A report from yesterday's ski: The plan was to lug the bigger camera along and be out all day. These trails were all marked as "fair", so I was curious to see how poor they really were. At 10:30 trail 52 was still a bit icy (not groomed recently), and the long uphill was easier to walk than herringbone in those skis! By 11:00 the waxless skis kicked in and by noon they were really working well. They improved as the day heated up. The uphills were certainly slow but those skis do surprisingly well on downhills in soft snow (better than klister). Snow was clean and deep on 52, 50, and all but a one-meter patch on 51/53. There were no rocks, one teeny bare spot on 51/53, one puddle on 52 and just occasional, insignificant tree dirt. Grooming was really irrelevant due to the temperatures. The fastest snow was out of the tracks. I spotted one other skier near Herridge and two near P19 - It was the slowest but also the most beautiful ski of the year! I don't think "Fair" was a fair assessment of the conditions today.

A little late to start today. Things had already started to soften by the time I got going around noon. Skied a few of the backcountry trails which became somewhat of a chore as the skis would alternately float and then sink... and then float on the soft snowpack. The alternating speeds made it hard to stay upright on the hills but there was lots of soft snow to bail into when things went pear shaped. All the main trails were freshly groomed after the weekend and looked really good. Still the beautiful warm sunshine was a treat and I did my share of "W.R.S." since the "C.C."ing had already expired for the day.

Dodged the crowds today and parked on the Eardley escarpment road (in the snowbank actually) to ski trail 56 up to the Pontiac lookout. Looks like more people walk or snowshoe this trail than ski it but I had the wide boards and the day was gorgeous so I wasn't concerned about the state of the trail. Things were a little icy climbing up but by noon the snow started to soften and a layer of beautiful, velvet corn started to form making the descents magic. Total number of fellow skiers I met - 2... and they were parked in the sun having a picnic which seemed like a pretty good plan.

Another fabulous day, however there were fewer skiers in the Lac Philippe sector than expected. With such warm weather the skating did become quite a slog, particularly the last 3 Km back to the car!! However the Lusk trail and trail 50 (as it parallels the lake) are quite shady. The shady sections were quite fast! It was a perfect day for alternating long periods of sitting in the sun with vigorous bouts of skiing.

The snow is so far surviving beautifully!
The snow on the Taylor lake trail (green) was stunning! See attached photo! It was marked as "fair" on the park website, as was trail 54.
Lusk (54) was in very good shape, with none of the usual flooded sections yet.
Trail 50, marked good to very good, was fine, although rutted (as usual) with snowmobile carnage. This was particularly irritating between trail 55 and Lac Philippe. See final attached photo. The classic tracks between P19 and trail 55 had obviously not been reset for today, and were extremely shallow, sometimes disappearing altogether.

Wow, I was surprised at the great conditions late this morning! P6 was almost full when I got there (around 10:30am) and it wasn't quite as warm as I expected. The klister worked really well in the more shady frozen granular snow, but not quite as good in the sun-exposed soft wet granular snow, particularly south facing slopes. Trail #7 had great coverage and is always a blast to go down. Hard to tell if the parkways were groomed but there were many skiers out there today.

Wow! What a day! We were out for 4 hours and even skied some of that time. I think everyone who skis was in the park today. Demsis had their "thank you" to the skiers and many skiers showed up for the hot chocolate, homemade goodies and the festive chatting in the sun. Conditions were fabulous and there were constant positive comments about "all the grooming" that had been done for today.

Today was memorable for me. It was the first time I've ever "crust cruised", (thank you Craig, Ron and Ken) having always imagined it as something daring and icy that only other people do. I'm totally hooked! It was the most fun I've had on skis in years. Too bad it's so late in the season now. Some areas were starting to get mushy by the time we had checked out 3 or 4 of the swamps along Ridge.

Tomorrow should be another beautiful day!

I should have started earlier and gone to P10! Tomorrow for sure! At 3:00 the Gatineau Parkway was quite fast and controllable in the sun, but the shadier areas were quite hard and for me, at least, difficult to edge. (Probably Ken and Karl would have loved it!) It made my knees ache. I tried both sides of Meech Lake Road, then bailed out and went for a very enjoyable run instead. It was hard to believe the grooming had been thorough in these two locations, because it was so hard packed and didn\'t even seem to be chewed up by earlier skiers. The classic tracks on one side were very shallow, about a third the regular depth.

It was a great day for Crust Cruising (to be known as CCing)(thanx for term to Ken Trischuk), for trail skiing, and for Warm Rock Sitting (to be known as WRSing).

Went from P10 via FP to CP to lookout then via #1 to the pond 1 km past Wolf Ridge - spent 2 hrs CCing the pond surface - returned, via #1, to the pond between #1 & #24 - spent some more time CCing and then some WRSing - then reluctantly returned to P10 via #1, CP, & FP.

The morning tracksetting was excellent deep loose sugar snow leaning to powder in the cold spots. It appeared to go all the way - at least as far as McKinstry. On the way back in the shade the snow stayed unchanged; in the sun it became soft but not mushy; where the sun had been it tended to glaze over. The CCing was unbelievably good firm and fast. The tracks looked excellent everywhere.

Via the ski pole test I estimated that, beside the track, the snow depth was about 60 cm on top of the hard base from the January rains. It’s quite compact and should be slow to melt.

Today was as close as this OF (connu en francais comme VBH) will ever get to paradise.

Beautiful spring conditions. Fresh grooming for the skate lane of the Parkway from P10 to the lookouts. Other places the skating was fine even without new grooming. No new classic tracks but they looked solid regardless. Ridge wasn't groomed but didn't need it as it was smooth and not too rutted. Crust cruising in the woods was excellent if you get up early enough but I expect the snow pack will soften up by 10 or 11am as the sun gains some strength.

Near perfect conditions! Ridge and the parkways were very well groomed, level and wide. The snow was much better than on Monday as the moisture in the snow has evapourated or drained off making corn of the sluch. The freshly groomed dry corn snow was melting and glazing a bit which made for unlimited glide but easy edging. Grips was rock solid with Vauhti Silver Plus klister. A day that makes an out of shape racer feel like he could knock out a solid 30km classic race.

Burma was a dissapointment. It was ungroomed, uneven, rutted from old traffic and generally hard all the way...except for the climb up from Fortune parkway oddly enough. There are no bare spots and no lack of snow for groomers to make use of so this was strange. Maybe on Wednesday, the 3rd day of week, on the 3rd day of the 3rd month Trail #3 isn't groomed for superstitious reasons?

Yes - the grooming was great this morning on FP, CP, & #1 as far as the water tank at #24 - a great sugar snow surface - after the water tank #1 became frozen boiler-plate with frozen-in snowmobile tracks. By 2 PM, below Gossip Corner, FP was starting to become hacked-up in the skating track from all the traffic. Everywhere the classic tracks were firm but hard to icy - definitely Klister.

The best conditions, however, are to be found on the ponds and bogs. Skated the pond between #24 & #1 and the two ponds beside #1 between the lookout and Huron. They’re great - firm and fast - a real delight.

Everywhere the snow is holding up - the temperature seemed to be about 0 C on the ridge and only slightly above 0 at P10 - so we’re not losing any. It still looks like winter snow but is quite firm off-track.

The Pp10 parking lot was as full as it gets on the weekend. The reason was that several high school classes seemed to be staggering around on Fortune Parkway and Ridge Road. They generally looked happy in the beautiful sunshine despite their mix of pyjama bottoms and snowboard suits.
The skate skiing was good but mixed. A sunny spot on the Parkway would be just soft enough to get an edge in while shaded areas were sometimes glazed to the point that my kick skittered off. Icier was faster, particularly later in the ski as the melty places felt more dragging. The Ridge Road was nicer because there wasn't the same packed sheen surface and yet the closer trees kept the snow quick.
I better break out the sun block next time.

Beautiful spring conditions (too soon!) out there. Groomed trails are in great shape with solid classic tracks and a good base for skating. Found a few downed trees across trail 21 but they were in flatter areas so no trouble getting around them. A few streams are openning up so keep an eye out for water hazards.

+4C today means Spring skiing rules are in effect..

- Skiing between 9-11 and 4-6 is best.
- Skate or klister, choose wisely.
- Structure your skis.

Snow coverage everywhere is good. The parkway below P1 was sloppy and slow, but once over the bridge it was firmer and easier going. I found trail #5 was faster than the parkway, though it was softer, but ski flex might have a lot to do with that. Trail #15 looked great too but I was skating and didn't venture that way. Classic looked good as the tracks were firm, but wet - like the Olympic 50km conditions!

P10 - Fortune, Ridge, 24, McKinstry, Fire Tower

It was roulette, and we won! When we left home, the NCC web site still gave #1Blue a yellow triangle and indicated it was last groomed on Feb. 24. We figured it was worth checking out. Surprise! It was in great shape and looked recently done. It hadn't seen much use, and was uniformly groomed, unlike the stretch of Ridge between Huron and Western (some large snowmobile ruts).

The snow was reasonably fast at 9:00 a.m., and the fact that I even made it there and back is proof that the conditions never did get super slow. The slowest part was when I picked up some klister from a downhill classic track. After wiping it off at McKinstry, things really picked up!

I didn't quite make it all the way to the Fire Tower, but Garry reported that it was "all good".

There are two photos at musicianonskis.ca

Skated from Mackenzie King to the Lookouts. Conditions were nice but plenty wet. Lots of fresh snow in the last week has been well compacted but +3C and raining meant the track was pretty slow. Quite happy though to be skiing on snow again. Cooler temps in the evening made the track firm up and get icy on last nights ski but it softens up during the day. I've gotta try to find the "magic" hour between ice and slush...

I used to look down my nose at no-wax skis. Yesterday I bought a pair. Today I tried them out.
The heavy wet conditions are messy to wax for and the no-wax was a breeze. No backslip at all, though the forward glide wasn't exactly rocket-powered.
Skyline had been skied since the last snow and the human trackset are pretty good but the snow isn't very forgiving. Less clumsy than my last outing during the snow, but still it is the trail forcing the skier's direction, not the skier cutting his/her own path (except when you are all the way out of the existing tracks).
The NCC site had reported "debris can be found on the trails in the forest" and since I hadn't seen that during the storm on Wednesday I was skeptical. But they were right. The heavy snow, before it was shed by the trees, knocked quite a number of branches down. I will post a couple of pictures of that at GuideGatineau.
The sticky snow made for good snowmen and I also will post a picture of one I saw at Wattsford Lookout.

It is fast out there. Really fast. Fast enough to make you seriously consider changing your underwear after skiing down the meech hill in the dark.

There was a beautiful full moon tonight and the trails were just starting to harden up by the time we started skiing. The parkways were bomber. Ridge road was good as well, but as we got farther out in the park, it looked like the groomers hadn't been by as recently. There was a crust that poles punch through easily on the trails down towards Meech and on Burma, but a skidoo had put some ruts in the trail and made it near impossible to slow down/step turn/retain any semblance of control. Needless to say there were a few crashes, one broken pole and a lot of sore and wobbly body parts by the end of a two and a half hour ski.

The sheer speed and exhilaration to be found on the parkways right now is something special. Strap on a pair of skate skis and get out there for a cruise.

Wow, lots of snow out there. That storm makes up for the winter drought and really improves the Spring skiing outlook. Actually it was Spring out there today: +2C at 2pm, bright sun and soft tracks initially. It was still faster than earlier reports described, probably similar to the Olympic conditions. Skiing wasn't as labourious as expected though the going was hard enough that snowman break was required to enjoy the sun.

We were passed by a groomer on Ridge at 3pm and that fresh pass really sped things up. (A bit late in the day I thought, but no complaint for how it improved my ski.) Even with all the grooming Ridge is still a bit narrow and concave for skating, but with another few days of grooming it should get better for skating and classic. The tracks were glazed and wet so klister was probably called for this afternoon. By 4pm it was really firming up and glide was getting fast. With the existing base helping to cool the softer, wetter surface snow overnight the skiing should be great tomorrow!

A rare day! The skating was so much better than anticipated. Ridge and the parkways had been groomed earlier in the day and were not too slow considering the warm temperatures. When the groomer passed again on Ridge Road around 1:30 the skating became really fun! I did not want to go home, ever!

I skied only a portion of Burma, as it was very soft and messy from some sort of snowmobile spree. There was no moose, but it was brilliantly beautiful in the warm sun.

The photo is of Craig Storey , the genius who created this ski trail site. He and Graham were skiing on the Champlain Parkway this afternoon.

Well, the snow has stopped for now. The groomers are hard at work packing it down. At 7:30 this morning a skate lane had been done on the parkway near P5 and they were working on Ridge road (both classic and skate). It looked like it was slow going with lots of branches to move and heavy snow to pack. I skied from P5 to Keogan and down to P7 and it was great!

Fresh grooming on Doldrums this morning and remarkably good glide for skating despite warm temperatures. I was using red glider and no rilling- with warm wax and rilling I'm sure the skis would have been even faster. There are many skiers out, and as the snow warms and is churned up conditions may deteriorate, but for now it's very good.

Lots of fresh snow today! There had obviously been some grooming done sometime later in the day. There were pretty well defined tracks, but they were a bit soft. Skating was surprisingly good. The surface was a bit soft, but not too bad at all. Watch out for the puddles of slush underneath the new snow on 29!

I was lazy, missed the morning window and decided to wait out the mid-afternoon drizzle. At 5:00 it was very nice. The snow was pelting down, and quite a bit of fresh stuff was down. The Doldrums had evidently been groomed not too many hours before. It was fairly slow, and the poles frequently jammed in the snow, however it was surprisingly firm, not deep or mushy (see attached photo). After yesterday's horrifying classic wax adventure it was very pleasant to be skating!

It keep snowing and snowing and snowing. I don't know how many centimeters have fallen up here in the last couple of days, but something like 30 would be my guess. It's still coming as I type this.

The groomers have been doing a good job keeping things fairly well packed and track set. For sure, the tracks are continually filling up with fresh snow, but the surface underneath is firm for either skate or classic.

Watch out for heavy looking branches that might break off!