a longtime local based in Pemberton, has experience with two different types of pregnancies. During her first, 10 years ago, her midwife and doctor suggested she stop biking and running when her son was stubbornly stuck in the breech position—eventually dashing her dreams of a home birth.
“[They] recommended I stop biking and running because my stomach was too tight. They thought if I relaxed by walking, there’d be more opportunity for him to flip,” she says.
“I think it’s really important you listen to your body and health-care professionals. I wanted to keep riding my bike and running at that time, but I just hiked and walked.”
Her next two pregnancies, however, allowed the Liv Cycling ambassador to ride nearly until delivery. She was able to ride one of her favourite trails the day before giving birth to her third—and actually managed to enter a bike race and win at four weeks postpartum. (Though that is certainly not the norm, and she expresses how lucky she is that her body was strong after delivery.)
“Biking worked really well for me,” she says. “I felt as long as I listened to my body and was really aware of the risks I was taking, I could continue. I had amazing pregnancies because of it.”
Pilar Lascar, who lives in Squamish, was able to climb until 35 weeks. That required a special harness and some adjustments to the activity, she says.
“Climbing was basically the same with less adrenaline,” she says. “I was still happy there. The most fun part of climbing is you can share it with your friends in the crag. I was there with all of them supporting me. I’m an active person; I need to keep moving. That’s the thing I needed every day—to be touching the rock, being outside.”
She did, however, field some negative comments. While she’s seen very few pregnant women climbing, Lascar says it was rewarding to hear she inspired some people.
“I have friends younger than me who said, ‘When I get pregnant, I want to be like you—skiing and climbing and doing yoga.’ It’s like, yes, of course you can. You have to be responsible. You’re not going to learn a new sport when you’re pregnant, but if you trust your abilities, you can keep going.”
***
It’s not surprising to hear that most of the women who managed to keep active during the taxing task of building a human now have found ways to bring their progeny out on adventures.
“Our children join us in all our adventures and we continue to do sports and swap off,” Meltzer says. “I think having a family can make everything better. Now when I go on my bike rides, there’s a different purpose. I’m not trying to see what feature I can conquer. Now I want to ride to ride the next day. It makes me a better mom.”
Chelsie McCutcheon, a Wet’suwet’en member living in Squamish, snowboarded until she was about six months pregnant with her son. When she was pregnant with her daughter, she was living in Calgary and skateboarded, hiked and ran.
She also works as a recreation program coordinator with the First Nations Outdoor Recreation Program, these days coaching youth in everything from mountain biking and snowboarding to rock climbing and yoga.
“I’ve been on skis and a snowboard since I was three,” she says. “It’s been my profession for the last 24 years. After pregnancy I continued coaching with newborns and my husband would meet me to breastfeed my son. I’d boogie down [the mountain] while everyone was having lunch and boogie back up to the team.”
Her daughter started snowboarding at 18 months, and rode with her as she coached.
She was surprised to become a Burton ambassador at an older age, well into her motherhood journey. “I’m riding for a company that is one of the many companies that support my vision as an Indigenous woman in the outdoor industry,” she says. “When I was pregnant with my son there was part of me that was like, ‘My career is over.’ Then it’s like, ‘No, actually, who cares about the career.’ It’s more than a career. It’s a passion.”
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