After my last posting here, I was reviewing the list of Jura Mountains summits. I realised that there was one of the major Swiss Jura summits that I had missed out on, the mountain of Le Noirmont. It is tucked away in a corner, between the Jura Höhenweg and the French border. And of course, once I had found it on the map, it quickly went onto my list of things to do.
Getting to a starting point for hiking Le Noirmont is not easy. It takes a journey of close to four hours to get from Basel to the little village of La Cure. The village itself is strange in that although it is one village, half of it is in Switzerland, and half is in France. But the little train that brought me there ends its journey on the Swiss side, and I began walking from there.
Once I left the village, I was immediately into patchy snow. The trail quickly starts to go higher, and not long after leaving the village I was into real snow as I approached the point where the trail divides. Going to the right would bring me to Mont Sâla, another Jura summit that is hidden away. But on this day, my route was to the left, into the woods. I almost took a wrong route in the forest, but realised my error, and was soon back on course. Then the trail began the ascent towards the summit. At first it was all in forest, with a wide trail covered in snow. It was time to take out the snowshoes. With the assurance that they provided, I continued on and emerged into an area of more scattered trees near the ski-lift. It wasn’t working. Nearby, I was able to get great views to the south, with the radome of Le Dôle clearly visible on the skyline. Then it was on to the summit. I was at the top of Le Noirmont, at 1567m.
After the summit, the trail follows the ridge, going up and down with the terrain. I passed the northern summit, where a cross and a plaque told me that it is called Le Noirmont des Francais. After that, it was mostly downhill, going northwards, and mostly in forest. I came out of the forest close to the junction at 1372m, where my route turned eastwards. I took off the snowshoes at that point because the track along the southern slope of Crêt des Danses was clear of snow. Little realised that I would be back into snow later. Going eastwards, I had good views of the cliffs on the eastern flank of Le Noirmont. My route continued eastwards until I reached another junction of trails. Turning left was the direction for Mont Pelé and Mont Sâla, two summits that I will save for another day. My route was to the right and southwards.
I was back into the snow at this point, but the route was gentle. That is not to say flat, because it was not flat. But the ascents and descents on the route from there were small and not steep. I passed the stone corral near the junction of trails. I passed the farm at L’Arzière. By then, the snow was getting lighter, and by the time I came back to the place where the trail divided, I was getting back into the patchy snow again. By the time I reached the road, it was clear that some of the snow was melting. In a few places, there were pools of water where in the morning there had been snow. Ground that had been frozen in the morning was now wet and muddy. It is not yet Spring, but winter is retreating.
I got back to La Cure with plenty of time to wait for the little train that would start my journey back to Basel. There was just time for a beer in the local hotel.
My step count for the day was not that much, just 27,398. Unfortunately, the long journey to and from La Cure curtailed my walking time.
Walkingman 