December 24, 2002: Pine Road
By: musicianonskis
Tags: 2002, Pine Road, weather data
Category: Conditions, Cross Country Ski Photos, Gatineau Park, opinions, Scenery, Weather
Base layer depth on January 28th 2011: 3 cm of ice underneath 6 cm of compacted snow. Because of low snowfall and a thin base layer, certain maintenance work can only be done with snowmobiles. Rest assured that following more snow accumulation, heavy machinery will be sent on the trails.********************************************
This was the announcement on the Gatineau Park Ski Conditions Page on January 28,29,30,31, Feb1, 2.
Check EC’s HISTORICAL WEATHER DATA.
Interesting….. Except for 2009, Ottawa had more snow (30 cm)on the ground this Jan 28 than all the years between 2002 and now. The total snowfall for this January doesn’t seem abnormally low and there has been no freezing rain or meltdown since the beginning of the month. While Gatineau Park may not have the same amount of snow as Ottawa, they generally experience the same weather trends.
Keep clicking for four more photos from the archives.
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Hi Jo-Ann: You’ve definitely put a lot of work into this – searching archives – your own and Environment Canada’s. What you’ve got is an extremely defensible counter-argument to Demsis’ current excuse. By my calculation all of your photos come from the Lafleur era. Most interestingly your photo from 24 Dec 2002 of the perfect conditions on #50 would have been taken in the first few weeks of Lafleur’s contract when they would have been finding their way – a point at which we would have forgiven the occasional stumble. Demsis is in their fourth year and they are making… Read more »
I have an injured knee (injured while walking and taking photos at a race, if you can believe it!) so I have more time on my hands than I would like.
The trail beside P8 does have rather thin snow coverage but this is perhaps the amongst the lowest snow coverage in the park.
There is about 6-8 inches of packed snow by P19 on Sunday. And similar amounts up by Black Lake Hill. It would be nice to have the big groomers work the Parkway loop.
Coverage by Taylor Lake is rather thin as the ski-doos are kicking up some of the underlying dirt and gravel.
Wow! Well done. I cannot understand why the bad grooming continues?!? I wrote the NCC and Demsis (I call them “Demise”….as in “the end of”) to express my concerns and this is what I got in return: “Please rest assured that all comments are carefully reviewed and forwarded to the Gatineau Park management team. Please rest assured that the trail maintenance crews are working hard to provide great ski conditions in the Park. With the limited snow base currently available, certain maintenance work can only be done with snowmobiles. Please rest assured that heavy machinery will be sent out on… Read more »
Interesting data, Jo-Ann. It is so sad to see such a fabulous resource go so quickly into disrepair. I skied between Lac Taylor and Herridge cabin this week-end ( back and forth a few times)and couldn’t believe the mess things are in. I tripped going downhill on one of the many piles of leaves and needles in the track. I also don’t know how anyone could possibly skate-ski with the huge hump in the middle of the track. One dangerous aspect to the grooming, I find, are the trails that just seem to disappear.This caught me off guard on Burma… Read more »
I don’t know. I agree the grooming sucks but on the other hand I was skiing this past weekend and hit asphalt at Champlain Lookout. Also skied from P16 to P19 and snow was very thin in places. If you are grooming in the night how do you know where the snow is thick vs. thin? Imo this a combination of a so-so company, Demsis, combined with a so-so year, which equals a bad combination! Regardless I love skiing and have been injured for the past several years so I am just cherishing being back on the snow. Yep I… Read more »