What to Expect
The NCC maintains a ski trail conditions page usually updated 3 times a day. I’ll often include a summary here with links. XCOttawa draws on reports from skiers’ on-trail experience. Those reports are automatically added here and we're working for even better integration. Other people post information in other places and this page will attempt to aggregate links to those reports as well.
2010-03-09 by Jo-Ann Holden from P17 [Wakefield]
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 re. . .2010-03-08 by Ken Trischuk from P7 [Kingsmere]
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 . . .The Melt Goes On
Skiers over the weekend enthused about what beautiful conditions they were enjoying.
But at what cost!
The NCC today has posted numerous yellow triangles against trails recently groomed and also said
"Debris, ice and water accumulations can be found on the trails. The ground may also be exposed in certain areas."
Curses!
Yves Fortin Says There’s Still Time to Ski
Posted at TriRudy, Yves said in part:
If for some reason you haven't had much of a chance to ski this winter, it is still time to go out and have a blast. Snow conditions are very best in the morning...If you are not yet a skier, this is a great time to start and get gear ready for next year...Skiing in Gatineau Park is such a gift!
2010-03-07 by Ken Trischuk from N/A [Other]
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 . . .2010-03-07 by Jo-Ann Holden from P19 [Lac Philippe]
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 para. . .2010-03-07 by Matthew Ladd from P6 [MacKenzie-King]
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 . . .2010-03-06 by Jo-Ann Holden from P10 [Fortune]
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 . . .sunny saturday on the lakes
If you had told me I would be skiing on deep snow over beaver ponds in just my t-shirt I don't know if I would have believed it.
Started at P7 skiied up to Huron cabin and turned right onto the first little lake. The skiing on the lakes was great. The snow is firm and deep as could be seen by the waist deep holes the moose put in them. That's right there is a female moose living in the vicinity of trail 12.
I saw her from trail 12 I tried to upload a photo. It was too big? It is not a great photo but I didn't want to freak out a moose by getting too close.
The back country is difficult due to existing deep tracks but if you ski where no one else has skied the conditions are awesome.
2010-03-05 by Jo-Ann Holden from P8 [Chelsea]
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 . . .GuideGatineau
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Site Wide Activity [RSS]
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Jean-Paul Murray commented on the blog post Park Entry Work Makes Economic Action Plan List 20 hours, 39 minutes ago
That money would be better spent purchasing the private properties currently for sale in the park, in accordance with the NCC’s obligation and commitment to doing so. Failure to acquire these properties will only dramatically escalate the cost of completing this so-called park.
All this new entrance provides is nice packaging on a seriously flawed park. [...]
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Charles Hodgson commented on the blog post Some Parking Lots Closing for Season 22 hours, 31 minutes ago
I see in this document (circa Nov 2009 and presaging the Ecosystems Conservation Plan) “It is proposed that the parking lot and access pathway to the hang-gliding departure site be eliminated.”
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: Passepartout 22 hours, 38 minutes ago
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: Art in the Park 22 hours, 48 minutes ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8NN7mG5Btw
I sat down with three painters who’d been part of a latter day group of seven that had taken on a project of painting at the Champlain Lookout every Friday through 2009, capturing the change of the seasons.
They had made notes on the conditions they experienced and the effect it had on them and I’ve [...]
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cbh-flickr-posting wrote a new blog post: Gatineau Park GC1050F 1 day, 1 hour ago
Gatineau Park GC1050F, originally uploaded by ChrisDelaney.ca.
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Darrel Newman commented on the blog post Some Parking Lots Closing for Season 1 day, 2 hours ago
OOPs there – I’ll bet that it is the Mountain Road Parking lot at the 90 degree turn which gives access to the escarpment routes to Western Hut and the Champlain Lookout
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Darrel Newman commented on the blog post Some Parking Lots Closing for Season 1 day, 2 hours ago
Does anyone know which parking area, a 1-kilometre access pathway and a departure zone for the Hang Gliding they are referring to.
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: Park Entry Work Makes Economic Action Plan List 1 day, 20 hours ago
The Site that highlights the list of projects paid for under Canada’s Economic Action Plan lists $2.4 million in federal funding for the project.
This work was the subject of a brief consultation last fall.
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rss-feed wrote a new blog post: 2010-03-09 by Jo-Ann Holden from P17 [Wakefield] 1 day, 23 hours ago
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 re. . .
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cbh-flickr-posting wrote a new blog post: Gatineau Park, Quebec 2 days, 4 hours ago
Gatineau Park, Quebec, originally uploaded by Asif A. Ali.
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cbh-flickr-posting wrote a new blog post: Gatineau Park, Quebec 2 days, 4 hours ago
Gatineau Park, Quebec, originally uploaded by Asif A. Ali.
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rss-feed wrote a new blog post: 2010-03-08 by Ken Trischuk from P7 [Kingsmere] 2 days, 8 hours ago
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 . . .
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: Some Parking Lots Closing for Season 2 days, 15 hours ago
The NCC website indicates that both P5 (penguin) and P15 (the snowshoe parking lot on the Cross Loop Road) are closed for the season.
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: Geocachers Take Responsibility 2 days, 17 hours ago
Prompted by my linking to a post about geocaching activity that included Gatineau Park last weekend I heard from local geocachers who strongly take responsibility for keeping their sport clean. They point to guidelines for geocaching best practice as well as inviting discussions with Park authorities if there are any concerns over geocaches in [...]
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Charles Hodgson wrote a new blog post: The Melt Goes On 2 days, 19 hours ago
Skiers over the weekend enthused about what beautiful conditions they were enjoying.
But at what cost!
The NCC today has posted numerous yellow triangles against trails recently groomed and also said
“Debris, ice and water accumulations can be found on the trails. The ground may also be exposed in certain areas.”
Curses!