Thursday, December 30, 2010

Gatineau Park Ski Condittions 30DEC-to Fire Tower

I couldn't wait any long to ski to the Fire Tower so thought I  would try it out even though NCC does not recommend the trail.  P8 to P9 was very good and FP was groomed today.  Trail 32 has some sketchy sections.

Ridge from the Fortune Parkway is still very hard packed.  Skiing improves on the part running beside 1B.  Ridge has been groomed all the way to McKinstry, although not for many days.  Given there is less traffic the skating was pretty good with the "grooming" that is done by the snowmobile pulling the metal thingy.  It is bumpy but still very skatable.  There are some issues with the classic track and thus I would think skating is the preferred method.  From McKinstry to the Fire Tower there doesn't seem to have been any grooming this year.  Still there has been enough traffic to make skating possible although there are few areas that require caution, it is not as good as the part to McKinstry.

Conditions to McKinstry are better than on Ridge in the higher traffic areas that NCC lists as Fair or Good.  In fairness to NCC they may not want to encourage skiing out to McKinstry because of the conditions and fear of negative feedback.  However for the keen this route is certainly doable.I would recommend rock skis just in case.

No comments:

Post a Comment