Photo : Chabe01 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Crêt de la Neige
The Crêt de la Neige is the highest point of the Jura massif, at about 1,720 metres' altitude, on the boundary of the communes of Lélex and Thoiry, in the Ain. Spotted in 1828 by the engineer Charles Marie Filhon, who then gave it more than 1,723 metres, it was remeasured by GPS in the early 2000s and validated by the IGN. The summit is made of marly Kimmeridgian limestone.
It lies in the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park and in the Haute Chaîne du Jura national nature reserve. The grassy slopes shelter varied high-altitude flora: globeflowers, saxifrages, gentians and several species of orchids. From the ridge, the 360° panorama opens onto Lake Geneva, the Valserine valley and the Alps, and, in very clear weather, as far as the Vosges and the Black Forest. It is reached on foot by hiking paths, notably from Lélex.
