Parkway closures for Roller Skiing are..(Map)

• P8-Mica until 9:30am - Saturday & Sunday
• P8-P9 until 10am - Saturday & Sunday
• P8-P9 and P8-Mica from 17:00 to 19:30 - Tuesday & Thursday

Please follow: Safe Rollerksiing Best Practices for athletes and coaches.

Parkways are now closed for the season, sleep in and rollerski whenever you want! Honest, see this NCC press release.

There's skiing in Montmorency! Kyle, Anna, Lee, Matthias and myself are currently skiing on a one kilometer loop of man-made snow that is good for classic and skate. 10cm of fresh snow means it's possible to trek around on some of the other trails on rock skis for a change of pace. It's a crisp -5, and there's more snow on the way. If you feel the itch to get those boards on, it's only a 5 hour drive away.

Anyone ski in the park today? Our regular scouts took off to SilverStar and the rest are in Montmorency where winter arrived Friday night. If you skied today let us know!

There\'s enough snow to classic ski on the grass from P10. A bit more snow would help, but still an enjoyable outing!

Looks like we might have lost our bit of snow! Remember, it doesn't take much. Let us know if you get out to ski . . .

Snowing in this end of town since 7pm. Who's been skiing? Send in your pictures and reports info@xcottawa.ca!

I skied only to Fortune Lake and decided to bail out until there is more snow. As it was well below zero, the snow was powdery and loose, and there was no more snow at P10 than in the rest of Chelsea. It was possible to glide in the fresh snow and grass, but there was too little snow to glide on previously made tracks. A few centimeters more will make a huge difference! It IS snowing lightly (at noon hour) so perhaps this afternoon will be a bit better. And of course there is some photo evidence on my site!

With only a bit more snow than yesterday, the conditions were much more enjoyable. It was one of those classic "blue-wax" mornings. I skied on the grass to the Lookout (it's a bit thinner between Huron on Champlain, but still okay), but you could likely ski anywhere on the parkway network providing you use the grass. Some skiers had managed to ski on the parkway itself but I couldn't quite manage it - my bases are bad enough already!

By 11:30 P10 was filling up with cars. Both hikers and skiers were showing up to enjoy the fabulous winter weather.

Photos should be up shortly.

GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH! Unless you've had your head in a hole for the last 24 hours you will know we have snow. I had an exam today, so going to the park was out. I had to get to my exam some way, but biking to school would have been nearly certain death. So, like any good skier would do, I strapped on a pair of revolutions, dressed myself for survival and trucked outside to write my last exam at Carleton. The bike path along the canal was decent for skate skiing, and I got some awesome looks coming through campus! Afterwards, Mooney's bay provided some awesome tele turns.

I skied only briefly on the Doldrums. It was fun to have real classic tracks after several days of "do it yourself" . Lot of skiers were out. The grooming? Well it was fine, but don't expect anything out of the ordinary. The inside classic tracks were getting firm as people skied them. The center lane included a snowmobile track and a center area of loose snow. The skaters seemed to be having a slow time of it. One more pass would have made a big difference. That said, there is still great skiing to be had. Get out there and enjoy it!

Great skiing today! All the new snow has been beautifully groomed! The snow is soft because it is so new but you can find good tracks for sure. I think classic is a better bet in the softness but skating probably wouldn't be bad either!
Winter is here, get out and enjoy!

The skiing was even better today than yesterday, unsurprisingly as the snow had another pass with the groomer and another day to settle. It was quite firm and fast between P8 and P9 but a bit softer and slower towards penguin and Pink's from p8.
Remember your sunglasses and lip balm for days like today, the sun realy scorches off the snow!

Another Beautiful Day in the Park! It was a little crisp this morning out there but it couldn't feel more like winter. I skied classic and the best tracks were defiantly from P10 to Champlain. Towards Blacks on the parkway, the tracks were really soft. The middle is getting pretty packed in and I would have to say skating would be really good. All around great skiing today and with a bit more snow and grooming we will be laughing!

Headed out fairly early from P8 up to penguin skating. The conditions were great except for a few exposed rocks near the top of penguin. We continued on ridge road towards Champlain before turning around and heading back the same way. Ridge road was in great shape, there were a few exposed rocks on the big steep hill between Keogan and Huron but they are easily avoided. It was nice to see some snow starting to fall as we finished up.

First ski of the season for me! Fresh grooming on Ridge and the parkways this morning but conditions are still a bit soft. We need another 10-20cm, a few more grooming passes and a days of cold to firm things up and get the park in perfect shape. From P6 up #30 was decent for classic and skate, Penguin is thin with rocks at the top, Ridge to Keogan was generally really good with the odd bump and rock. Keogan - Kyber pass was good, rocks up Kyber, good to Huron and #3 crossing but from there it was soft uneven and rockier. Ridge = Rock skis to be on the safe side. Parkway near Champlain has its thin spots but Fortune pkway is in great shape. Enjoy!

I headed out real early this morning from P10. Luckily I was skating because by then there was only one groomer pass in the middle of the Parkway, it was fairly good skiing, a little soft but as expected with the new snow. The tracks were completely covered with fresh snow early on but I met the groomer multiple times between 8:30 and 9:30am setting tracks on the Fortune Parkway. I also tried Ridge road but that need a lot of grooming work so I turned back. It's going to be a soft day skiing everywhere but with the cold weather predicted in the forecast things should harden up quite nicely.

Good morning of skiing in the cold. The tracks have firmed up a lot and are pretty much perfect now. Skate conditions also looked very good. Not the fastest conditions but defiantly the best skiing I've done so far this season. Grip waxing is really straight forward and the snow is not too abrasive so you won't need tons of layers (I had lots left over from just 4 thin layers). Have fun out there!

Great Morning for skiing in the Park. Beautiful, crisp, Sunny day with hard pack tracks both Classic and Skating. I did an early morning Classic Time Trial with some Carleton and Skinouk Skiers on a short loop based out of P5 - Penguin Picnic Area. The grooming on the Parkway was looking good and the tracks in that area were solid. After I skied Ridge Road from Penguin to Keogan, skiing was alright there and pretty well skied in by Mid-morning. Snow still seems a little thin on Penguin hill so be careful snow plowing on your way down. If you haven't been out yet, its not to late and well worth it! Enjoy!

Conditions were pretty quick today on the Doldrums. The skiing it was sweet! The snow was wind blown but still fast despite the cold. The wind was also fast, which made it feel cold. Skiing in a more sheltered area than this stretch is advised. But what I couldn't figure out was why the skating lane from P8-P9 is so narrow? Especially given the traffic in that section. Is that other lane beyond the classic tracks also for uni-directional travel? Both were too narrow for the number of people out there.

Meech Lake is ice skateable, but the window may close tonight with more snow. Trails #40, 2 black, 24, 1 blue were in good shape (at least as far as McKinstry), with only a couple of rocks anywhere, but the base is irregular and hard from the cold and the use.

Nice, hard pack, not too abrasive, wax choice is easy. Champlain parkway was freshly groomed, had not seen a lot of traffic.
But LOTS of leaves and debris in the classic tracks from all the wind yesterday. What is worse: classic rollerskiing on wet leaves, or classic winter skiing on dry leaves... go right ahead and find out!

I was skating today and the parkway had been groomed. It was firm with a little bit of a soft top which was perfect. The classic tracks were filled with blown in snow to the point that many could not be identified. There are a few spots near the top of Black and Huron where the is very little to no cover so watch out with new skis. You can also pull out the rock skis and take Ridge road which has a few rocks but nothing to worry about with an older pair of skis.

Demsis closed all the parking lots in the Gatineau Park and took the day off, citing the weather. The visitor centre told us that no grooming is planned until there is significant snow fall.
Notwithstanding, skiing in the track was very good but skating is fair given that no rennovation has occured. We also went running on the snow shoe trails with yak tracks on running shoes - Awesome.
WEATHER FORECAST CHELSEA Freezing rain at times mixed with ice pellets changing to snow late this evening. Snow and ice pellet amount 5 to 10 cm. Temperature rising to zero by morning. Close to 15cm and high of -4 predicted for higher regions of the Gatineau Park.

It is a really nice day to be out skiing and enjoying the mild temperatures and fast conditions.

No grooming was done on the trails we skied today. It is warm enough, however, that skiing remains reasonable in most places. I would recommend skating over classic given that a mixture of about 3cms of snow and ice pellets has filled the old tracks and new ones have not been set. Skiing in Ridge Road and Burma is fair as well, but watch out for many fallen trees and branches.

The NCC grooming report states that they will not be grooming until we receive more snow.

Skiing was nice today. As for grooming, the parkways have been groomed for skating and in some areas there are new classic tracks (P10-Champlain pkwy, P8-P9 and P5-P8). In other places the old tracks are skied in and in some places there is no track. Ridge road is skiable but not groomed. There are still lots of branches and debris on the smaller trails but the parkway is mostly cleared up.
Checkout these photos - Beautiful ski, MusicianOnSkis.ca: 1, 2, 3.

Wow...COLD out there this morning...at least relatively speaking. Megan says they were grooming when she was out (8AM) for both classic and skate heading from P8 towards the Mica intersection. She also said it is worth paying attention to where it has been groomed overnight because the ungroomed sections, owing to the fresh snow, are very slow.

Last ski of 2009! We skied from P6 to Mica and then to the bottom of Black's Lake and back a few times this afternoon while it snowed, lightly at first then more heavily. It was ard to tell how recent the grooming was when we started but the base was firm and level and the tracks were visible. The debris in that area was minimal and mostly cleaned-up, quite beautiful scenery. By the end of the ski the conditions were great ~5cm of new snow at -5C, always fast, and the tracks looked like perfect Carrot skiing. The park might get significant snowfall from this storm as there was already than the 2-4cm predicted. If that happens skiing will be great.. just as we all go back to work. Happy New Year!

Excellent day for skiing, so-so day for the grooming. We started out around noon from P6. The tracks weren't great but just being out skiing was. Tar was the wax of the day for sure..took us a few tries to come to that conclusion. We skied up #30 to Ridge, both had seen some grooming and there were classic tracks set down one side while skiers had done a good job of skiing in a classic track down the other side. Once we crossed the Fortune Parkway it was obvious that this section of Ridge had not been groomed "January 1 Before 8 am" as claimed. Neiter had Burma (#3), which likely has not yet been graced by a groomer this season. Lucky for us many skiers had ventured up and down Burma and had set an excellent single track. They were also passing on the warning that there was a large tree down across the trail about 100m from the Fortune Parkway. If decending be careful! While some skiers have built a ramp over the fallen tree for those unable to stop, it will like result in some good air time!

Demsis groomed the parkways and #1 (only from Penguin to Fortune parkway) and a 1km section from Champlain lookout to Western cabin. Trail #2 was groomed for classic. NOTHING ELSE IS GROOMED.

Ridge from fortune parkway to champlain has not been touched. Berma #3 has never been groomed. Trail #1 past westerm has not been groomed. The training loops at camp fortune have not been touched.

The NCC web site states that half the system is groomed. This is not accurate. It is Jan. and really only the parkways are usable with a short section of ridge. It's a Saturday, we have a 60cm base and there is no sign of the groomers... or maintenance crews.

Wear eye protection, there are eye level branches on most of these trails! See the photos: 1, 2

Gatineau Parkway at P5: nicely groomed

Ridge from Fortune to Penguin Hill: groomed by 8:10 (I remember this clearly because as  they passed us and we had to wait in the deep snow of the ditch at the base of Penguin. It was interesting trying to climb out!  )

Ridge from Fortune to Huron: somewhat groomed, but missing some classic tracks here and there, and the tracks for both skating and classic were often blown over. They did not look fresh.

#2 down to Western: well groomed, even had a classic track, somewhat windblown.

1B: there was a back country single track, no grooming whatsoever.   Very picturesque.

#1 from Western cutoff  : a large tree was blocking Ridge Road at the intersection, and there was no grooming whatsoever of any kind. Trail 24 was not groomed either.

Burma: large fallen trees and ski jumps had been removed and a snowmobile had passed through (is this the thing they call "grooming"?).  It was very beautiful, not at all boring and many people were skiing on the trail in both directions.  The last hill descending to the parkway was pretty narrow and full of icy chunks.

- P10 to Ridge FP groomed for skating only.
- Ridge to Champlain maybe groomed in skate lane, but obliterated with snowmobile - deep ruts no classic grooming. No grooming on PKWY near lookout.
- Top end of Burma beautifully groomed no grooming at bottom end
- Grooming to top of FP, extending west towards Huron - but no grooming at Champlain lookout!
- No grooming on CP east of FP

See also this report at GuideGatineau.ca about Trails #3, #9, #28 .

The NCC is still working on clearing the ice damage to the trees on many trails.

Spectacular skiing today! Fresh grooming and good tracks almost everywhere I skied. Starting from p10, parkway was excellent, Ridge towards 24 good too. 24 is groomed part way, but if you're on classic skis keep going, because the skier-traffic single track is really fun (continues on 1 towards Wolf trail). Classic tracks do have some icy snow groomed in, so a binder will help keep your grip wax on.

Skied P8-p10, up Fortune Pkwy, across Ridge to Penguin and back to P8.

Freshly groomed perfect conditions throughout. A truly wonderful ski.

Where I skied today, the conditions matched the Park's ski report! The Doldrums and Fortune Parkways were in excellent shape for both classic and skate, as was Ridge out to #3. Burma did look a bit worn and littered, but then it was listed only as fair. Many happy skiers were out today.

Nice weather and everything I skied (Ridge Road, Fortune Parkway, Champlain Parkway) was in quite good shape today for both classic and skating. Conditions are a bit more abrasive than you might expect, so if going classic a binder or very thin blue klister base is recommended.

Maintenance crews appear to be cutting trees on the racing trail, so with some luck, that might be skiable soon.

Kind of snowy and blowy out...nice once you get moving. P10 was full at 11AM. Ridge Road and the Parkways are in quite good shape for skating and classic. Ridge is groomed about as far as the junction with 24. Burma road (#3) in in passable condition for skate and classic, although certainly a bit rough.

Wow! A cold, but beautiful day for skiing. We did a time trial this morning on Ridge Road and Burma and the conditions were great. The parkways are all in perfect condition too. We were also told that the Camp Fortune Race trails were also groomed, but we didn't get a chance to check those out ourselves. Bundle up and enjoy!

Skied out from P16 to lac Philippe and back. Conditions were very good. Fast but grippy snow and perfect tracks set the whole way. Make sure you put a fairly warm wax on as the snow is fairly old now. Hope you can make the trip out... you won't regret it!

Went out for a short afternoon skate. The conditions were fast and very well groomed. We skied the loop from last year's Eastern Canadians and it was awesome. Some of the sharp corners are quite icy and rutted so use caution but overall the trail were very nice.

Beautiful sunshine today and not too cold. I classic skied on Champlain Parkway and trail 15. The skating lane on Champlain Parkway was groomed overnight, leaving very good skate conditions. The classic tracks were not re-set and have accumulated some windblown snow and ice. While a bit slow, it is still quite good skiing. Trail 15, though not groomed overnight, is also in quite reasonable shape.

About 2cms of fresh snow on top of a firm and somewhat icy base made for very nice skating today on the Gatineau Parkway. Classic looked to be nice as well, but bear in mind that there is snow in the tracks so you might need to use a bit more wax or something a bit warmer than you might normally think relative to the temperature.

It was perfect conditions for skating today! Mild weather and a bit of fresh snow over this week's grooming. Fortune seemed to have a renovated skate track although the NCC report didn't seem to mention it. Ridge was getting pretty skied-out up to Huron, as was trail 24, but Ridge beyond Western was beautiful for skating, with some fresh snow down. Classic tracks were okay on one side of the trail.

If you are heading up to the Park for a ski this evening, here are a couple of things to bear in mind:
1. Ridge Road is o.k for skating, but not particularly good for classic right now as a lot of ice and debris fell during the day and is now freezing solid, making it hard to get grip.
2. The Parkways seem to be in excellent shape for either classic or skating.Grooming must have taken place either last night or during the day today. If you go classic skiing, klister is recommended.

With grooming overnight, I would expect quite good conditions this weekend, although perhaps a bit fast and icy unless we get more snow.

Skiing was generally quite good today, although with some variation depending on where you skied. Everything that was groomed last night is in quite good shape for either classic or skating. Trails which were not groomed last night (notably #3 Burma ) are quite icy, but certainly passable if you are keen. This makes grip waxing a bit tricky. I would generally advise having some klister on your skis, but there are places where you could probably get away without it (freshly groomed sections)

Ridge Road beyond the 1A/1B junction was in excellent shape and made for beautiful skiing--fast, well groomed, and not icy.

I didn't check it, but apparently the Fortune Racing Trail was groomed overnight.

Skied late this afternoon from Asticou. Busy place with lots of skiers, a dozen snow shoers and a few walkers. The Gatineau parkway was freshly groomed and in great shape. The snow is quite fast but soft, not icy. Classic tracks looked firm and well formed. There had been a lot of traffic but grooming was holding up well. Trails #5 and #26 were freshly groomed and in good shape as well. Trail #29 was nice where groomed, but the ungroomed section was hard packed to icy. Still skiable, though your wax might not have worked as well there. Using that as reference skiing on the fresh groomed trails would be best.

Fabulous grooming on a Monday! And the 4th day of good grooming in a row!
State of the art classic tracks and a perfect skate lane. Fortune, and Ridge out to the Fire Tower were not in "Good to Very Good" condition.

They were in "Outstanding, couldn't-be-better condition". What great skiing! Way to go, Demsis!

On a more mundane note, the waxing was tricky today due to the ice fog. A klister binder didn't work all that well, perhaps a universal klister might have been better? Or Teho green? In any case, the skate conditions were so good that it was possible to simply skate whenever the wax refused to work. It was just a great day to be out! There are three photos.

Nice skiing this morning. I just went on the parkways but I'm sure everything will be in good shape. There was a couple of cm of fresh snow covering a very hard track. This made the classic tracks a bit slow, but the skating was great. Karl will probably update later with a more detailed report.

As mentioned by Megan, there are a couple of centimetres of relatively dry snow on top of a hard track. This makes for quite nice skiing, although a bit on the slow side relative to what we have had lately. Even this little bit of snow should help the conditions a bit. I skied on Ridge and it was in good shape all the way from Penguin to the #24 junction.

Quite a nice, mild day today. Conditions were similar to yesterday, with a little more fresh snow having accumulated on top of an icy base. The amount of fresh snow varied a bit from place to place, but I saw as much as 5cms in the vicinity of Kingsmere. No real problem, but it can be slow going in spots, particularly while skiing in the tracks if nobody else has gone by before you.

I skied only the Doldrums this morning but it was impressive. Yesterday's narrow renovated center lane for skating, (which was referred to as groomed) is fortunately gone. Whether you skate or go classic today it is in top shape and freshly groomed. Get out there and enjoy the wonderful conditions before Monday's rain arrives.

Read also "How are the trails really?" for a backcountry report.

Kind of day that makes you wonder if you're dreaming. Sunshine, warm temperatures, great grooming and fast conditions. If you're "thinking over" going for a ski, get on with it and get out there.

I skied Fortune Parkway and Ridge Road between Fortune Parkway and the top of Penguin-which was as described above. I was pleased to find that a large portion of the Fortune Racing trail had been groomed (skate only) and was in quite good shape. Fortune is a great place to train when it is groomed--check it out when you have the chance...

Well that was a beautiful ski weekend, hope you got out and enjoyed it. We'll see what happens tonight and tomorrow. There's lots of base on the parkways, so at the very least they should be groomable by mid-week. Hopefully some snow follows the rain and we might not even notice this little warm blip.

CLOSED! The NCC has taken measures to close the trails off to skiing for the time being. This should prevent people from making deep ruts in what must be some pretty slushy snow right now. When it starts to freeze we'll hacve concrete. Hopefully we get the flurries predicted to there something soft to ski on by the end of the week. P1,P8, P9, or P10 are your best bets for early grooming. Double poling is the most useful technique on ice - point them straight and go, just watch out for those downhills.

That little bit of snow we got this morning has whitened everything up nicely. Although nothing is groomed right now, it is definitely ski-able. We skated on the parkways and it was pretty well skied in, not icy, but also not a slog.
I'm not sure what the non-parkway trails are like but I assume if they were good before, they should still be fine now.
As for classic, there were some skied in tracks out there too. Waxing would be tricky though. I bet waxless skis would work pretty well.

The skiing is amazing today. Much of the parkways are groomed, and so is most of Ridge Road. Lots of people anxious to ski after the rain . . the parking lot at P10 was full at noon on a weekday! Skate tracks were great, and classic tracks looked nice and solid, but abrasive so use a good binder under your grip wax.

Parkways were groomed at some point yesterday down to Gamelin and are in good condition, for both skate and classic. Trail 5, 26 and 29 have not been groomed, but overall are in great shape given the meltdown and light snow on top. There are a few footprints on 29 that are deep enough that you could break a pole but other than that, the lower part of the Gatineau Park all the way to the top of Pinks Lake are in good shape. One more pass of grooming and expect excellent conditions over the weekend.

Also for those in the west end of Ottawa, the Kanata Nordic Trails at Riverfront Park (YCamp) off 6th line were groomed last nite and are in excellent shape for skating.

There had been grooming this morning, but a few quick blizzards dumped 5cm on top of that. The wind was howling so there was some drifting as well. Tracks were nicely skied in on Ridge and the cover was uniform and good everywhere I saw. Doesn't look like we lost too much in the melt down. No ice or rocks showing which is great for grooming prospects on the trails. Should be great this weekend!

The team is training at Nakkertok for the Eastern Canadian Championships this weekend. We suggest you read this report: Cold Friday But Good.

A small dusting of snow, and some great skiing in the park! A variety of conditions - upper parkways (from P10, P8) were being freshly groomed this morning - with firm and fast classic tracks (nice looking skate tracks), while fresh snow on the trails (groomed yesterday), made for slower skiing but still good conditions.

Another amazing day for skiing. There have been a few of them over the last couple of weeks. For the most part the base is firm with some freshly groomed powder on top. Makes for fast, but not icy conditions.

Ridge Road and the Parkways were in good shape. Some grooming was taking place early this afternoon in various spots...but everywhere was in reasonable shape.

Burma is skiable but still somewhat bumpy and narrow in places.

Megan skied the race course at Fortune which was in good shape for skating but did not have classic tracks. It hadn't been groomed since before the last light snowfall, but she said it was good regardless.

The skiing is amazing today. If you have the day off work, get out there and enjoy. If not, maybe you should leave early!
Everything we saw was either groomed or being groomed.

The great skiing in the park continues! Today's conditions were fast and firm for both skate and classic, but not icy (except for on a few of the downhill corners). Fortune and Champlain parkways had been renovated for skating recently. In some places the classic tracks are older, but still in reasonable shape.

The Fortune Racing trails are in great shape for skating (no classic tracks yet) with the entire 5km loop groomed. It's still kind of bumpy, but there are no rocks showing anywhere and it is FUN.

Great Day for skiing. The trails from the Relais Plein Air to the Champlain Parkway have not been groomed so the tracks were a bit icy and firm. Although this made me work to get grip it was very quick coming down from pink lake! The Parkway was more recently groomed when I got to the Champlain Parkway.

Very nice skiing on Ridge Road today. The skating lane is firm and fast despite being a few days old. The classic tracks are very solid, but not icy. With some good binder wax getting good kick is very easy. The parkways appear to have been groomed overnight for both skate and classic and were also in very good shape.

Great skiing out there today. Parkways and Ridge are in good shape. Get out and enjoy!

Ridge Road (#1)and the Parkway network continue to be in excellent shape for both skating and classic. Grooming appears to have taken place in most places sometime last night, and we have a light dusting of snow on top of that.

Burma Road (#3)is bumpy but the coverage is basically good. I saw one exposed rock somewhere near the swampy area at the top, and there were some sections on the hill which were a bit icy.

Things are looking really nice for the Gloppet this weekend. We got something like 3-5 cms of snow yesterday, which had been nicely groomed this morning. The skate lane will take a little while to get nice and firm, but the surface of the classic tracks is quite hard. I had good luck with by puttting a few layers of Vauhti Fluor Violet, then one thin layer of Vauhti Fluor Silver, and then one more Vauhti Fluor Violet.

The backcountry trails make for really good skiing today. The little bit of powder, which is a touch slow, gives nice control on the downhills.

Skated from Gamelin to Notch Road. It has been recently trackset - conditions are excellent for both skate and classic - the tracks looked quite firm. Soft warm powder which was surprising fast for 0 C snow. Did not see any one having kick problems in the tracks. Took a few short detours on #15, #5, & #29 - they’ve still got a skier-tracked surface from the snow yesterday - #29 looked quite rough but good enough for commuting. With the wind and the drop in temperature there was some glazing of the powder on the way back.

One might say the ski conditions in the park are improving in a hurry right now. Of course, during the improvement process itself, things can be a little tricky. Looks like all the Parkways and Ridge were groomed early this morning and are in good shape. For sure, count on it being a little soft and slow, and count on the grip waxing being a bit tricky.

I knew it would snow eventually!

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!

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!

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.

Great skiing today. It felt very still and calm out there. The trails we skied (1, 40, 24) were all very nicely groomed. We also checked out some of the back country trails which were pretty fun. It is a very soft landing if you fall, that's for sure.
Enjoy all the new snow!

Excellent skiing this morning! The grooming was great, and conditions were fast but not icy. Don't let the small amount of snow in the city discourage you - there is still lots of snow up in the park and some great skiing to be had. Parking up higher, rather than the lower parking lots (i.e. Gamelin) might be a better bet for good skiing.

Great conditions again! Gatineau Parkway and Ridge Road had been groomed overnight and were quite firm and fast this morning. For sure, it will soften up as the day goes on but that shouldn't detract much from the great skiing on a day like today.

If going classic skiing, you'll want klister for sure. Also note that the P5 parking lot was closed so there isn't much room to park there.

Get the wax on. Get out the door.

I didn't have much skiing planned but I had to get outside so I just checked things out a bit. Gatineau Parkway looks great for skating as the middle was renovated over night. The tracks had not been re-set, but by this afternoon things should be warm enough that they will be fine. Ridge Road looked like it had been groomed overnight for both skate and classic and looked very good.

The skiing is still excellent, and even fast (thanks to the great grooming) if you get out early enough. The track starts to slow down around noon with the strong sun. There is still lots of snow, and good coverage everywhere I skied today (Ridge from P7).

Went for a short ski this morning. Trails which have not been groomed are fairly icy and rutted, as you might expect, so stick to areas that have been groomed overnight if you are skiing before things soften up (Check the NCC grooming report).

At about 8:30 a groomer was making its way from Kingsmere down towards Mica (Champlain/Gatineau Parkway junction) on the Champlain Pakway. The machine was renovating the skate lane, and the skiing there was very nice: sugary and fast. The classic tracks, so far, had not been re-set. For the most part, they are in reasonable shape but will be very icy until it warms up.

Anna and I had a rather delightful ski today. The coverage on the parkways is still very excellent and it wasn't even very soft going at noon. Skate and classic tracks had both been groomed.
Keep on shredding- just because there is no snow in town doesn't mean the park isn't great!

Beautiful skiing morning with great conditions! Hope you got out to enjoy, but don't fear there are many days left...even if it rains.

Trail #31 was a bit dirty, but Ridge was great and clean. Burma was ungroomed??

The craziest thing I saw today wasn't the five women in the pink wigs, but the snowballs that had been plowed off the parkways! I can see the groomers wanting to level the trails off, but why not plow the snow into the middle and help prolong the season. But they chose to plow the snow off... sadness.

Lots of kids out today as March Break is in full swing. Chelsea Nordiq was having a party - thus the women in wigs. Skinouk, Kanata and Nakkertok kids were out in numbers too. Great day for it.

DO NOT LET THE WEATHER IN TOWN STOP YOU FROM SKIING

I had the morning off work and went for a ski in the Gats with my son. Started at 10AM. The groomers had been by starting at P8 and had made their way past P10 and done 1, 1b, and the parkways. Leaving P10, it was like mid winter given that most of Fortune Parkway is in the shade. Surprisingly the snow was reasonably fast (frozen granular, but we beat most of the slush). Coverage on the parkways and trail 1 was very solid, except for 1 small rock on Trail 1 heading past Burma, and some exposed pavement at Champlain Lookout. Definitely many days of excellent skiing left from P10.

The classic track was in really good shape and given that the track itself creates its own shade, in general it was faster than the parkways or the skate trail. A bit of Klister and it would likely be some of the best skiing of the year.

Dev

Like Ron, I highly recommend the skiing right now. We are still experiencing near perfect coverage - I saw only 4 tiny bare spots on my route to the Firetower via Fortune parkway, #3, #1b, #24 and return via #1 and Fortune parkway. No need to use rocks skis, take your skis off or worry about hitting rocks or dirt.

There was no fresh grooming today, but the snow was clean and fast. It was more granular and fast on the parkways but Burma was a real treat, as was #24 and the entirety of #1 past #24.

We'll get another week in before rocks skis are needed given the current coverage.

Some 20 odd more photos from my ski.

Happy first day of Spring! Still some skiing left but conditions are getting rougher as grooming has ceased unless it snows.

Still some skiing available, see report with photos, and more photos here.

We tried the skiing from P12 this evening, and it was still fairly good if you\'re willing to do some walking here and there and don\'t mind wet and dirty snow. We got about as far as the junction with Ridge Road and skied around there a bit, which also looked reasonable. If you\'re contemplating one last attempt at the Firetower, I\'d say you\'ve got a couple of days left.

Today was a great day for "summer skiing", which, by my definition means that it feels like summer, but you can still ski. We skated from P12 and there was still some quite consistent skiing on trails 40, 24, and 1. We went to Western to check out the view. Yeah...we did some walking, but it was MAINLY skiing.

Well, I confess that I wasn't always completely confident that we would manage any April skiing around here. Today was a bit like when you are trying to squeeze that last little bit of toothpaste out of the container. It doesn't look like there's anything left, but there is. You just have to be patient, be determined, and squeeze harder.

I did go all the way to the Firetower. I did do some significant amounts of walking as well as skiing, and also walking on dirt with my skis. I'm busy tomorrow, but if you are willing to walk for your skiing, you could squeeze out a little more...