Cross Country skiing across the Jura Mountains, France

The route starts in the Val de Morteau in the Doubs département and finishes at Giron in the Ain département, crossing the Jura and the Haut-Jura regional nature reserves. The aim is to ski approximately 20-30 kilometres every day, carrying a day pack. Each night the luggage will be delivered to the accommodation.

On the border of France and Switzerland, the Jura, a limestone plateau, is like the Alps in that it has mountains that stretch for as far as the eye can see, but unlike the jagged peaks of the Alps, it's more like the rolling mountains of Nordic regions.

Despite its popularity it's not unusual to ski all day without seeing any other skiers.

Minimum numbers: The trip requires a minimum of 4 clients to run and we will take a maximum of 8 clients.

Day 1:
We meet you at your hotel, Le Guimbarde, in the small French town of Morteau. Your guide will be at your accommodation from 6pm to assist with organising any ski hire, to brief you on the days ahead and answer any questions.

Days 2-9:
Le Meix Musy to Les Cernets
We begin by transfering to the trail head at Meix Musy where we allow time for you to find your ski legs skiing along gentle terrain through pine trees and across snow covered meadows to Les Seignes.

Les Cernets to Metabief, which includes a descent to Les Verrières de Joux where we cross the border and hike for a very short whle through the woods with our skis attached to our backpacks. Once back onto the tracks we enjoy rolling terrain to the small ski resort of Metabief.

Metabief to Mouthe then to Chapelle des Bois, and for the next three days we travel along the race course of the world famous Transjurassiene, France's longest cross-country ski race.

Chapelle des Bois to Les Rousses, where the high point for the day is in the heart of the forest at chalet 'La Frasse' where we can enjoy a well earned rest before our descent to the delightful village of Lajoux. 

Lajoux to Giron, which is the longest day of the trip, winding our way up into the mountains and along the limestone crest where we find plenty of opportunities for lunch and stops for hot drinks along the way. The tracks provide views of peaks all around until we start making our gradual descent towards the trail end at Giron where we meet a taxi to take us to the village of Lancrans for our final night and celebratory meal.

Departure Day:
from the village of Lancrans it's approximately 10 minutes drive to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, which is on a main TGV line to Geneva from where you can take the train back to the UK.

What's not included:

• ski hire (this can be arranged at approximately 90 euros for the week)
• insurance
• transport & transfers
• the GTJ ski pass (approximately 35 Euros for the week)
• drinks, lunches and the evening meal on the first night