Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #50, #51, #54 (green), #55 (green - shared), #54 (black), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:

Fantastic day and conditions, like Ron says today was a day to visit an OLD friend and an ANCIENT one. My route was from P19=>#50 to end of Philippe lake=>#54 black=>#10=>left on #1=>McKinstry=>#1=>#10=>left on #54 black=>right on #54 green=>right on #55=>left on #50=>#55=>#51=>P19.

Trail #54 black is in much better shape then last year, they have done a good job in cleaning up all the branches. The trail resembles much more a snowshoe trail as the first Km from Philippe lake is shared. Most of the small ditches were covered up except for the usual spot see first picture.

Old trail #10 still has many markers on the trees though most of them faded away. The trail is in pretty good shape, whoever cleared it must of been up there a long time. I cant remember when I did it last could of been before the ice storm of 98, it seemed like there were a few spots were the trail has taken a different path. One word of caution if you happen to ski it, best done with sunglasses, as there are many annoying small branches at eye level in certain parts of the trail.

When I got back to the groomed trails #54 green, it seemed so easy to ski and I was again in contact with skiers. I did not meet one skier on either #54 black and old #10.

Conditions were the same as Ron mentioned in his report of yesterday, early on mid-winter snow conditions, in the hot sun snow was getting soft, and in some shaded areas glazed over. I guess we are now into sitting down on benches time.....













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