Jan 27 (2h, 38m) by Kyle Power
from P3
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, MacKenzie-King Rd , #27, #7, #15 (blue) [29.6km], Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:
Well folks, its an interesting day out there isn't it! Myself and Matthias started at Gamelin and skied up the parkway all the way up to the top of Blacks hill and on the way back we took Trail 15 coming down near Relais plein air. We headed out around 11am, in the midst of the rain and painful ice pellets. The skate skiing was super noisy (I would actually recommend ear plugs) and tricky . Meaning, it was quite crusty with sometimes a glassy cover and punchy snow conditions. When you could execute a decent push it was lighting fast. Trail 15 provided a few good thrills. Any type of trail like that be prepared to hold on and extra careful. Snowplowing is hard to do today. Any day skiing is better than no day skiing!? I would usually never say this but it might be a better day for a sport like bowling... That being said, the recent snow and some grooming later tonight could make for a very enjoyable weekend of skiing. Stay tuned for further updates!
Jan 27 (7h, 58m) by Rick Hellard
from P3
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy [11.5km], Glide Wax: greased lighting, Grip Wax:
Ron, no hard feelings. I'm a better skier for it.
This was a very early morning ski in the freezing rain with a buddy. As I was putting my boots on, fellow poster Matt Mcinnes pulled in with a buddy of his who I also know, so we all skied together.
There was fresh wet snow under a very thin layer of ice which made for very fast conditions, regardless of wax. At least for the guy in front who had fresh ice to glide on. The guys behind had broken chunks and a groove to contend with.
All in all, the ski was quite delightful as long as you did not wear/need glasses because there was quite a freezing rain drizzle going on. Our windproof jackets became almost bullet proof thanks to the ice coating.
We skied up to the top of Blacks then turned around and skied back 17min faster, but this time we had to deal with the broken ice layer we had created ourselves. It was much tougher skiing with tips catching etc, but still very fast and enjoyable.
And a bit crazy, for sure.
With a good grooming and minus 5 overnight, things should be awesome for the weekend.
This was a very early morning ski in the freezing rain with a buddy. As I was putting my boots on, fellow poster Matt Mcinnes pulled in with a buddy of his who I also know, so we all skied together.
There was fresh wet snow under a very thin layer of ice which made for very fast conditions, regardless of wax. At least for the guy in front who had fresh ice to glide on. The guys behind had broken chunks and a groove to contend with.
All in all, the ski was quite delightful as long as you did not wear/need glasses because there was quite a freezing rain drizzle going on. Our windproof jackets became almost bullet proof thanks to the ice coating.
We skied up to the top of Blacks then turned around and skied back 17min faster, but this time we had to deal with the broken ice layer we had created ourselves. It was much tougher skiing with tips catching etc, but still very fast and enjoyable.
And a bit crazy, for sure.
With a good grooming and minus 5 overnight, things should be awesome for the weekend.
Jan 26 (1d, 1h) by Ron Lorenson
from P10
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, #1, #1 (green) (#2 - #24) [15.6km], Glide Wax: Swix CH4 over graphite, Grip Wax: n/a
In the past two days I have experienced the some of the best skating conditions in my somewhat prolonged skiing career. Beautiful finely ground granular that the skating skis just seem float in.
Yesterday I went from Asticou to #15 via the GP and back one hour after the parkway had just been re-ground - euphoria.
Today I went from P10 => FP => CP => #1 => Blanchette and back. From P10 to the water tank on #24 conditions were hard and fast but quite doable. Just before the water tank I met the tracksetter coming back from the fire tower - from there to Blanchette and back to the Champlain lookout I was floating in fast flour - it was enough to make an old guy think that he was still a great skater. From the lookout back to P10 the new tracksetting was able to scratch the surface making the rest of my run still good. Everywhere the classic tracks were in excellent shape: on the parkways they were hard and fast; on #1 the tracks were softer. Everywhere the classic tracks were granular enough to eat wax. #24, #2, #3, & #1B looked to be in good shape but hard. All the backcountry trails were not doable.
The problem with this re-ground snow is that overnight the snow seems to re-freeze turning the previous day’s ski tracks into hard, unforgiving skier-traps. This is probably why the snow that gave me such joy yesterday created such misery for Rick.
For me it was great to have new tracksetting two days in a row. For Rick I can only apologize for those hardened tracks that I left behind to ruin his day.
Yesterday I went from Asticou to #15 via the GP and back one hour after the parkway had just been re-ground - euphoria.
Today I went from P10 => FP => CP => #1 => Blanchette and back. From P10 to the water tank on #24 conditions were hard and fast but quite doable. Just before the water tank I met the tracksetter coming back from the fire tower - from there to Blanchette and back to the Champlain lookout I was floating in fast flour - it was enough to make an old guy think that he was still a great skater. From the lookout back to P10 the new tracksetting was able to scratch the surface making the rest of my run still good. Everywhere the classic tracks were in excellent shape: on the parkways they were hard and fast; on #1 the tracks were softer. Everywhere the classic tracks were granular enough to eat wax. #24, #2, #3, & #1B looked to be in good shape but hard. All the backcountry trails were not doable.
The problem with this re-ground snow is that overnight the snow seems to re-freeze turning the previous day’s ski tracks into hard, unforgiving skier-traps. This is probably why the snow that gave me such joy yesterday created such misery for Rick.
For me it was great to have new tracksetting two days in a row. For Rick I can only apologize for those hardened tracks that I left behind to ruin his day.
Jan 26 (1d, 3h) by Rick Hellard
from P3
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy [11.5km], Glide Wax: would not matter, Grip Wax:
Skate skied from P3 to the intersection, then left up towards Kingsmere and back.
This was more a test of balance than I would have liked--very, very firm and fast with lots of ruts. Spent more time off balance than on.
Classic tracks were rock solid but icy so a binder would be necessary, unless you like to stop and re-apply grip wax.
I suspect things would be better later in the day when it has warmed up a bit, but at the time we went, it was not the most enjoyable ski of the year.
This was more a test of balance than I would have liked--very, very firm and fast with lots of ruts. Spent more time off balance than on.
Classic tracks were rock solid but icy so a binder would be necessary, unless you like to stop and re-apply grip wax.
I suspect things would be better later in the day when it has warmed up a bit, but at the time we went, it was not the most enjoyable ski of the year.
Jan 26 (1d, 7h) by Ken Trischuk
from P8
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, North Loop, #1 Penguin Climb, #1 [16.1km], Glide Wax: Blue, Grip Wax:
Beautiful evening ski for me. Skating seemed to be the best choice as the track was hard packed and icy with enough texture to hold an edge. Definetley would have needed a binder to keep grip wax in place. Parkways and Ridge road were in good shape. The short steep drop at Wattsfords lookout was already snowplowed down to give it a polished icy sheen(to be expected) which made my descent quite a spectacle no doubt. The rest of the drop down Penguin was fine though wih lots of "surface" to hold an edge and remain in control.
Interesting to meet a pair of mountainbikers riding halfway along Ridge road. While clearly the wrong season for this, they were doing no damage to the track as the base was bullet proof solid. Of bigger concern to me was they had their two dogs with them, unleashed and happily bounding along the trail. Bit of an obstacle for me to sneak past them in the dark without impaling a dog so I gave them a few choice words as I skied by in the dark.
Interesting to meet a pair of mountainbikers riding halfway along Ridge road. While clearly the wrong season for this, they were doing no damage to the track as the base was bullet proof solid. Of bigger concern to me was they had their two dogs with them, unleashed and happily bounding along the trail. Bit of an obstacle for me to sneak past them in the dark without impaling a dog so I gave them a few choice words as I skied by in the dark.
Jan 25 (2d, 4h) by Megan McTavish
from Old Chelsea
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy , Gatineau Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, MacKenzie-King Rd , #1 (black - Chelsea), #15 (black) [25.5km], Glide Wax: vauhti lf blue, Grip Wax: vauhti super binder covered with vauhti K12 (purple)
Very nice day out there. A bit tricky grip waxing as some of the trails are a bit icy, others almost dry and some warm and glazed depending on the sun and also when they were groomed. Everything is groomed though and the binder and purple worked ok. Skating looked to be nice too.
Jan 25 (2d, 7h) by Matt McInnes
from P3
Trails Skied: Gatineau Pkwy, #5 (green) [16km], Glide Wax: Swix Blue, Grip Wax: NA
Nice pre-work ski was much better than expected. Fresh grooming on the parkway and number 5 made for good and sometimes great conditions. Parkway was hard and very fast with variable icy spots. Number 5 was soft and superb. Get out there!
Jan 23 (4d, 19h) by Florence Lehmann
from P6
Trails Skied: MacKenzie-King Rd [0.8km], Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:
The operative word of the night is "ice". The trail at P6 looked like an ice arena to me. My group went out for some double poling (hence the 2 stars - I personally rate it as one star-unskiable). I bailed out. Not a big fan of ice skating.
Hopefully some grooming tomorrow will fix this.
Hopefully some grooming tomorrow will fix this.
Jan 23 (4d, 22h) by Kyla Vanderzwet
from P8
Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy [4km], Glide Wax: , Grip Wax:
Hard packed snow, fast conditions. Great to see lots of people out despite the weather!
Jan 22 (5d, 23h) by Ken Trischuk
from P19
Trails Skied: #50, #51, #54 (green), #55 (green - shared), #55 (green - alternative), #55 (blue - alternative), #54 (black) [33.9km], Glide Wax: Blue, Grip Wax: Teho green binder covered by Swix Extra blue
Similar loop to Paul and similar comments. I opted to drive up to P19 today to get away from the crowds. Was happy with my decision as I passed the long line up of cars at the Old Chelsea off ramp. Was a little concerned when I saw P17 parking overflowing onto the highway... but true to form the upper "weekend" parking lot at P19 had lots of room. Enjoyed the sumptuous grooming down 50 to the end of Lac Phillipe and then took the big climb up 54 Black. Many thanks to Paul for doing some trail breaking work... I did a little more! Good snow coverage the whole length of the trail though the last steep pitch up near Lusk Lake is always a little rough and could use a little more snow. My pole sank a lot too but with touring gear I think I would have faired better. Still, the surface was crusty and the occasional tip grab when climbing was frustrating... but the base is there, now all we need is a good powder dump and it will be perfect. No signs of anyone brave enough to ski up trail 10 (the one that doesn't exist but many people ski anyways) which will likely need some more snow.
54 Green was fun and well groomed even above the washout. Looks like their putting one classic track and a wide skating lane above the washout so skaters can still ski up to Lusk lake. Skating the narrow bypass at the washout might be a little chore but its only a few hundred feet so no big deal. From there I skied out to Taylor lake and even 55 blue was freshly groomed and a fun ride down.
Say your "skiers prayers" tonight for more snow than freezing rain and we'll see how we come out of the next weather event.
54 Green was fun and well groomed even above the washout. Looks like their putting one classic track and a wide skating lane above the washout so skaters can still ski up to Lusk lake. Skating the narrow bypass at the washout might be a little chore but its only a few hundred feet so no big deal. From there I skied out to Taylor lake and even 55 blue was freshly groomed and a fun ride down.
Say your "skiers prayers" tonight for more snow than freezing rain and we'll see how we come out of the next weather event.
Jan 22 (5d, 24h) by Garry Tarr
from P8

Trails Skied: Fortune Pkwy, Champlain Pkwy, North Loop, #1, #1 (green) (#2 - #24), #1 (blue) [27.2km], Glide Wax: CH7, Grip Wax:
Skated from P8 along the Doldrums, across the connector, up the Fortune Parkway, then along Ridge Road to the Fire Tower and back. I'm filing this report largely to give Demsis credit when they do something right. The route had been freshly and expertly groomed last night. (Grooming during the weekend- what a concept!) The corduroy was a bit hard, which was great since it gave excellent glide in relative low temperatures. Ridge Road between McKinstry and the Tower was particularly nice- I haven't seen it in such good condition in years. There were no bare patches or rocks, and minimal snowmobile damage. I had lots of company all the way out, largely from people training for the CSM gold. I'm glad I wasn't carrying one of their packs! Let's hope the trail isn't damaged too badly by the rain and freezing rain in the forecast for tomorrow.