Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #50, #54 (green), #55 (green - shared), Glide Wax: Swix LF6, Grip Wax: Start racing green over Vauhti tar

If you're a grooming-addict dilettante skier and you're going to the Lac Philippe area stay on the groomed trails and don't think of going back country. This AM I joined a group of real skiers for a day of bushwacking on the ridge above Lusk Lake. However, rather than preparing properly and breaking out my back country gear I grabbed my usual trail skis (Madhus Terrasonic) and poles and headed out - it didn't work out - p'en toute! The conditions were good off track if you had the proper back country gear but my stiffer skis wouldn't compress on the powder leaving me to try to climb on the brushed and polished glider on my tips. My performance was a tad embarrassing.

I bailed from the tour across from Lusk Cabin. When I got to the cabin the trail had been groomed - at last I was home! In fact all the trails in Lac Philippe area have been groomed and are in excellent shape - pure powder with a soft surface. So if you're grooming addicted you'll have an excellent day out there - classic recommended - skating would be good but the snow is cold and might be a bit slow.

Don Fugler was one of real skiers so hopefully he'll fill in the off trail conditions later. It looked good if you had the proper gear.

Oh yeah - my back country skis - they're still safely warehoused with the summer wax from a few years ago. I'm still not sure where my climbing skins are.













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