Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: #5 (green), #26, #29 (alternative), #29 (shared), Glide Wax: Swix CH7 - Violet, Grip Wax: NA
Skied (skating) yesterday evening with my 11 year old daughter just messing around on the trails used for Gloppet 5 km classic and 10 km skate. When we started it was still light and the very hard packed snow was still soft enough to get an edge. The snow was firming up throughout our ski.
Trail 29 has some nasty icy spots, particularly as you head towards Gatineau Parkway. Trail 5 is scraped down to ice on the corners of the hills. Trail 26 from 5 to 29 was okay, but scraped bare in a couple of spots. Theres's a huge patch of ice at the turn at the bottom of 26, where it joins 29. Hope that's gone before the Gatineau Loppet!
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).
