Winter & Ski Home Winter Activities Skiing in the Jura Mountains

Making Tracks

MountainPassions invited ski instructor and Tourism Consultant Bénédicte Lapeyrère, to talk about skiing in her childhood home.

For hundreds of thousands of visitors arriving at Geneva airport every winter there is only one destination: turn right out of the airport and head to the Alps and its vast ski domains. For a very few however, there is an alternative, and that is a left turn towards the Jura mountains — if you can find the French exit at the airport… In fact, Geneva airport does have an exit in France, linked to Ferney-Voltaire through a 1km narrow road surrounded by high barbed-wire. This access into the Jura mountains always reminds me that this place is France’s best kept secret.

You now follow a 20km windy road to the Col de la Faucille, where you enter the succession of high plateaus and valleys which make up the Jura range. From there you have a stunning view of the Alps across lake Geneva, just in front of Mont-Blanc, and on a clear day you can see all the way from the Southern to the Swiss Alps.

Cold start

The Jura is the coldest area in France and although the mountains do not exceed 1700m, at 1000m altitude you will find as much snow as in the Alps at 1400m. Ski resorts cater for families and all levels of skiers and snowboarders and are an ideal place for children to start skiing, as they can roam around freely in villages and on the slopes. And if the slopes are not as long as their Alpine neighbours, the steepness and challenging conditions due to the cold weather makes them interesting, even for advanced skiers. Having skied only in the Jura until the age of 16, my first turns on the well-groomed soft snow slopes down la Saulire in Méribel felt like skiing on melted butter and a strong adjustment on balance was quickly needed.

The seed is sown...

I was lucky enough to start skiing in Mijoux at the age of 18 months and enjoyed it every weekend and holiday throughout my childhood. However what I enjoy the most in the Jura is not just the downhill skiing but the well-preserved and wild nature, the gentle altitude plus the succession of valleys and high-plateaux which make it a completely relaxing experience.

There was nothing else I enjoyed more on a clear cold Sunday morning than putting my cross-country skis on in my garden and going for a 30km run with my Dad before lunch. We would start up the valley beside the Valserine River, listening to the sound of running water and the squeak of our skis on the fresh snow. After 5 km of reasonably flat terrain it would be a steep uphill to reach the Haut-Jura Plateau and the Forêt du Massacre, thankfully named a long time ago. In the forest, amongst the oldest fir trees in France, we would often encounter squirrels, white hare or Grand Tetras birds.

Following groomed tracks, or creating our own in the virgin snow, we would carry on north on gentle slopes, alternating through forest and clearings used in summer as pasture for Montbeliard cows. Their milk is used to produce local Morbier and Comté cheeses and the serenity of the place probably helps them to give us the best-perfumed milk!

Secret hiding places...

After about 10km we would stop for a little rest. Amongst the pastures are several old farms used during the summer by herders. We had the key for one of them and in summer we would always go and hide a few good bottles of Arbois wine. This was a sure winner to improve our snack of saucisson and Comté !

Arriving in Les Rousses (home to the French National Nordic Ski School and where several Olympic champions come from) we would turn back down into our valley, sometimes stopping for a coffee in La Cure, chez Arbez, where the bar is actually divided by the border between France and Switzerland.

From then on it is 15km downhill bedside the Valserine, all the way back to Mijoux; going downhill on our cross-country skis could sometimes be a bit of a challenge, especially after the various stops we’d had. The last 2km were flat, as we were skiing on the golf course - a last sprint before coming back home and sitting down to a well-deserved Sunday lunch.

It was often hard at the end of the weekend to go back to city life, but I knew I would be there again the following weekend. So, next time you go through Geneva airport, think about it: are you sure you still want to turn right?

© Bénédicte Lapeyrère