Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, #1, #3, #9, #17, #11, #12, Glide Wax: violet, Grip Wax: carrot

An early morning ski to enjoy the fresh snow and revitalization of the trails. The groomers were just pulling back into the barn as I drove down the Meech lake road. In terms of fresh grooming I was maybe a little early as the tracks hadn't quite set up yet... but they were quite nice as I returned a couple of hours later.

I skied a loop with a mixture of a bit of everything. Up the Fortune parkway and Burma on fresh groomed tracks. Then I jumped on Western which had been broken out by a few skiers last night but still had a cm or two of fresh snow on top. Another loop on Merry go round and a bit of Franks where again I found a few skiers had managed to break out some of it while other spots I was left breaking trail. Either way it was great fun in the deep soft powder. A few "craters" at the bottom of some of the super steep drops told me the previous skiers had had some fun as well! Final loop up to Shilly Shally and then out the back door on 12 and 11 before turning for home (all the while wondering if work would really miss me this morning...).

Great little bonus snow to get out and enjoy the small trails. The snow was soft and dry powder on the ungroomed tracks. Hopefully things won't change too much for the next couple of days as we head into the weekend.













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