This Winter Park Near Ottawa Lets You Fly Down A 1-Km Track On An Austrian Luge

Get ready to bundle up because this snow park near Ottawa has a ton of winter activities to enjoy including an Austrian-style luge.

Parc de Montagnes Noires de Ripon is about an hour away from Ottawa and it's the ultimate winter day trip. You can snowshoe, fatbike or cross-country ski along winter trails, hike to a snowy lookout, and go snow tubing and luge sledding.

You can ride a vintage-looking Austrian luge down a 1-kilometre track for a unique adventure. The wooden sled has a double-blade-like base and a rope to hold on to. It's said to provide you with more control when sledding and if you rent this sled you can use it on the tubing hill also.

The park's tubing hill has three snow tracks that you can fly down on a donut-like tube. There will be select Saturdays where you can enjoy winter activities in the evening and you can go downhill tubing under the stars. Typically the winter park is open until 4:00 p.m. but stays open until 8:00 p.m. for these special events.

The park is in the process of planning evening snowshoe hikes too, starting at the end of January. This will be announced on their website and Facebook page once confirmed.

You can snowshoe on any of the trails and the park says trail 7 is the best one to take. It will lead you to the Belvedere lookout. There are cross-country ski tracks on trails 1 to 6 and the network totals 13 kilometres that wind through the forest. You can rent skis or snowshoes on-site or bring your own.

Parking is free and park access is $10 per adult. Rental fees depend on the equipment and you can book tubes for $6 each and the luge for $15. You're welcome to bring your own tube and just pay the access fee to use the snow hill.

Before you get going, check out our Responsible Travel Guide so you can be informed, be safe, be smart, and most of all, be respectful on your adventure.