Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: #50, #51, #52, #53, Glide Wax: CH10, Grip Wax: Waxless and rilled

A report from yesterday's ski: The plan was to lug the bigger camera along and be out all day. These trails were all marked as "fair", so I was curious to see how poor they really were. At 10:30 trail 52 was still a bit icy (not groomed recently), and the long uphill was easier to walk than herringbone in those skis! By 11:00 the waxless skis kicked in and by noon they were really working well. They improved as the day heated up. The uphills were certainly slow but those skis do surprisingly well on downhills in soft snow (better than klister). Snow was clean and deep on 52, 50, and all but a one-meter patch on 51/53. There were no rocks, one teeny bare spot on 51/53, one puddle on 52 and just occasional, insignificant tree dirt. Grooming was really irrelevant due to the temperatures. The fastest snow was out of the tracks. I spotted one other skier near Herridge and two near P19 - It was the slowest but also the most beautiful ski of the year! I don't think "Fair" was a fair assessment of the conditions today.













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