Hi all.  First post.

Anyone have any info to share about the current state of the Jura snowpack?  I’m thinking specifically of the Crêt de la Neige area around Lelex.  From the CH side the top looks covered.  The Lelex/Mijoux/La Faucille webcams also show decent looking pistes but, of course, that says nothing about the conditions beyond that.

I’ve been thinking about a specific line or two over there since last year and I’d love to get back.  I don’t suppose at this point in the year the conditions will get too much better but it might not even be worth it at all.  I don’t need much, just a thin strip of rock free snow, but I also realize that this year that might be asking too much.

Thanks for any and all input.

hold on ..... lean out of upstairs window .... sound of sucking air through the teeth

actually I can’t quite see that far down the ridge but it’s not great, a lot of the Jura was back to grass even in January and the recent snow falls are all there is. There’s still some good days out, I was on one of the col’s the other day and it was ok, switching between skiing and walking but I enjoyed it well enough. Some of the alpine stations will close this weekend I think according to the local papers.

Skiable snow down to 1000m, slightly better at the south end of the chain. Somewhere like la Dole should be feasible.

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Jura/La-Dole-Figure-Of-Eight-From-La-Cergue

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Jura/Pointe-De-Poele-Chaud-East-Couloir

Looking down at them from Flaine earlier today they looked dire but it is now snowing hard - let’s hope

Nice picture.  The backside doesn’t look half that good right now.  There isn’t even continuous skiable access into those back couloirs from the top ridgeline.  I skied two separate lines through the cliff bands under the weather ball last year at the end of May.  Not this year.  Boo.

November, somewhere close to la Barillette:

Not anymore.

Thanks for all the input.  I’ll post some info when I head up there.  Raining right now at lake level, though it’s still 12 degrees, too.

Cheers.

BTW Steven do you work in GVA? I’m there most weeks if you want to meet for lunch and maybe we can arrange a before/after work ski tour?

That’d be great, David.  I live/work closer to Nyon but I’m in the city often enough.  I’ll try to take a peek up there in the next couple of days and post some observations.  We can go from there.

Cheers.

I must say from the office window the east faces look very bare even to the tops. A colleague tells me snow conditions are better on the west side but he has only cross country skied.

Well, the snow was a bit of a “flash in the pan” as expected. Gave us 5cm on top but temperatures are a bit high. Guess the Jura’s didn’t benefit much either. Still time left before the end of the season

Here’s Steve’s Jura TR: http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/855/ (split from this thread).

What did you ski in the Flaine area Phil?

The light on Sunday was very “flat”, and as Flaine has a host of holes which currently do not have sufficient snow cover, I felt it best to stick to the pistes - to be fair I quite enjoyed them. On the odd occassion that I did venture off, every joint in my body got a pummelling - just like skiing on a frozen ocean.
The small amount of evening snow improved things a bit and with the sun on Monday we were a little more adventurous. We took the closed piste “Cascades” for about 2km, then swung left over some avalanche debris (some of the slope felt “hollow"), down a small ridge, then a short climb (skis off, not worth fitting skins) under an electricity pylon and dropped down into the woods above Gite De Gers - a very rewarding beer and glass of water later (would have liked to stop for lunch but was late for rendezvous with my wife), then skinned back up to the bottom of the Gers drag - great day, out of generally poor conditions.
Took these photos of the Jura from the airport and the flight back, if it’s of any help for anyone -