Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, #5 (green), #27, #15 (blue), #26, #29 (alternative), #29 (shared), Glide Wax: Vauhti Violet, Grip Wax: Vauhti Silver Plus

First day of Spring? I skied the Southern part of the park yesterday late afternoon. According to the NCC nothing had been groomed there in a week. Since grooming had been abandoned early I expected a rutted surface, bare spots and ice - I got the best ski of the year!

Spring snow goes through a huge transformation - daily. Overnight it freezes, mid-morning it starts to thaw in the Sun, it might even get wet and slow. But when once the snow goes through enough freeze-thaw cycles and the water drains away or evaporates you are sometimes left with nice dry corn snow. These little icy ball bearing can make for some of the best spring skiing as was the case yesterday. The skating was effortless, but downhills and edging controllable.

I skied #5 end-end, #26, #29 around Skinouk, and checked a bit of #15 (without leaving big skating ruts on a classic only trail). Everything was full coverage except at the #26 intersections with the parkway where there was an easily avoidable bare spot.

So lots of skiing in the Southern end, means lots more skiing in the North. Best news is that 5-10cm of fresh clean snow will delay the melt a few more days. Unfortunately, it will be few days until that perfect corn comes back.













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