Cross-country skiing, or the (re) discovery of the mountain and its sumptuous landscapes.
Whether in "classic" ("no alternative" in parallel tracks) or "skating", this Nordic discipline is accessible in all French massifs, where the offer is multiple and financially accessible: count from 7.90 to 10 euros for an adult day pass in all the resorts.
In each mountainous department, resorts have stood out by capitalizing on their differences while relying on their histories.
From the Vosges to the Pyrenees, via the Jura and the Alps, here is our selection.
Most of these resorts and ski areas are accessible from this weekend of December 5, thanks to the snowfall of the last few days.
Within the framework of the national confinement in force until December 15 at least, the practice of the Nordic is authorized by the prefects, but the access to the stations is authorized only if you are provided with your certificate, and within the limit of “20 km as the crow flies / 3 hours ”.
On site, a strict health protocol applies.
Read also: Without downhill skiing, what you can do in the resort at Christmas
The Glières plateau (Haute-Savoie)
On this plateau located at an altitude of 1450 meters, 8 tracks of all levels offer a panoramic slide.
It is also a high place of the Resistance (here the national monument).
HSN
High place of the Resistance, the Glières plateau does not appear only in history books.
Located at 1450 m and very close to Annecy (35 km), it is also known to all cross-country skiers.
The resort is only turned towards the Nordic, and its tracks have the particularity of being all traced in the hollows and buttresses of plateaus open on the neighboring massifs.
Green, blue, red and black… classic or skate… the offer is varied.
Our advice:
Jean-Marc Gaillard, double Olympic cross-country skiing medalist at the 2014 and 2018 cross-country skiing Olympic Games, trains in winter on the Glières plateau.
“On the“ Montée des Mouilles ”(black slope), 1.7 km long and displaying 120 m of elevation gain, he established a reference time (5'40) which the more adventurous can measure themselves against.
The plateau also offers a specific 17 km pedestrian / snowshoe route.
A priori, the night Nordic skiing sessions will resume in January 2021 (to be confirmed) every Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., for frontal skiing.
4 euros per session (free for children under 16)
Useful site: https://domainenordiquedesglieres.com
The Nordic resort, like all those in Haute-Savoie, opens from Saturday, December 5. On the program, a 2.3 km track "and maybe better depending on the snowfall" planned. The slope (s) are accessible to everyone between 10:30 am and 3:30 pm, but equipment rental is not yet available.
Autrans-Méaudre (Isère)
The Vercors area has 180 km of slopes.
vincent juraszek
The Autrans-Méaudre area, in the Vercors, has been one of the major places of French Nordic skiing since the Grenoble Olympics in 1968.
Renowned for its know-how, the resort, located 45 minutes by car from the capital of the Alps, offers more than 180 km of slopes in settings where plains and forests, ridges and plateaus alternate.
Open from the first cold thanks to its 18 snow cannons, the area has 180 km of slopes for all levels (green, blue, red, black slopes).
Our advice:
the “Panoramic” slope (red), accessible from the Gève plateau (25 km) or the summit of the Sure alpine domain by the Quelle chairlift, offers a panoramic view from the Molière plateau over the Belledonne chain and the Mont-Blanc and Chartreuse massifs.
Located on the Nordic ski area of Gève, 3 km from Autrans, the Refuge de Gève is the ideal place for a break between two sliding loops.
Useful site: https://autrans-meaudre.com
Tracks open from this weekend of December 5. The Gève refuge remains closed for the moment.
Read also: From Vercors to Chamonix, our favorite restaurants in the Alps
Les Rousses (Jura)
26 tracks over more than 183 km: Les Rousses, crossing point of the Grande Traversée du Jura, is one of the temples of the Nordic region.
Its 6 green runs also make it accessible to all levels.
Stephane Buisson
The Jura is a Nordic territory par excellence.
In Prémanon, one of the four villages that make up the Rousses resort, is the national training center, which trains the Nordic skiing champions of tomorrow.
You can also trace on the neighboring areas of Hautes Combes and Bellefontaine.
And slide - as a general rule - as far as neighboring French-speaking Switzerland using only the strength of your legs and arms.
Here, we forget time, we forget the world.
There is something for all tastes, all levels and all ages.
Our advice:
180 km long, the GTJ (Grande Traversée du Jura) links Villiers le Lac to Giron, passing through Métabief (Doubs), Bois-d'Amont and les Rousses (Jura), among others.
A rare experience over several days for confirmed athletes.
Every Wednesday (excluding school holidays), access to the Nordic area is at the single price of 5.40 € for all.
Useful site: https://www.lesrousses.com/
The snowfall of December 4 should allow a partial opening of the Nordic area this weekend of December 5.
Read also: From Dole to Saint-Claude, a bucolic trip through the Jura
La Féclaz (Savoie)
The Nordic area of La Féclaz alternates trails in the undergrowth and in the heart of clearings, from where you can sometimes see Mont-Blanc.
OT La Féclaz
Located on the Revard plateau in the foothills of the Bauges, which dominate Chambéry, Féclaz has three entry gates: Féclaz, Revard-Crolles and Saint-François-de-Sales.
The Savoyard resort remains one of the most technically accessible Nordic areas in France.
Located mostly in the forest, the slopes invite you to reconnect with the very essence of Nordic skiing, a return to nature and calm.
Our advice:
after each snowfall, at the start of La Féclaz or Porte de Crolles, a simple track in classic style (as opposed to skating or no skater) weaving through the woods for 12 km is groomed.
It allows you to reconnect with the pioneering spirit of cross-country skiing.
The station generally offers night outings, Tuesdays and calendar full moon days, from January.
Useful site: https://www.savoiegrandrevard.com/le-domaine-nordique.html
Thanks to the snowfall, at least 25 km of slopes are open in La Féclaz, departing from La Féclaz and Crolles as of this week- end of December 5, like many other Nordic areas of Savoy.
Read also: Five Savoy wines to discover in Alpine resorts this winter
Lac Blanc (Vosges)
The 13 tracks (including 2 green) of this family resort take you through gentle relief, between 900 and 1200 m.
OT station of Lac Blanc
Located 1000 m in the heart of the Vosges mountains, less than an hour from Colmar, in the Grand Est region, the Alsatian resort of Lac Blanc is mainly family-friendly.
Planted in the preserved environment of the Ballons des Vosges Natural Park, it offers 67 km of groomed slopes for both skating and classic.
Unlike the Alps, the Lac Blanc ski area is located away from the resort accommodation.
Our advice
: for the more seasoned and athletic, the 8.7 km long black run “La Roche du Corbeau” allows you to tour the area.
When the snow is there, the resort has a Nordic Park which allows you to learn about different Nordic practices (skating, biathlon, etc.).
In general, it is open every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during school holidays (except Saturdays from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.);
and Wednesdays and Saturdays (1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.) as well as Sundays (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) outside school holidays.
Useful site: https://www.lac-blanc.com/je-skie/ski-nordique
At least one track (the Route des Crêtes, a blue 9 km) is open from the weekend of December 5. Depending on the resort, other slopes will open depending on the snow cover.
Read also: Vosges: Ventron says stop alpine skiing and focuses on Nordic
Les Estables (Haute-Loire)
The Nordic areas of Mézenc and Meygal offer a series of tracks in the undergrowth, between 1250 and 1500 m.
Elyas Saens
It is probably one of the most unknown sites in France.
And yet one of the most beautiful.
Located at an altitude of 1,500 m in the heart of the Mézenc massif (Mont Mézenc, 1753 m, is the 4th summit of the central massif), the Nordic area of Estables, the Mézenc, is a series of tracks in the undergrowth in the purest Nordic tradition.
At the bend of a clearing, it sometimes lets admire the chain of the Alps or the reliefs of the Central massif.
Over 70 km of slopes for all types of practitioners are available.
Our advice
: the red slope of the Stables area, rated difficult, allows you to escape for a few hours and discover all the corners of the Nordic site of Haute-Loire.
Located near Mézenc, the other Nordic area, that of Meygal, is less frequented.
It is also a cross-country paradise.
Oscillating between 1200 and 1450 meters above sea level, 44 km crisscross the national forest.
Useful site: https://www.mezencloiresauvage.com
Thanks to the snowfall, some slopes will be open from this weekend of December 5 and with free access.
Les Saisies (Savoie)
The Nordic area (120 km of slopes for all levels) was that of the Albertville Olympic Games.
Its altitude (from 1650 m) gives it good snow coverage.
Thuria skating
The Saisies station is that of the (alpine) skier Franck Piccard, the first Olympic Super-G champion at the Calgary Games (1988).
But it is also that of the cross-country skiing and biathlon events at the Albertville Olympic Games in 1992. This is what made the reputation of the Nordic Savoyard area.
But, if some climb up to Les Saisies to go back in time, many go there above all for its setting.
Skiing in Les Saisies (120 km of slopes for all levels, between 1650 and 1720 m above sea level) means evolving in a postcard setting under the imposing volume of Mont-Blanc that you never take your eyes off.
Our advice:
the black piste at Les Saisies is named after the former biathlete Raphaël Poirée (quadruple World Cup winner).
23 km long, it circles the entire Nordic area and sometimes borrows portions of the Olympic tracks.
The Nordic site opens this year from December 12.
In general, it is one of those who close later in the season, in April.
Useful site: https://www.lessaisies.com
The resort opens a 2 km Nordic ski loop from December 12, and more if snow conditions allow.
Névache (Hautes-Alpes)
This Nordic site, one of the most beautiful in the Southern Alps, offers more than 45 km of slopes, in the heart of the Clarée valley.
Mathis Moratte
Located north of the Hautes-Alpes, about thirty minutes from Briançon, Névache offers a preserved Nordic site in the heart of the wild and gentle valley of the Clarée.
In a mountainous setting and in the middle of larches - we are in the southern Alps! - nature offers a privileged playground.
From the resort, you have 45 km of slopes for all levels.
Our advice:
the black slope of La Forestière (13.7 km) offers in a single loop a wide discovery of the domain and its most beautiful points of view.
For the anecdote, it is the favorite track of Richard Jouve, bronze medalist in cross-country skiing at the 2018 Olympics. And if you want to get off the beaten track, we recommend two strong routes, which lead you to the foothills of the valley: the Haute Vallée de la Clarée (18 km round trip and 400 m of elevation gain) and the Col de l'Échelle (10 km round trip and 170 m of elevation gain), where you are at 6 barely km from the Italian border.
Useful site: https://www.claree-tourisme.fr/fr/la-claree/ski-et-neige/domaines-nordiques/
The resort will open its slopes on December 20.
Read also: Queyras: the best kept secret of the Hautes-Alpes
Corrençon-en-Vercors / Villard-de-Lans (Isère)
The Nordic area of Haut Vercors offers 148 km of pistes 148 km of skating and classic pistes.
Stephanie Charles
World famous since basketball player Tony Parker invested in the resort in the fall of 2019, Corrençon-en-Vercors / Villard-de-Lans has a Nordic area with discreet charm and still too little known.
The tracks weave their way through the pine forests and lead from refuge to refuge (Malaterre, Herbouilly, etc.) for a few forays along the Vercors Hauts Plateaux.
A unique site for long-distance and adventurous outings.
Our advice:
if you are athletic, the Royale, a 26 km long black run, links the three gates of the Nordic area (Villard-de-Lans, Herbouilly, Corrençon-en-Vercors).
Martin Fourcade, five-time Olympic biathlon champion, now retired from competition, lives in Villard-de-Lans.
You can still meet him on the Corrençon-en-Vercors launch pad.
Useful site: https://www.villarddelans.com/hiver/ski-de-fond-biathlon-vercors.html#.XjpmYmZ7T-Y
At least 25 km of slopes are open this weekend at Bois Barbu.
Font-Romeu (Pyrénées-Orientales)
Font-Romeu offers more than 111 km of marked trails, including the blue “la Calme”, called Martin Fourcade.
The Olympic champion made his debut in the Pyrenees.
OT Font-Romeu
The Pyrenees, this wild and discreet massif.
Ingredients dear to Nordic ski enthusiasts.
In Font-Romeu, the resort offers, for the most seasoned as well as for novices, more than 111 km of marked out and marked slopes (7 green, 10 blue, 5 red).
Cross-country skiing here is as much a discovery as it is a journey.
In a vegetation different from the Alpine massifs, the "Nordic" becomes a unique experience.
Our advice:
do not miss the blue track of the Calme, 2.4 km long, has been named "Martin Fourcade".
The five-time Olympic biathlon champion, now retired from competition and installed in the Vercors, made his debut in the Pyrenees.
And also:
located near Font-Romeu, the Nordic area of Capcir offers 56 km of cross-country ski trails and 60 km of white routes.
Useful site: http://hiver.font-romeu.fr/skier/ski-nordique/
No opening date for the moment.
