Gatineau Park
Trails Skied: #50, #51, #52, #53, #57, Glide Wax: blue, Grip Wax: green
A long ski with many stops, many photos, and a lengthy detour to visit the area of old growth forest near Brown’s Lake. It was a great ski, the weather was glorious, scenery was spectacular (sun and snow squalls) and there was fresh powder to ski on. The high rating was because it was fun, not because of any grooming.
I am dismayed by the lack of accuracy on the Gatineau Park ski conditions page. Trail 52 was indicated as “track set” 2 days ago, but it has absolutely NOT been track set in any way at any time. It was evidently compacted before the most recent snowfall - there is quite a difference between track setting and compacting.
Trail 50 was better, track set at some point in the past, and the skate grooming was recent. Trail 51 appeared to have been track set 2 days ago, as claimed.
Caption #0
Caption #1
Caption #2
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).
