XC Ottawa Trail Reports: Gatineau Park, Nakkertok Nordic Centre, Mooney`s Bay, the Kanata Area and the Green Belt

2010-03-26 by Ron Lorenson from P12 [Meech]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:47:44 -0700

The sequel: As reported by Jo-Ann I skied yesterday, via Fischer Crown waxless, to the intersection of #1 blue and the old #10. I could have done the additional 1km+ to the tower without problem. Up to the Wolf Ridge I found conditions difficu. . .

2010-03-25 by Jo-Ann Holden from P12 [Meech]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:48:03 -0700

P12-trail 40, 24, Ridge to Wolf, along Ridge to trail 2 to P12. Having almost skied yesterday, Ron's last report inspired me to get out today for a final farewell ski. Now that I've seen how much snow is left on the "dark side" of the . . .

2010-03-24 by Ron Lorenson from P12 [Meech]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:52:09 -0700

There’s still coverage from P12 (probably) to the tower - there was 2 cm of new snow yesterday which made the surface more even and much cleaner. There are some bare spots but not substantively more than on the weekend. I skated from P12 wit. . .

2010-03-21 by Ken Trischuk from P6 [MacKenzie-King]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:40:10 -0700

Skied from Mackenzie King to the lookouts. Had continuous track of snow but a number of spots are getting pretty thin. Today's grooming started(ended?) at Bourgeois Lake and presumably went down to P10 but I didn't venture down that way. Conditions w. . .

2010-03-21 by Eric Giroux from P5 [Penguin]

info@xcottawa.ca (Eric Giroux) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:32:42 -0700

Skied from P5 to GP-CP intersection, then to bottom of Black and back. Did not have to remove skis (but close!). Very fast conditions, but could still get an edge. Fun skiing!

2010-03-19 by Ken Trischuk from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:20:41 -0700

Another beautiful sunny day out on the trails. I had to walk a few hundred meters from P7 up the first hill but after that the snow was pretty good. Ridge road was in great shape from Wattsfords out to the lookouts with only a few dirty sections or b. . .

2010-03-18 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:00:27 -0700

Skated to Blanchette via FP, CP, the lookout, and #1; returned via #1 to Huron then CP and FP. The tracksetting today was a work of art. When I started out conditions were discouraging - half way up I met three of the best of the tracksetting crew. . .

2010-03-17 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:47:48 -0700

Portaging isn’t necessary yet but it’s not long away. Skated to the Wolf Ridge via FP, CP, the lookout, and #1; returned via #1 (with a timeout for swamp-shore-sitting) to Huron then CP and FP. Tracksetting went as far as #24. C. . .

2010-03-16 by Craig Storey from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:31:02 -0700

Proof that 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot. Like Ron, I highly recommend the skiing right now.. . .

2010-03-16 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:44:46 -0700

Skated to beaver pond just before Blanchette & #1 via FP, CP, the lookout, and #1; returned via #1 to Huron then CP and FP. What is “not recommended” I highly recommend! In spite of the big red X (on the NCC report) against #1 past. . .

2010-03-15 by Jo-Ann Holden from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:32:28 -0700

Here are some photos to add to Ron's report. I had a lovely late afternoon ski, although somewhat shorter than Ron's. The only mystery is why the park ski conditions page had these trails marked with a big red X, "not recommended".

2010-03-15 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:05:16 -0700

In summation: conditions are still good with little damage from the weekend. The snowpack off-track is about 25-30 cm deep. Skated to #1 & Blanchette (snowshoe trail) via FP, CP, the lookout, and #1; returned via #1 to Huron then CP and FP. . . .

2010-03-13 by Ken Trischuk from P19 [Lac Philippe]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:30:22 -0800

Skated up to the Lusk cabin. Still lots of snow up at Lac Phillipe - maybe a ft. of base on th trails. Pretty soft but the sun was out so I was in no hurry. No bare spots anywhere but there were a few stretches that were getting dirty and the skidoo . . .

2010-03-13 by Craig Storey from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:05:34 -0800

Beautiful skiing morning with great conditions! Hope you got out to enjoy, but don't fear there are many days left...even if it rains. Trail #31 was a bit dirty, but Ridge was great and clean. Burma was ungroomed?? The craziest thing I saw to. . .

2010-03-11 by Craig Storey from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:44:03 -0800

Great skiing day! First ski in a week as I've been out of town and it doesn't seem like we've lost much snow yet. There's lots of base for the weekend, not a single bare spot on Ridge, Burma, #2, #31 or #32. That's amazing after all these warm day. . .

2010-03-11 by Ken Trischuk from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:08:15 -0800

I found a freshly renovated skate lane on all the main trails this morning but I was still a little early for the best conditions. Most spots the skating was quite good but others (particularly shady areas) it looked like the groomer had floated over. . .

2010-03-10 by Craig Storey from South: Stadium [Chalet]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:29:44 -0800

From Claudia Van Wijk - "Back from Whistler in time to join Stefani's final Jackrabbit picnic on Sunday up at Nakkertok. Lucky enough to also fit in a personal ski. Was thrilled to see how much snow there still is here. A few bare spots inspi. . .

2010-03-09 by Jo-Ann Holden from P17 [Wakefield]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:58:49 -0800

A report from yesterday's ski: The plan was to lug the bigger camera along and be out all day. These trails were all marked as "fair", so I was curious to see how poor they really were. At 10:30 trail 52 was still a bit icy (not groomed re. . .

2010-03-09 by Devashish Paul from []

info@xcottawa.ca (Devashish Paul) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

As a follow up to Yves Fortin's recent Trirudy posting about conditions in Gatineau Park, I have to say my smiling muscles are s. . .

2010-03-08 by Ken Trischuk from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:41:38 -0800

A little late to start today. Things had already started to soften by the time I got going around noon. Skied a few of the backcountry trails which became somewhat of a chore as the skis would alternately float and then sink... and then float on the . . .

2010-03-07 by Ken Trischuk from N/A [Other]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:04:07 -0800

Dodged the crowds today and parked on the Eardley escarpment road (in the snowbank actually) to ski trail 56 up to the Pontiac lookout. Looks like more people walk or snowshoe this trail than ski it but I had the wide boards and the day was gorgeous . . .

2010-03-07 by Jo-Ann Holden from P19 [Lac Philippe]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:36:01 -0800

Another fabulous day, however there were fewer skiers in the Lac Philippe sector than expected. With such warm weather the skating did become quite a slog, particularly the last 3 Km back to the car!! However the Lusk trail and trail 50 (as it para. . .

2010-03-07 by Matthew Ladd from P6 [MacKenzie-King]

info@xcottawa.ca (Matthew Ladd) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:09:12 -0800

Wow, I was surprised at the great conditions late this morning! P6 was almost full when I got there (around 10:30am) and it wasn't quite as warm as I expected. The klister worked really well in the more shady frozen granular snow, but not quite as . . .

2010-03-07 by Sheila Kealey from South: Stadium [Chalet]

info@xcottawa.ca (Sheila Kealey) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:18:40 -0800

Surprisingly good conditions on Saturday morning! Fresh grooming and fast between 9-10, then starting to slow over the day with the warm temps. Most trails had thin but decent coverage, with just a few obvious bare spots. Crust skiing on Weber Pond w. . .

2010-03-06 by Jo-Ann Holden from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:14:00 -0800

Wow! What a day! We were out for 4 hours and even skied some of that time. I think everyone who skis was in the park today. Demsis had their "thank you" to the skiers and many skiers showed up for the hot chocolate, homemade goodies and . . .

2010-03-05 by Jo-Ann Holden from P8 [Chelsea]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:54:42 -0800

I should have started earlier and gone to P10! Tomorrow for sure! At 3:00 the Gatineau Parkway was quite fast and controllable in the sun, but the shadier areas were quite hard and for me, at least, difficult to edge. (Probably Ken and Karl would . . .

2010-03-05 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:03:58 -0800

It was a great day for Crust Cruising (to be known as CCing)(thanx for term to Ken Trischuk), for trail skiing, and for Warm Rock Sitting (to be known as WRSing). Went from P10 via FP to CP to lookout then via #1 to the pond 1 km past Wolf Ridge . . .

2010-03-05 by Steven Paradine from South: Stadium [Chalet]

info@xcottawa.ca (Steven Paradine) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:10:22 -0800

[Skied Thursday Night] There is still good skiing at Nakkertok. The conditions were fast with hard packed snow. The XC Ottawa duathlon was run last night on well prepared trails. Snow is disappearing and there are bare patches starting to show thr. . .

2010-03-04 by Ken Trischuk from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:26:21 -0800

Beautiful spring conditions. Fresh grooming for the skate lane of the Parkway from P10 to the lookouts. Other places the skating was fine even without new grooming. No new classic tracks but they looked solid regardless. Ridge wasn't groomed but didn. . .

2010-03-03 by Craig Storey from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:39:06 -0800

Near perfect conditions! Ridge and the parkways were very well groomed, level and wide. The snow was much better than on Monday as the moisture in the snow has evapourated or drained off making corn of the sluch. The freshly groomed dry corn snow . . .

2010-03-03 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:22:12 -0800

Yes - the grooming was great this morning on FP, CP, & #1 as far as the water tank at #24 - a great sugar snow surface - after the water tank #1 became frozen boiler-plate with frozen-in snowmobile tracks. By 2 PM, below Gossip Corner, FP was sta. . .

2010-03-02 by Charles Hodgson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Charles Hodgson) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:18:14 -0800

The Pp10 parking lot was as full as it gets on the weekend. The reason was that several high school classes seemed to be staggering around on Fortune Parkway and Ridge Road. They generally looked happy in the beautiful sunshine despite their mix of p. . .

2010-03-02 by Ken Trischuk from P12 [Meech]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:13:49 -0800

Beautiful spring conditions (too soon!) out there. Groomed trails are in great shape with solid classic tracks and a good base for skating. Found a few downed trees across trail 21 but they were in flatter areas so no trouble getting around them. A f. . .

2010-03-01 by Craig Storey from P1 [Asticou]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:43:07 -0800

+4C today means Spring skiing rules are in effect.. - Skiing between 9-11 and 4-6 is best. - Skate or klister, choose wisely. - Structure your skis. Snow coverage everywhere is good. The parkway below P1 was sloppy and slow, but once o. . .

2010-02-28 by Jo-Ann Holden from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:45:50 -0800

P10 - Fortune, Ridge, 24, McKinstry, Fire Tower It was roulette, and we won! When we left home, the NCC web site still gave #1Blue a yellow triangle and indicated it was last groomed on Feb. 24. We figured it was worth checking out. Surprise. . .

2010-02-27 by Ken Trischuk from P6 [MacKenzie-King]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ken Trischuk) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:28:08 -0800

Skated from Mackenzie King to the Lookouts. Conditions were nice but plenty wet. Lots of fresh snow in the last week has been well compacted but +3C and raining meant the track was pretty slow. Quite happy though to be skiing on snow again. Cooler te. . .

2010-02-27 by Charles Hodgson from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Charles Hodgson) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:36:42 -0800

I used to look down my nose at no-wax skis. Yesterday I bought a pair. Today I tried them out. The heavy wet conditions are messy to wax for and the no-wax was a breeze. No backslip at all, though the forward glide wasn't exactly rocket-powered. . . .

2010-02-26 by Colin Abbott from P5 [Penguin]

info@xcottawa.ca (Colin Abbott) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:47:53 -0800

It is fast out there. Really fast. Fast enough to make you seriously consider changing your underwear after skiing down the meech hill in the dark. There was a beautiful full moon tonight and the trails were just starting to harden up by the time. . .

2010-02-26 by Craig Storey from P5 [Penguin]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:54:25 -0800

Wow, lots of snow out there. That storm makes up for the winter drought and really improves the Spring skiing outlook. Actually it was Spring out there today: +2C at 2pm, bright sun and soft tracks initially. It was still faster than earlier repor. . .

2010-02-26 by Jo-Ann Holden from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:31:43 -0800

A rare day! The skating was so much better than anticipated. Ridge and the parkways had been groomed earlier in the day and were not too slow considering the warm temperatures. When the groomer passed again on Ridge Road around 1:30 the skating be. . .

2010-02-26 by Megan McTavish from P5 [Penguin]

info@xcottawa.ca (Megan McTavish) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:13:11 -0800

Well, the snow has stopped for now. The groomers are hard at work packing it down. At 7:30 this morning a skate lane had been done on the parkway near P5 and they were working on Ridge road (both classic and skate). It looked like it was slow goin. . .

2010-02-26 by Garry Tarr from P8 [Chelsea]

info@xcottawa.ca (Garry Tarr) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:47:47 -0800

Fresh grooming on Doldrums this morning and remarkably good glide for skating despite warm temperatures. I was using red glider and no rilling- with warm wax and rilling I'm sure the skis would have been even faster. There are many skiers out, and . . .

2010-02-25 by Steve Howard from P1 [Asticou]

info@xcottawa.ca (Steve Howard) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:18:22 -0800

Lots of fresh snow today! There had obviously been some grooming done sometime later in the day. There were pretty well defined tracks, but they were a bit soft. Skating was surprisingly good. The surface was a bit soft, but not too bad at all. . . .

2010-02-25 by Jo-Ann Holden from P8 [Chelsea]

info@xcottawa.ca (Jo-Ann Holden) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:53:57 -0800

I was lazy, missed the morning window and decided to wait out the mid-afternoon drizzle. At 5:00 it was very nice. The snow was pelting down, and quite a bit of fresh stuff was down. The Doldrums had evidently been groomed not too many hours before. . .

2010-02-25 by Karl Saidla from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Karl Saidla) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:03:13 -0800

It keep snowing and snowing and snowing. I don't know how many centimeters have fallen up here in the last couple of days, but something like 30 would be my guess. It's still coming as I type this. The groomers have been doing a good job keeping t. . .

2010-02-24 by Charles Hodgson from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Charles Hodgson) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:49:51 -0800

The slushy conditions in Ottawa were replaced by more and more white stuff as we drove up to Kingsmere this afternoon. I'm sure there is almost a foot of wet snow along the high sections. We gullumped along Skyline. First tried red wax but it was awf. . .

2010-02-24 by Craig Storey from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Craig Storey) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:10:12 -0800

There's lots of heavy fresh snow falling steadily and accumulating nicely. It looks like a winter wonderland again! But, it was a bit of a slog at noon hour today. The morning grooming was well buried on Ridge and the parkway. I noticed some flat. . .

2010-02-24 by Eric Rouleau from P7 [Kingsmere]

info@xcottawa.ca (Eric Rouleau) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:59:43 -0800

Les conditions sont excellentes. La majorité des sentiers ont été entretenus tôt ce matin.

2010-02-24 by Karl Saidla from Old Chelsea []

info@xcottawa.ca (Karl Saidla) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:56:42 -0800

One might say the ski conditions in the park are improving in a hurry right now. Of course, during the improvement process itself, things can be a little tricky. Looks like all the Parkways and Ridge were groomed early this morning and are in good sh. . .

2010-02-23 by Ron Lorenson from P10 [Fortune]

info@xcottawa.ca (Ron Lorenson) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:23:05 -0800

Continuing on from Jo-Ann’s report... Conditions just kept getting better - skied classic between the water-tank on #24 and La. . .