Gatineau Park

Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy , Champlain Pkwy, #1 Penguin Climb, #1, #1B, Champlain Pkwy, #40, Glide Wax: Swix CH6, Grip Wax:

GET OUT AND SKI. What an amazing morning for skiing. Demsis has done a fantastic job making all the ice and frozen granular stuff skiable.

I skied from P8 and went up to the base of Penguin. Penguin was wide and level and probably the best condition it has been all year. I had spectacular views of the city of Ottawa from the top of Penguin. The grooming was perfect to Gossip corner. It was great to be the second skier on this stretch today. From Gossip Corner to Huron, the grooming was nice, but the maintenance snowmobiles had taken away that "virgin corduroy feeling", but still very good. 1b also was perfect with no ice. I proceeded towards Wolf Trail and came back via 40/Watertank. The conditions were consistently good throughout, with not a rock in sight. Definitely a day to use good skis.

From Champlain lookout I took the Champlain parkway and then Gatineau Parkway to get back. I was skating, however the tracks in the parkway looked a bit icy for classic skating. The skate track was perfect, and the classic tracks at times were near perfect, at other times, they'd swerve where the groomer could not dig into the ice, so if you are going at high speed, just don't take a nap and fall asleep going down Black's lake. Stay alert, because it can go to sheer ice in a split second.

From the Mica Junction back to P8, several south exposed faces are almost down to bare ice, but Demsis did a good job making it possible to ski.

From Mica, there is still plenty of snow coverage back towards Pinks Lake and Asticou, however, there is no grooming on this stretch, thus cutting off easy access from the south end of the park to groomed terrain. It would likely take a single pass of the groomers to make it skiable down to Asticou.

All in all, a great day for skiing. The trail is firm and we likely will not lose any snow for several more days given the cool temps every night!













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