Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: #50, #51, #52, #53, #55 (green - shared), Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:
This is just for the record, since there is now a huge amount of new snow down in the Lac Philippe Sector. It reports on the conditions on January January 13, 14 and today.
Trail 50: Much less snow than in the Chelsea sector! Not bad shape, hard, previously groomed, quite a few boot marks from P19 to to the intersection with Taylor Lake Road. It improved quite a bit between 50 and Herridge , although there were a few ski-shredding rocks here and there.
55 Shared: Very thin! Amazingly it had been groomed, but there was gravel and dirt poking through in many spots.
51/53 Trackset, more snow than on 55, and quite nice to ski. There were some flooded areas, and a ditch or two.
Trail 52. It seemed a snowmobile had packed it at some point. No classic track. There was more snow than expected, some rocks on the steeper hills, and countless little ditches to ski over. It was much better than expected though, and more exciting, too!!
Trail 56. Ungroomed, and a delight to ski. With this morning's new snow, it was absolute heaven.
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).
