Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Champlain Pkwy, #1 Penguin Climb, #1, #1B, Champlain Pkwy, #24, #40, Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:

P5=>#1=>#1B=>#24 =>#40=>#24=>#1=>Lookout=>CP=>GP

I was skiing with friends who were seeking lots of uphills in preparation for the CSM. I've never before gone down, then up trail 40!

The trails (classic tracks in particular) ranged from excellent to poor, depending on how many skiers and how many snowmobiles had passed by since the last grooming. Not everything was recently groomed.
#1 Penguin to Gossip Corner - very good shape, although very hard.
#1 from Gossip to Western - this was the worst stuff of the day. Hard, over -skied, tracks disappeared often, lots of snowmobile ridges.
#1B, #24 and #40 were excellent (despite boot marks on 40) as we got there before they had seen much use. By mid-morning #40 was getting quite busy.
The parkways were variable, and had generally icier tracks than the smaller trails.

All in all it was a great ski. The skiing itself = 5 stars!













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