Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #36 (blue), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax: something blue

We had a long ski from P11 to the shores of Lac Philippe and back, with a lunch stop at Herridge. All in all, a lovely ski, but since the conditions on trail 36 were quite different to those on 50, I'm writing two separate reports.

On the way out, we found the tracks a bit "stale" and the downhills "polished" . A fresher grooming would have been nice, especially considering weekend traffic. Anyway, on the return trip, a snowmobile had evidently been on the trail to rescue a skier. (There are surprisingly often novices on this trail, and perhaps one of those polished downhills had been just a bit too shiny?) The snowmobile tracks had inflicted a lot of damage, removed many of the tracks, and made some of the downhills quite unreliable.
One more comment about this trail: This trail can be a classic skier's delight, and I have many fond memories of coasting along on the rolling classic tracks, on many downhills and around bends in the trail. In the last few years, many of the customary tracks seem to have been omitted. I don't think this is my imagination. It seems that many smaller downhills are missing tracks. This really impacts the distinctive enjoyment of trail 36. In the absence of these tracks, it seems that skiers revert to "death plows" turning the snow into the polished surface mentioned earlier.













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