Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #1, #6, #4, #14, Camp Fortune Race Course, #22, Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:

A note from yesterday (the 16th). I managed to find some bad skiing amidst all the wonderful ski reports - but I probably knew what I was getting into. After skiing up to Watsfords lookout from P7 I skied out 6 and across on 22 to the Fortune valley. The 6 had seen a skidoo or two on it - likely a crew clearing downed branches(a necessary evil after the windy end to last week)? They had left a hard packed uneven base. A few skiers had tried to set a track but with limited success in the hard base as it froze up over the weekend. The undulating beauty of this trail was more of a chore today, slipping into and out of some ski tracks. From there I got on 22 which was tough sledding as well. In some cases the track was more debris than snow with pine needles, twigs, broken branches and leaves. The track itself was hard and crusty making it hard to maneuver. Back on the groomed runs was a real treat and I did a bit of a circuit of the race trails before heading back along Ridge to P7.

The backcountry trails may soften up a bit as things warm up this week, making them a little more skiable, but they need some snow to hide all the debris... and keep your head up for downed branches as I found a few that would likely remove ones head! For now I'll stick to the groomed tracks. I gave it a 4 star rating - the groomed tracks are perfect... the backcountry not so much.













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