Episode Description: 

In the all new Season 2, Ski Like a Girl Podcast follows the lives of Canadian Nordic skiers with a community of learners and leaders in recreation side-by-side with Olympians and Paralympians as elite sport athletes. Combining academic research from archives, oral history interviews, and other sources, this podcast series reveals insights into the lives of women and girls in Nordic sports, including cross country skiing, ski touring, biathlon, and ski jumping.

Release Date: November 21, 2025

Co-hosts: Charlotte Mitchell, PearlAnn Reichwein, Lyndsay Conrad

Episode Producer: Charlotte Mitchell, PearlAnn Reichwein,  Lyndsay Conrad

Executive Producer: PearlAnn Reichwein

Citation:

Mitchell, Charlotte, Reichwein, PearlAnn, Conrad, Lyndsay. " Ski Like a Girl Podcast:  Season 2 Trailer." Produced by Charlotte Mitchell, PearlAnn Reichwein, Lyndsay Conrad. Ski Like a Girl Podcast, Nov. 21, 2025, 08:35, https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3133/collection_resources/163485. 

Acknowledgements: 

This research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI), and the University of Alberta President’s Grant for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Aviary. 

Episode Description: 

Whether you’re a casual skier or an Olympian, everyone begins by learning how to ski. How many ways did girls and women learn how to ski – and what keeps them going? Follow us as we track down this story, talking with beginners, teachers, and competitors in cross country racing and ski jumping across Canada from the South Cariboo region to the Appalachians and Arctic. Enjoy our get-togethers talking with Olympians Chandra Crawford, Sara Renner, and Sharon Firth, and community leaders Trice Cameron, Phil Dunn, and Judy May. We find out more about the national JackRabbit learn-to-ski program and its place in Canadian sport history. Listen to conversations about sport and growing up, backed with personal insights across generations. Our hosts Lyndsay Conrad and Charlotte Mitchell touch on their own stories of cross country skiing and ski jumping while exploring the significance of play, family, and community when learning how to ski. The episode is based on original oral history interviews and other research conducted by our history research team. 

Release Date: Nov. 28, 2025

Co-hosts: Lyndsay Conrad, PearlAnn Reichwein

Episode Producer: Lyndsay Conrad, PearlAnn Reichwein, Charlotte Mitchell

Executive Producer: PearlAnn Reichwein

Citation:

Conrad, Lyndsay, Reichwein, PearlAnn, Mitchell, Charlotte. "Learn to Ski - Nordic Style." Produced by Lyndsay Conrad, PearlAnn Reichwein, Charlotte Mitchell. Ski Like a Girl Podcast, Nov. 28, 2025, 47:00, https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/r/8w38050n59. 

Acknowledgements: 

This research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI), and the University of Alberta President’s Grant for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Aviary. 

Episode Description:

Join student historian Lyndsay Conrad as she traces the tracks of the University of Alberta Varsity Ski Club (VSC) through the Great Depression based on her MA research. Her current sport history project reveals ski club members led a vibrant outdoor recreation life in a prairie city with Sunday ski hikes, skijoring thrills, ski jumping, ski races, campfires, and warm cabin get-togethers. Learn about the VSC women, sport leaders that emerged as U of A graduates and trailblazers in many professional fields including, physical education, medicine, and law. Drawing on archival evidence, Conrad illuminates the student ski experience on the slopes of Varsity Hill during the 1930s. This podcast will bring to life how skiing was one of the most popular sports on campus, one that brought students from across the province together to enjoy winter recreation at the U of A. 

Release Date: December 13, 2024

Co-hosts: Lyndsay Conrad and Charlotte Mitchell

Episode Producer: Lyndsay Conrad

Executive Producer: PearlAnn Reichwein

Citation:

Conrad, Lyndsay, Mitchell, Charlotte, Reichwein, PearlAnn. "Tracing Ski Tracks: The U of A Varsity Ski Club in the 1930s." Produced by Lyndsay Conrad. Ski Like a Girl Podcast, Dec. 13, 2024. Podcast, 26:27. https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/r/xw47p8wh6g. 

Acknowledgements: 

This research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI), and Government of Alberta.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Aviary.

Episode Description:

In this episode, we talk with Charlotte about her PhD research and personal experiences as a Canadian ski jumping athlete. Charlotte discusses the history and discrimination of women’s ski jumping as documented by sport historians and the lawsuit women’s ski jumpers filed against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) in an attempt to get a women’s ski jumping event added to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Charlotte speaks with us about how she became involved in the sport and a subsequent plaintiff in the women’s ski jumping lawsuit, fighting for change in the sport as a young teenager. This episode takes us chronologically through Charlotte’s experiences as an athlete and concludes with a look at present-day women’s ski jumping. Has equality been achieved in the sport and where do we go from here? 

Release Date: January 22, 2025

Co-hosts: Charlotte Mitchell and Lyndsay Conrad

Episode Producer: Charlotte Mitchell 

Executive Producer: PearlAnn Reichwein

Citation: 

Mitchell, Charlotte, Conrad, Lyndsay, Reichwein, PearlAnn. "Women's Ski Jumpers: Fighting to Fly." Produced by Charlotte Mitchell. Ski Like a Girl Podcast, Jan. 22, 2025. Podcast, 26:25. https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/r/ks6j09xx42. 

Acknowledgements: 

This research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI).

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Aviary.

Episode Description: 

Charlotte Mitchell and PearlAnn Reichwein explore the history of the Canadian Birkebeiner, established in 1985, highlighting stories of women and ski instructors who reinvented the Birkebeiners and its traditions. Forty years later, the all-inclusive event is still held east of Edmonton, Alberta. Like the Norwegian and American Birkebeiner events, the Canadian Birkie is a ski loppet that retells the legend of saving Norway’s baby prince. Teacher Phil Dunn skied the Birkie with hundreds of school kids, including future Olympian Amanda Ammar, executive directors Cathy Schreiner and Glenda Hanna (who was first to ski 55 km carrying her own baby) ran the event, and citizen skiers Janice McGregor, Bridie Forde, and Paulina Retamales ski toured with family and friends. The Ski Like a Girl Podcast team share their journey skiing to the finish line of the 2025 Birkie. This special episode commemorates the Canadian Birkebeiner’s fortieth anniversary and is dedicated to all volunteers, supporters, and skiers.

Release Date: May 23, 2025

Co-hosts: Charlotte Mitchell and PearlAnn Reichwein

Episode Producer: Charlotte Mitchell

Executive Producer: PearlAnn Reichwein

Citation: 

Mitchell, Charlotte and Reichwein, PearlAnn. "Canadian Birkebeiners: The First Forty Years." Produced by Charlotte Mitchell. Ski Like a Girl Podcast, May 23, 2025. Podcast, 1:05:08. https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3133/collection_resources/149003. 

Acknowledgements: 

This research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI).

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Aviary.