Cross-country skiing: the Transju’ 2025 weekend approaches
At a press conference held on Monday 3 February in Besançon (Doubs), Pierre-Albert Vandel, President of Trans’Organisation, outlined the forthcoming Transju’, scheduled for 8 and 9 February.
“After studying all the possibilities, the decision was taken to keep the Transju’ in the Les Rousses sector, he explained. Until 15 January, there would have been no difficulty in running the traditional route. Unfortunately, there has been a thaw in recent weeks, which has damaged the linking trails between the mountain ranges. But unlike last year, when we had no solution, there is plenty of snow at the top of the cross-country ski runs in Les Rousses and in the lakes and mountains of the Haut-Doubs, with almost a metre of snow in some parts. But we can’t get there for environmental reasons. So we looked for an alternative route in accessible snow-covered areas. We did the rounds of the site managers. Only one, the one around the Les Rousses resort, was capable of hosting a race of this size with 4,000 participants.”
Although the route has not yet been 100% defined, a 13-14km loop will be offered to participants, who will have to complete it three times, starting and finishing in La Darbella (Jura), giving a total distance of around 40km.
Between now and next weekend, all the sensitive sectors will be reinforced with local snow. The organisers will be able to take advantage of favourable weather conditions, with frosts at night to protect the slopes and quite decent temperatures during the day. “We’ve done a lot of work and thought to keep the races going, continues Pierre-Albert Vandel. The Transju’ is an international race that is part of the Worldloppet circuit. We have 800 people from 36 countries, many of them from far-flung departments. They’ve prepared, they’ve booked and they want to come even if the format changes. We also have a duty to the economic activity of the sector. The Transju’ goes beyond its sporting aspect, even if that remains its priority.”
“We are well aware that we are victims of global warming”.
The Transjurassienne, created in 1979 (first edition in 1980), has been cancelled several times in its history due to lack of snow (1979, 1990, 1993, 2001, 2007, 2016, 2020, 2024), and its original 68km route between Lamoura and Mouthe has been modified. But the acceleration of climate change is complicating the organisation a little more each year.
“It’s a constant source of stress, confirms Pierre-Albert Vandel. We’re well aware that we’re victims of global warming. The Transju’ will continue to exist because there’s snow. If we’d fallen into the December slot, we’d have been able to run the whole Transju’ in excellent conditions. It’s bound to happen again. But we’re probably going to have to adapt more and more, with fallback solutions. Some slopes are used daily by skiers but are not accessible to us. This also reduces our scope for action. On the other hand, we don’t want to produce a lot of artificial snow, unlike other races like ours, in Italy for example, which have snow on almost 70% of their runs. It used to be difficult to put in place a 76km linear track, but now it’s a real challenge. Everything has to come together. The equation is becoming increasingly complex to solve.”
The Transju’ 2025 route
The Transju’ 2025 programme
Saturday 8 February
- 9h00: Classic 50: 40 km｜660m D+ = 3 loops
- 13h00 : Classic 25 : 26 km｜440 m D+ = 2 loops
- 13h00 : Rando classic 25 : 13 km｜220 m D+ = 1 loop
Sunday 9 February
- 8.30am: La Transjurassienne 40 km | 660m D+ = 3 loops
- 2.30pm: Skating 25 : 26 km｜440 m D+ = 2 loops
- 15h00 : Rando Skating 25 : 13 km｜220 m D+ = 1 loop
