Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, #1, #1B, Glide Wax: CH7, Grip Wax:

Skated from P10 up the Fortune Parkway, then east on Ridge to the top of Penguin, west via Ridge and 1B to the first intersection with the Wolf Trail, then back. Conditions were generally very good despite the thaw yesterday. When I set out I found the lower part of the FP quite hard- it hadn't been tilled deeply enough. However, on the return skier traffic and sunshine had softened the surface nicely. Ridge was in excellent shape everywhere, with a more powdery surface. Even the Khyber Pass had no ice. 1B had the same strange grooming reported a couple of weeks ago, with a single classic track almost in the middle. As usual the best conditions were to the west of the 1B/1 intersection, with a powdery surface and less traffic over very fresh grooming. The grooming continued west of my turnaround point, probably to the Fire Tower. Indeed it would have been a great day for a Fire Tower run.

I recommend going a little hard with the glide wax in view of the abrasive, crushed-up snow- CH7 was too soft for my trip, but might be OK by afternoon.

Skier traffic has fallen off dramatically. Even at 9:30 there were still parking spots available at P10. I saw very few skiers until my final descent. Don't let the conditions in the city fool you- there is still piles of snow in the Gatineau Hills, and Demsis has actually been treating their grooming responsibilities seriously over the past few weeks. Get out and enjoy!













Gatineau park map


Gatineau Park is ski paradise! The network of ski trails offer machine groomed skate skiing and classic skiing as well as little groomed backcountry trails. Multiple access points allow skiers to access a variety of terrain and scenery. The NCC offers season or daily pay rates.

Gatineau park map

For suggestions on where to ski, excellent trail descriptions, photos and maps checkout Michael McGoldrick`s website about recreational xc-skiing in Canada`s National Capital Region (with an emphasis on the Gatineau Park).

Gatineau park map