A meeting of Haut-Doubs Lakes and Mountains Community of Communes (CCLMHD) has taken the decision to permernantly close two nordic centers: La Fuvelle and Les Combes Derniers both located in the Haut-Doubs region of the Jura mountain range. This follows two seasons severely disrupted by a lack of snow and changing weather conditions. The decision has historic significance as cross country skiing in the Jura started in the Haut-Doubs area. However the CCLMHD ran up a deficit of over €300,000 last winter on the 9 nordic areas that it manages. The Pre Poncet site, which is usually open 100 days during the winter only opened 36 in the 2023/24 season. Lift pass sales for the nine wite were 180K, a third of normal.
La Fuvelle
The chairman of the CCLMHD, Jean-Marie Saillard spoke of "painful decisions" but local politicians realise that "the budget has to be used efficiently but it is hard to decide which areas to close, this 9 sites to manage we are spread a bit thin, the deficit this season is the straw that broke the camel's back".
Sebastien Donzelot, head of tourism, explained that there are fixed costs such as marking trails and maintenance even if there is no snow. Since its creation in 2017 the CCLMHD runs one of the largest nordic ski areas in France. The decision to close la Fuvelle and Les Combes Derniers (which only offers snow shoeing) recenters the commune's skiing around a core that should be more efficient to manage.