Skate ski from P8 along the Doldrums, across the connector, up the Fortune Parkway, west on Ridge and 1B to the end of the road (currently where the snowshoe trail comes up from Blanchet) then back on 1A and the Champlain Parkway, with a final detour along Ridge to the top of Penguin before returning via the FP. Conditions were generally very good, in places excellent. Most of the way the ice had been crushed into thick granular sugar, so thick you couldn't detect the hard base underneath. One or two more centimeters of fresh powder had fallen overnight. In places the skating was really fast (even with my less than state-of-the-art glide wax). The best snow (or crushed ice, if you insist) was on the Doldrums, Ridge east of Gossip Corner, and Ridge west of the Trail 2 intersection. There were a few bad patches. The Champlain Lookout parking lot was as an unskiable sheet of ice, and the Parkway between Champlain and Huron Lookouts was hard and not in great shape (here you could feel the base). 1B was fairly hard, with exposed ice on the steeper corners. The bottom end of the Connector just above the Meech Lake Road was also very icy, but the rest of the Connector was well groomed and quite tame.

As mentioned Ridge is now open to the easternmost intersection with the Wolf Trail, but taped off past that point. Burma is once again taped off.

Conditions should hold through at least the early part of next week. If you can sneak away from work for a few hours, a ski trip to the Gatineau should be very worthwhile. Don't let the miserable conditions in Ottawa fool you- it's much better at the higher elevations in the park.