Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: North Loop, Glide Wax: Start Green (my hardest wax) , Grip Wax:

Not wanting to bear the ice-cream headaches of the downhills I wimped-out and skated two iterations of the Doldrums. It was a pleasant but slow day.

Jo-Ann won't need to bear the "racket" of skiing on ice - the tone has changed - it's now the squeak of very cold snow.

Demsis has done a very reasonable job of grinding and tracksetting the major trails. The freshly trackset snow was a cold sugar that was slow and abrasive; with the cold two-hour-old snow was starting to harden up and go back to ice (albeit faster). The classic tracks looked quite good but hard - they were faster than the skating track. All the classic skiers seemed to be having a good day.

My prediction for tomorrow is that the skating track will be hard and rutted whereas the classic tracks will survive with a bit of hardening. My intention for tomorrow is go classic using some combination of klister and hard wax.













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