Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, Glide Wax: -3 to -10, Grip Wax:
I was sort of feeling guilty about skiing but it strikes me as the perfect social distancing alternative to cleaning the house and rewatching The Wire.
ROUTE: From P5 up to the Champlain Parkway then up to the King Mountain Trail lot. And back.
SKATE: All of the trails were well groomed. With the recent weather the trail was very hard with very little give but the grooming made it a lot better than it could have been. There was some control but on the steeper descents, which I fear in icy conditions, I took a lot of care. It was so hard that you could barely see where I had snowplowed. Overall though, it was a great way to spend socially distancing.
TRAFFIC: Getting out of Ottawa from the south end along the Airport Parkway and Colonel By was a dream. There were 4 cars in the lot at 8 and maybe 10 at 10.
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).
