Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, North Loop, #1, Glide Wax: CH7, Grip Wax:

Skated from P8 across the Doldrums, across the Connector, up the Fortune Pkwy, along Ridge to Huron, and then back down the Fortune Pkwy. The skate lane was packed down from the day's traffic, but conditions were still delightfully fast and controllable. Ridge Road has improved greatly compared to last week. The bumps have been largely smoothed out, and the skate lane is wider and more level. There is still a significant drop from the skate lane to the tracks- quite noticeable if you move into the tracks to let another skier pass. The Khyber pass still has quite a lot of ice exposed at the sharp corner. The ditch is gradually filling in with snow, but there still isn't a lot of room for ascending and descending skiers to pass. The Connector between P10 and P9 has a couple of ugly rocks exposed in the bottom corner. Overall conditions were superb, and by 4PM the crowds had gone home even through there is now daylight until almost 6PM.

Tomorrow is likely to bring another superb skate day on the parkways and Ridge Road.













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