gatinea park 27Mar P6 to Fire Tower

It started out great.  I headed south from P6 on the parkways down to Penguin and then Ridge out to the Fire Tower.   The parkways and from Penguin to the FP had all been regroomed over night and were fantastic.  I thought it would be one of the great days because the grooming up Penguin and along Ridge was perfect! I figured that if it was like that to the FT I would have to write a letter to Demsis about what a great company they are.  Unfortunately the groomer turned left at the FP.  Ridge, 1b, 24, and out to the FT had not been groomed.  It wasn't bad but it was a bit firm to begreat.  As I knew from yesterday there was not grooming at all past McKinstry.  Very much worth it to get out there.  Demsis seems to have figured out how to groom in minimal snow conditions, its too bad that today they just didn't groom Ridge all the way.

Gatineau Park 26March From P6 to Fire Tower via CP, Khyber Pass,1B, 24

Basically conditions are excellent.  One flaw is that it is not groomed past McKinstry however it was still skiable with a nice amount of powder on top.  I am not sure why the groomer turned around @ McKinstry?  I was surprised there weren't more people out-likely a good thing as the trail was not skied out too much even by 1pm.

Gatineau Park 22Mar. Loop from P6 up Penguin/Ridge-evening ski

Clearly no grooming since the snow yesterday.  There is enough snow for at least some compaction and there were quite a few people out who would have enjoyed it.  Penguin was ok and Ridge was pretty good however the parkways really weren't that enjoyable.  FP was better than CP because of the heavier traffic.  If one had stayed only on Ridge it would have been a pretty good day.

Gatineau Park 20Mar-Penguin, Burma, Ridge to FT

Ridge from Penguin to McKinstry was once again very good having been freshly groomed.  Unfortunately it was not groomed past McKinstry so one had to deal with the frozen ruts from yesterday.  It was doable but was frustrating given how great the ride was to get there.  Not really sure why the groomer would just stop @ McKinstry?  On the way up  I took a detour and went onto Burma.  It was not groomed and was a real mess.  If Burma is not going to be consistently groomed I don't know why it is considered a primary trail?
1B and 24 were both in very good condition.

I made the mistake of leaving p10 and going to Penguin via 32 and the Duldrums.  Basically this section is closed, especially for skating.  The parkway after p8 heading up to Penguin was excellent as were the parkways after Huron Lookout and back to p10.

Gatineau Park 19 Mar from P10, Burma, Ridge, 1B, 24 toward FT

Grooming today was excellent.  I left from p10 and went up Burma.  Burma is in quite good condition, although because of some of the frozen ruts and gouges the overall condition could be ranked as 7/10.  Ridge was fantastic all the way to the 2km to go sign for McKinstry at which point I had to turn around.  24 and 1B were also excellent.  Champlain Parkway from the cutoff at Huron was fantastic as it had not seen much traffic.  FP was in good shape but even by the time I was getting back to P10 @ 10:15 it was just starting to get worn down a little and the lot was packed.
It did seem that there was a good classic track everywhere but I suspect those skating enjoyed the day just a bit more.
Today was one for the ages, fast and flat with beautiful sunshine.

Lake Placid xc ski @ Mt Van Hoevenberg

LP has received lots of snow.  In fact I think the last snow emergency was only about 10 days ago.  For the last 2 days conditions have ranged from perfect to icy to very slow, depending on shade time of day, grooming, etc.

The value can't be beat.  Because of various daily specials I haven't had to pay more than $10 for a day pass.

Grooming here is a bit of a mystery.  They don't seem to groom at night but perhaps start early in the morning.  The place does not open until 9am.  I have skied Porter, Ladies 5km and few of the other loops plus a separate go at the LP loppet course.  Some of this is tough skiing but it can be made more difficult by the way the grooming starts/stops on the trails depending on what "cutoffs" the groomer takes.  Porter is considered the toughest loop with some good downhill sections.  These become very tricky when the trail is the not freshly groomed but has become rutted by the freezing over night.  The website and even the people at the front counter told me the trail was freshly groomed.  I guess its a question of what is fresh.

If you start at 1pm maybe everything is groomed by then, but at this time of year count on slow snow.

The other thing is the website is not updated daily with the conditions report.  When I mentioned it to them yesterday that the website was 3 days old the lady said, "oh".

Don't get me wrong.  LP has great trails that are nice and wide and when groomed are perfect.  Its just that one expects near perfection all the time when you see all the snow and knowing that this is supposed to be one of the top tier nordic skiing destinations in the East.  It is still very much worth the trip.

Gatineau Park FP, Burma, 1B, 24 Fire Tower Mar13

Left from P10 and headed up Burma.  It had been groomed but I think it is paying the price for the early season neglect.  Many ruts etc so with the slow snow it was a fair amount of work and is not nearly in as good shape as it should be. 1B is  good as is 24.  Ridge was good although there were snowmobile ruts at  up to Wolf Trail,   I think it was in support of the race, so is excusable.  After Wolf Trail conditions were excellent right to the Fire Tower as there had been little traffic.  There was less ice/water than I thought there would be.

Coming back I came via the parkways. CP has not been groomed as well as it could be.  There is lots of snow and there is no reason for the crown that is now there.  It looked like only a small area for skaters had been put into the snow since the rain.

The snow is pretty slow and made for harder work than normal but not so much as to take away the fun.  Overall conditions are good and I was surprised there were not more people out.  I'm off to Lake Placid on Monday but suspect early morning conditions will be very good, particularly on trails that are groomed again tonight.

XC @ Tremblant not Gatineau Park 12Mar

Spent the day at the cross country ski center at Tremblant.  I ended up skating about 27km.  It was pretty hard work but didn't sound as difficult as Gatineau Park,  likely because much of the trails were groomed this morning and some were in the process of being groomed when I left around 1pm.    In some locations there was standing water that was pretty easy to get around.  What was nice to see at one point was a staff member on the trail shoveling snow into an area where a little pond had formed, similar to what we saw on Penguin last week.  Obviously they are trying to get the most out of what they have.
There is plenty of snow although I'm not sure it is much more than GP.  They seem to be doing 2 passes on some of the trails today.  One with maybe a snowmobile or some other light machinery and then along came the big groomer.  Where this was performed there is one classic track and a very nice skating lane-perfectly flat.
I recommend a visit for a nice change of pace.  Some sections are really very nice.

Gatineau Park 6Mar-follow up to danger on Penguin

Surprisingly FP was not as nice as Ridge Road.  I guess Ridge had been groomed quite a bit earlier as it was hard and pretty fast.  It was groomed only out to 24.  24 and 1B were in really good shape.  Other trails such as Burma, 2, 40 and 33 that had been groomed this morning were very soft and a real slog in some places. 

After Burma I returned to Ridge to go down Penguin.  Conditions were excellent except there is a dangerous section at the bottom of one of the steep sections on the way down.  There was a large puddle that has now frozen with very large chunks in the shape of the groomers track.  Also there is a large "wall" of ice likely 8 inches tall.  This patch covers the entire width of the trail.  When I came over the top in my tuck I thought at first I could get around this on the right side but quickly realized I could either crash myself or get wiped out by the ice.  I hit the deck on my own and ended up stopping just a few feet from the problem area.  Please note this is not a flat icy patch - it has very large chunks.

I stopped by P8 and told the Demsis man.  Hopefully he will alert others and get some equipment up there to flatten it out.  From 24 all the way down Ridge it was fantastic to this point- that  is one reason why suddenly seeing this situation was a complete surprise.  I did not see any additional warning tape on the way down.

Gatineau Park 3Mar Whats with Burma?

Went out late in the day.  Champlain Pkwy was fantastic, Ridge and Penguin were very good.  However why is Burma not in better shape?  I figured that with the big snow on Monday Burma would be fantastic-far from it.  It seems to have only been groomed once since the snowfall.  It is narrow and the skaters have been forced to skate over the tracks.  The luge run has returned.  Since it is well known to be a problem on this trail why is it not compacted more often to help decrease the impact of the snowploughers?  It is still soft and I had the joy of seeing the guy coming toward me move to the side only to sink and do the total face plant-his friend thought it was funny.  This is a primary trail and more than that I thought it has been selected as one of the best trails in the world.  It deserves more care and attention