Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy , North Loop, Gatineau Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:

I was on the fence about skiing this morning, and walked the dog to P8 to check out the conditions. An armada of groomers was just returning back to the barn at 9:00. Demsis did a fabulous job of grooming this morning (is this the Swan Song?). Not only did they employ the 3 big machines, but they gathered in the snow from the edges to provide more coverage on the parkways.

I skated from P5 in the early afternoon. Conditions were perfect, fast and just beginning to warm up. The Champlain Parkway was comparatively quite bumpy and chewed up(having been warmed earlier?) but still enjoyable. At the low spot before Kingsmere, the snow was very thin and a yellow line could be seen beneath the soft snow.

Back at P5, the afternoon was still lovely, so I switched to my classic skin skis, to see how they would enjoy the warming conditions. They were happy! The north loop was quite a bit dirtier than everywhere else, and a bare patch was opening up near the pond. However, compared to yesterday\'s ice, conditions were quite enjoyable.

It will be interesting to see if this week brings snow or rain. Fingers crossed for that 25 cm of snow!
(more photos on musicianonskis.ca/blog)













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