Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: Champlain Pkwy, #1B, #24, Glide Wax: Swix purple, Grip Wax:
Skied from P9 up Fortune to Ridge up Khyber Pass to 1, 24, 1B and back down the parkway to P9.
Parkways were awesome fun, Ridge was run over and thin in spots with a few rocks popping up, but generally good if you paid attention. 1 to 24 was excellent, 24 not groomed and soft, but still fun. 1 back to 1B was excellent, 1B was not groomed with a number of rocks just below the surface ready to pounce, parkway back home was really fast and hard packed.
All in all, a beautiful day for a ski and it showed me why they have not groomed some of the trails--still have rocks much too close to the surface to risk the machines.
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).
