Dwight Peck's personal website

Snowshoeing in the Jura

More fun than playing the numbers in New Jersey


In the Jura mountains, what with US-led global warming and the general lack of steep slopes, the population of southwestern Switzerland has been discovering, over the past 15 years, that neat little snowshoes are frequently more fun for roaming about our forests and mountains in winter than are great whacking touring skis.

Let's trot off for a typical snowshoe amble in the forest of Grande Rolat, near Marchairuz. Could life be more pleasant than this?!

You will not find this interesting unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

On the Col du Marchairuz road above Le Brassus, the expedition prepares for the best and the worst: André (Dante), Joe (seated), Lisa (truculent). And on the 8th of December 2002, off they go!

40 metres. Lisa (sheepish) forgot to attach one of her snowshoes. Dante (André) prepares to assist.

Andrea (Dante Guillaume) tightens a snowshoe, whilst former President Pirri displays his well-known forbearance.

Prof. Durham, with encouragement from her colleagues, gets over a stone wall in the forest of Grande Rolat.

Ouragan Lothar, the "Boxing Day Hurricane" of 26 December 1999, knocked this big tree down (as well as all the trees at Versailles and most of the rest throughout western Europe), and now we ordinary citizens have to clamber under it.

Out of the forest of Grande Rolat and onto the Seche de Gimel, on 8 December 2002 when the world doesn't seem as awful as normally it might.

Dr Pirri in an ambling mode

Time for lunch. When Prof Durham comes along, most times are time for lunch. With tomato and mozarella sandwiches dripping olive oil, pre-packaged pasta snack dishes with salmon and/or little tiny shrimps, loaves of special peasant black bread that will be just as good next year as leftovers.

On the move again, preparing for the next lunch, the chappies wander down into the Protected Forest in the middle of the Seche de Gimel.

It's hard to fall here, but sometimes one does. And then recriminates with her son because the sunglasses have got all snowy and don't work anymore.

Dr Pirri attempts to snowshoe right the way over a stone wall. Good luck, Joe. Meet you on the other side.

Dr Dante (Andrea) seeks to help his mom over the stone wall . . .

and considers just leaving her there.

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Feedback and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, . All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 15 March 2003, revised 4 December 2003, 28 August 2014.


Jura snowshoeing

Snow camping