Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, #1, #1B, #1 (green) (#2 - #24), #3, Glide Wax: CH8 plus rilling, Grip Wax:

Surprisingly there were parking spots in P10 when we started at 10AM, and even more when we returned around noon. I skate skied up the FP, west on Ridge and 1B past 24 to the intersection with the Blanchet snowshoe trail, then returned via Burma. Early on the FP offered great skating, but by noon it was getting quite soft and chewed up. The classic tracks still offered a reasonably fast descent. The best grooming (and best skiing) was on Ridge Road between 1B and the western intersection with 24. There the snow was clean and the surface flat, offering pretty good glide. Since there isn't much traffic on this section conditions will likely remain good for the rest of the day. West of the western intersection with 24 there had not been grooming and the trail had been stomped by a large group of hikers. Burma was fairly lumpy (hard to believe it had been groomed, although the NCC web site said otherwise) and the snow was quite dirty. For some reason there was an abundance of yellow "danger" tape on Burma. There were a couple of spots where the tape was warranted. One was an exposed rock on the edge of the swamp near the intersection with 9. The other was an exposed patch on the final descent to the FP. Sadly this hill is in rough shape, and won't be skiable much longer. There were also signs of dirt about to break through at the base of the Khyber Pass and the bench on Ridge near 24. Elsewhere the snow was generally still deep and the coverage complete. It's definitely worth getting out to ski this afternoon, particularly if you can get to the western part of Ridge Road.













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