Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, #1, #1B, #1 (green) (#2 - #24), #3, #24, #1 (blue), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:
Cold start for the season at -15 + wind, but glorious sunshine. The fresh corduroy was welcome but not as fast as I expected (styrofoam-like).
Great grooming everywhere... where possible. Unfortunately the snow is getting much thinner than we’d like it to be at this time: gravel is starting to show on the last climb to Wolf, Champlain l.o. (both sides of loop) is too thin to be groomed, ridge between Champlain and Huron has some rocks sticking out and Burma is not in great shape: crews could not till, only do a superficial refresh, so lots of hard rutted patches are left, and bare patches are starting to show - including one (avoidable but not for long) on the big hill to FP. I doubt if will be maintained much longer.
After today I am a lot less confident on the length of the season, especially with more warmth in the forecast. Go out while you can!
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).
