Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #6, Glide Wax: no-wax skis, Grip Wax:

I used to look down my nose at no-wax skis. Yesterday I bought a pair. Today I tried them out.
The heavy wet conditions are messy to wax for and the no-wax was a breeze. No backslip at all, though the forward glide wasn't exactly rocket-powered.
Skyline had been skied since the last snow and the human trackset are pretty good but the snow isn't very forgiving. Less clumsy than my last outing during the snow, but still it is the trail forcing the skier's direction, not the skier cutting his/her own path (except when you are all the way out of the existing tracks).
The NCC site had reported "debris can be found on the trails in the forest" and since I hadn't seen that during the storm on Wednesday I was skeptical. But they were right. The heavy snow, before it was shed by the trees, knocked quite a number of branches down. I will post a couple of pictures of that at GuideGatineau.
The sticky snow made for good snowmen and I also will post a picture of one I saw at Wattsford Lookout.













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