Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #50, #52, #53, #55 (green - shared), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax: Green Klister covered with some sort of swix green.

Ron's report has saved me a lot of effort! Garry and I had (for us) an "epic" classic ski, based on the Wakefield Triangle. We found conditions so good that we threw in a side trip to Herridge, Taylor Lake and opted for the longer 53 on the way back to P17. Classic tracks were generally deep, firm and fast. Garry rated this trip 8/10, not bad for a died-in-the-wool skate skier (I waxed his classic skis to encourage him to try it. He didn't skate this, although there was evidence someone had) .

We were glad to do 52 in the wimpier direction, although it still had lots of fun ups and downs. The two longest uphills would have been too bumpy, ridged and hard-packed for me to enjoy as a downhill. There were a couple of spots where branches had been groomed into the tracks.

Pine Road had more debris on the tracks but nothing major. It was fun.

The tracks on trail 55 were somewhat shallow in places, but generally good.

Between trail 55 and P19, trail 50 was especially poor. The legendary Demsis Ridge was evident, and snowmobiles had caused considerable sloppiness in the skate lane.

Ron has covered the rest of the trip more eloquently than I ever could, but the last leg on trail 53 was extremely beautiful.

How sad to see another gross bout of weather arriving on Tuesday.













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