Crêt de la Neige

Crêt de la Neige is a  high mountain in the commune of Thoiry. It is the highest peak in the Jura Mountains and the department of Ain in France.

It is in the Jura Mountains Regional Natural Park ().

Geography
Crêt de la Neige is between the communes of Lélex (to the northwest) and Thoiry (to the southeast) in the Ain department.

It is found in the Haute Chaîne, the most eastern and highest chain of the French Jura mountains; it is in the Pays de Gex (the Arrondissement of Gex, Ain department), about  to the northwest of the city of Geneva.

The Crêt de la Neige is surrounded by the plain of the Pays de Gex to the east and the Valserine valley (a valley among the Jura mountains formed by the Valserine river) to the west.

From the summit (or near the summit because it is covered with shrubs and trees), it is possible to see Geneva and the Pays de Gex and there is a 360° view over the Lake Geneva, the Valserine valley, La Dôle (a peak of the Jura mountains that is in Switzerland) and the Alps. On a clear day, it is possible to see the Vosges mountains and the Black Forest.

Elevation
In the past, the official elevation given for the Crêt de la Neige was , and so it appears in old maps, only  higher than the near peak of Reculet . But recent studies made by the Institut géographique national (IGN) in Villeurbanne found that the true altitude of the Crêt de la Neige is  above sea level. In 2024, a team of researchers locates the actual highest peak in a protected area and measures its elevation at 1720.83 m, while they found the geodetic marker at Crêt de la Neige at 1718.06 m elevation.Hetényi G., Chagros A.-M., Lemke K., Maharaj A., Baron L. (2024). Détermination du point culminant du massif du Jura. Mémoires de Géologie (Lausanne), n° 51, 6 pp.

Getting there
The easiest route to get to the Crêt de la Neige is from the Tiocan lookout point that is beyond Thoiry.

Gallery

References

Other websites

 Crêt de la Neige in Camp-to-Camp 
 Crêt de la Neige in GeoFinder.ch 
 Crêt de la Neige at Altituderando.com 

Category:Mountains of France
Category:Ain