With XC Ottawa skiers all racing at Nationals in Canmore I asked for reports and you provided.. thanks! Also checkout the reports from Gary, Jo-Ann, Paul and Ken at skitrails.xcottawa.ca.
With a group of friends we skied from P16 to Healy yesterday (March 12), some of us skated skied and others classiced. We started at 5:30 pm and back around 8 pm.
Trail #50 hadn't been groomed but was in decent condition. Snow was soft but gliding was fairly good if a bit slow. Classic tracks seemed good (I skated) and you sinked through some soft snow here and there while skating, but overall it was fine. Some debris on the trail early on, only for a short distance. Gliding was better on the way back with cooler temperature.
Still lots of snow to ski there but for how much longer... Skied up from P10 out Ridge Road, along 24 and back. The Fortune Parkway and Ridge Road out to Western were groomed by ski-do perhaps last night. Up and down Fortune 3 times by the ski-doos have left shallow ridges and ruts, which are annoying. Otherwise skate skiing was pretty good. Far better than what is being advertised on the GP website. There is about 1-2 inches of new snow on a fairly firm base. The snow is wet and slow but the sun was out, so near perfect spring skiing.
FL
The classic tracks on Fortune have been pulled towards the center leaving a rather narrow skate lane. There is no track setting on 24 or Ridge Road past Western.
KG
Hey XC Ottawa,
Skied later in the day from P10, +1 C at 15:30.
I skied up from P10 to Ridge, out to Champlain, 1B, 1A, Champlain Lookout, down to P10 on Parkway.
Ungroomed but packed by skiers, on Classic tracks left but those created by skiers. Snow was soft but was Ok, better than sitting on the couch! Demsis please Groom.... There is probably less than 2 weeks left. Forget the cost of Diesel.
PH
We tried to ski from P6 and after 200 meters on the parkway turned back. No grooming or even a snowmobile pass meant that skating over trenches and bumps hurt your knees. A drive to P10 paid off in that the Fortune Parkway had a one laner open due to a snowmobile pass, and that was good to the lookout. Maybe they have petrol restrictions.
AJ
I went skiing last night (March 10) from P8 to P9 and back. Surprisingly I found the trail to be in good condition. It hadn't been groomed but was looking good. The only thing is, it was a bit sticky and slow but that's not exactly a surprise.
I'm planning on doing P16 to Herridge or Healy tomorrow late afternoon. I can let you know how it is if you're interested.
Thank for posting all these reports on your website. They are way more helpful than the NCC reports (which I don't check anymore).
FL
"Pack your paddle."