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The state of the AI en route to the mountains, glorious Jura snow

Weekend walk and circus special in Nyon, Swiss skiers and boarders

Jura (Crozet) Wednesday 20 January (image: S Curran)

Crozet with blue skies - Geneva in the fog below

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - It’s January, so expect a mix of  Spring moments and sudden snow showers on the lakefront but pure winter goodness in the mountains this weekend.

Wednesday it snowed in Nyon and along the lakefront, throughout the week the Jura has thrived, as large amounts of the white stuff came down, and the Alps have had sunshine again after gloomy spells.

The road out of town

If you’re heading out of the Geneva area to the Swiss Alps be aware that this is the first weekend when the new A1 autoroute signaling system is open, adding a third lane in each direction between Morges and Lausanne. The system is very easy to follow and there have been no accidents since it was put in place Monday, but you do need to drive attentively, with other drivers sometimes surprised to find the system there. It operates only in the afternoons, until Monday 25 January when it goes into use full-time.

Weather forecast

Good weather is promised for the weekend, as long as you stay above 800 metres, so head for the hills. Temperatures 0-3C around Lake Geneva and -6 to 4C in the Swiss Alpine resort area. Fog in the Geneva area but clear above 700-800 metres Saturday and Sunday. Light winds. By Monday temperatures will start to fall, the cold bise winds will rise on the plains and snow is expected.

Jura report, by Shirley Curran

Click on image to view larger

Nature is smiling on the Jura resorts. With rain that fell a week ago, our half metre of powder solidified into a firm base, then we had a fresh fall of powder and
icy nights. As usual, two teams work grooming the slopes each night. Conditions are magnificent at the moment.

A top tip: The Refuge du Ratou, at 1200 m, down at the bottom of the Asters run at Lélex now has a gardien and his assistant in permanent attendance. They
have a varied menu of drinks and eats and a wonderful log stove. You can be sure of a warm welcome! I recommend the tartelettes aux myrtilles! A track leads
from there to the bottom of the Loges six-place chairlift. You can call +33 (0)4 50 20 90 73 to reserve your fondue if you plan to visit during our very busy weekends.

You can’t miss the Refuge if you follow the track at the bottom of the Asters run. it is on the left, just before the A-Frame snack bar. It is a welcome addition to
our growing list of mountain restaurants, joining La Catheline, Le Refuge des Loges, the A-Frame and, of course, le Panoramic.

Swiss skiers and snowboarders having success in Olympics lead-up

Swiss snow sports fans have had a good week: Carl Janka is living up to his promise as the hot new young star of Swiss skiing after his win of the tough Lauterbrunnen downhill race last weekend put him in the World Cup competition lead.

Friday 22 January Didier Cuche won his first-ever Super-G title in a stunning race in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

And one of the darlings of the Swiss team, Daniel Albrecht, who was badly injured a year ago, held a press conference this week to say he won’t compete this season, but he hopes to be back racing next year. Albrecht suffered serious cranial and lung injuries and has been following intensive therapy for months. He has been out skiing but says he has to relearn how “how to react on a bumpy course, or on an icy course.”

Lara Gut, who stormed onto the Swiss skiing season for the 2008-09 season, remains out, after hip surgery, but she expects to be back training at the end of January. She won’t, however, be competing in Vancouver.

Swiss women snowboarders have taken four of the top eight bordercross slots in Stoneham, Canada.

Ed. note: TSR has a good collection of videos of the best moments in World Cup skiing this winter.

A non-mountain option: Saturday in Nyon

Nyon rooftops in the snow Wednesday

The Roman Museum, a bright spot in Nyon, in the snow

It might be gray and gloomy down on the plain, but one great place to dissipate that is Nyon, where a Saturday walk around town, visit to the museum and late afternoon circus show followed by dinner out will chase away the winter blues. The tourism office in Nyon web site is a good starting point. Note that the office itself is not open over the weekend, but you can download a very useful multilingual map with history and sites to see. The Alinghi exhibit at the Musée du Léman will please sailors and anyone intrigued by technology and sailing. Free for children, CHF8 for adults, open 14:00-17:00. The Roman museum has new pieces, but it is always worth a visit, to remind yourself of the Lake Geneva region’s importance to the Roman Empire.

The best show in town is on at 15:00 and again at 16:30, when Maxime Pythoud will be performing at the Caserne, home to the circus l’Elastique on a corner of the Place Perdtemps. Pythoud, a student at the school and son of the owners, has been selected to compete in one of the top international circus competitions for upcoming professionals, the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. His Nyon show is an avant-premiere of the performance he’ll do in Paris at the end of January. The 21-year-old who has been studying at a circus school in Belgium is hoping to raise enough when the hat is passed at the end of his performance to buy his own giant acrobatic wheel, his specialty.

Dinner: the tourism office for the region provides a restaurants list which is searchable by type, such a s traditional or Italian or vegetarian.

Looking for Spring around the corner: ask Max the stork what she thinks

For those who can’t wait for Spring, the good news is that Max, the Swiss white stork who heads for Spain or North Africa every winter, has just begun her return trip north. The world’s longest tracked white stork has been wintering in Alcazar San Juan, Spain, but Wednesday she began her migratory trip to the Swiss-German border area where she has young storks every summer. She flew 50km to Ciudad Real in the La Mancha area, reports the Natural History Museum of Fribourg.