Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, #26, #29 (alternative), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:

We skied three out of the last 4 days from P3 up trail 5, over to the parkway on trail 26 and up to Pinks and back via the parkway (some days 2-3 loops of that). The conditions have gone from hard packed to super hard packed with no sign of grooming. Definitely understandable that there would be no grooming on Dec 25th and Dec 26th, but there is very good snow cover, so suprising that there is no grooming the past few days. Trail 5 from Asticou to 26 is in good shape. From trail 26 to Trail 29, Trail 5 is bumpy and rutted. Trail 26 from Trail 5 to the parkway is also very rutted and bumpy with tons of pits from walkers. The parkway is hard packed but very level. Great if you have good balance or for a double pole workout.

The tracks for classic look somewhat hard (we skated all days), but the classic skiers I asked seemed to be getting along fine with \"blue\" wax. High speed descents in the track on the parkway are pretty good, just keep eyes open for places where they swerve a bit and become less steep.

Over all these trails, you can use good skis.













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