Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: #24, #40, #1 (blue), Glide Wax: Swix LF10, Grip Wax: N/A
There’s still coverage from P12 (probably) to the tower - there was 2 cm of new snow yesterday which made the surface more even and much cleaner. There are some bare spots but not substantively more than on the weekend.
I skated from P12 with the intent of going to the tower but at the Wolf ridge I decided that the sun was better than the glide so I opted for the bench. If I had started an hour earlier there would have been great glide on the new powder - when I got to there it was starting to turn to slush in the sun. There was still a reasonable glide in the shade.
MacDonald (#40) had an uneven surface which made for less-than-ideal skating - with waxless there would have been no problem. You have to walk the first hill - there’s also one minor bare spot. Other than that #40 makes an ideal escalator to get to the top of the ridge.
#24 and #1 blue are fine for skating with the glide being a function of the temperature. The problems between Blanchette and Wolf have not increased measurably - you can do it without taking your skis off until you get to the final climb to the ridge. From there it looks quite good.
Frost tonight should put new life in that new snow.
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).