Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #50, #36 (blue), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax: Skin Skis

A very scenic, gently exhausting ski this morning on trail 36 and 50, to Herridge and back. Slow and scenic. No grooming but the snow was falling fast on the night's already impressive accumulation. Everything was powdery at the start, with noticeable lumpy ice beneath the new snow, as there had been no grooming. Conditions were fine, though and the snow kept falling. And the temperature rose to wax hell - zero. It was a good test of skin skis, as 7 of us had skins, and one had fish scales. It seemed everyone's skis were different. Some clumped, some didn't, some glided, some didn't, and one collected impressively huge balls of snow on the uphills. The trip was so wet that we spent a long period of time at Herridge, feeding the fire and toasting our drenched gloves. The return was slower, and wetter, and the sticky trails were getting chewed up. However we all considered it a huge success, especially as the snow did not turn to rain.













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