Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, #1, #1B, #1 (green) (#2 - #24), Glide Wax: LF7 purple, Grip Wax:
First day back after the Keskinada. It was good to get the kinks out after the race weekend!
The groomers were out on the Fortune Parkway and conditions were great for skating. I skied on Ridge past the Blanchet trail intersection....one side of the skating surface was well groomed, fast and very enjoyable for several kilometers.
BUT! There were some amazing snowmobile ruts that in some areas, destroyed the fresh grooming...I saw one snowmobile carrying two fellows travelling at high speed. Probably doing work post-keski???
Given the extensive damage caused by the snowmobile traffic, I turned back about a half kilometer past the Blanchet trail intersection on Ridge.
1b, 40 and 3 were not groomed by noon.
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.
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).
