Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, Glide Wax: Swix Blue, Grip Wax: Vaughti Green Fluor (minus 8 - minus 25)

A short, late afternoon ski. Luckily the wind had dropped by this time, and it was a very comfortable ski.

Now, is it just me?! Ok, the Park website has three areas, one each for classic trails, skate trails and back country trails. Am I missing something to expect that this particular classic trail, which was marked as track-set today, would actually have groomed TRACKS for classic skiing? In fact, only the center was groomed, for skating, which I found especially bizarre as the cold temperatures literally screamed "SKI CLASSIC!!" The really odd thing was that, from the parking lot, you could see gorgeous, fresh classic tracks leading down to the parkway.

Covered in fresh, abrasive snow, the tracks were exceedingly SLOW. At the Champlain parkway everything changed, and the groomed tracks were very fast (or was it only the contrast?). In fact I almost came to an abrupt head-over-heels halt when gliding from one area to the other on the return trip.

Despite the inconsistent conditions, it was good to get some fresh air and be out on skis.













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