Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, Glide Wax: rock skies, Grip Wax:
This is for MONDAY, APRIL 23.
ROUTE: Up Fortune Lake Parkway from P10 to Champlain and then east along Champlain to just before the top of King Mountain.
SKATE: Remarkably good conditions considering. Lots of grey snow which was solid for skiing and not one portage - kept the skis on the whole time. There were places you had to skirt the pavement but for the most part the whole route was passable. You could hear the water flowing all over the park so things are going to get a whole lot less snowful in the next couple of days.
TRAFFIC: A couple of cars in P10 before and after the ski; we met up with 4 or 5 others on our way.
Never thought I would get out this late in April and was amazed that we could ski quite unobstructed right from P10.
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.
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).
