Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: North Loop, Glide Wax: CH8 , Grip Wax:

I did a lap of the Doldrums this morning on skate skis to check out conditions. About 6cm of fairly wet snow had fallen overnight in Chelsea- sticky "snowman" snow. A grooming pass of the skate lane had been done this morning, but the snow was not deep enough to machine groom classic tracks. I thought there would be plenty of snow for skating, but to my surprise the coverage on the groomed lane was quite thin in places (see photo). It was necessary to take some care to avoid grounding out over top of culverts (warm ground) and under the pine trees (thin coverage). It was still possible to get in a reasonable skate ski. Classic tracks have been skied in over the grass margin to the parkway and for now classic skiing (particularly with waxless skis) is probably a better bet than skating. Temperatures are forecast to plunge tonight and if there is proper grooming in the morning to loosen the snow surface skating could be quite good tomorrow. Use your rock skis for now, even on the parkways!













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