This former war reporter took refuge in Haut-Jura, this is his story

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The listeners of France Culture et France Music know the tone of his voice well. But when they listen to him recount the world news in the morning newsthey are light years away from suspecting thatOlivier Danreyborn in the Jura, has led a double life for 22 years between House of Radio in Paris and an old farm in Haut-Jura.

Every Friday, just after returned the antennathe journalist jumps in the TGV for Bellegarde, then in a car to go back to La Pesse and even during the winter the last kilometers in snowmobile to reach his refuge.

Nestled in hollow of a valleythe old farm, which he bought in 2003, well known to hikers and skiersis none other than the Berbois refuge.

Originally from Jura, Olivier Danrey was born in Lons-le-Saunier. From the lower Jura, it only keeps waves souvenirsit must be said that quite quickly, his family moved to Dijon, where, determined to become journalisthe increased the number of internships at the editorial staff of the local daily which was then still called “Les dispatches”. It is at journalism school from Strasbourg that Olivier fell head over heels radio lovera passion that took him far from local newsand even more far from the Jura.

After an internship at the Maison de la Radio, he was quickly hired and sent to the four corners of the world in Rwanda, East Timor, Democratic Republic of Congo to cover wars, catastrophes and events at international resonance for public service airwaves. In October 2001, he was among the first journalists to enter Afghanistan in the country before the outbreak of the American offensive against the Taliban.

“Between each mission abroad, I regularly came to recharge my batteries with a group of friends at the Closettes farm not very far from here, I needed calm, silence, far from the tumult. That’s when I discovered Haut-Jura”

On returning from a series of reports very loaded with adrenaline and upset by the death of the team of journalists come to take over in Afghanistan, Olivier Danrey learns that the Berbois refuge is for sale. Without a second thought, he went to see Marie-Claude, the owner at the time, and made an option. “This place was for me”. He mobilized his family and friends to raise the necessary funds, and in April 2003, he finally had the keys. He then took a sabbatical from Radio France, and opened the Berbois Refuge which he retypes and renames No-made attitude.

Shortly after, he met Laurence, the woman who would become his partner, then the mother of his son Achille, and who is today co-owner of the place and manager of the refuge. “While I am on the radio in Paris during the week, she's the one here, who manages everything. This project would not be without her,” insists Olivier Danrey.

After three years of investing solely in the shelter project, the journalist must return to workand reconnects with the antenna in presenting the morning news on France Culture. During the week, Laurence takes care of life at the Refuge.

“When we took over in 2003, people looked at us with suspicion, they took me for a Parisian. And then almost twenty-two years later, we are still here, more convinced than ever of our choice”

The changing of the seasons

Because he has been dealing with the subject for years on the air, and because he sees on his doorstep the rhythm of the seasons changingthe effects of climate change are of great concern to both the journalist et the host.

“All tourism and hospitality in Haut-Jura was until recently centered around the winter season. But today we can clearly see the snow deficit, the snow that melts at the first ray of sunlight on the tarmac roads. We need to rethink our modes of tourist accommodation, the opening periods, the layout of ski slopes in winter so that they pass through the coldest places… I'm afraid it's already too late”

However, as winter approaches, he impatiently awaits the arrival of first flakesthose who transform the landscape and give it this magic capable of making us forget the torments of the world.

His own Haut-Jura

Its Jurait is Sylvain Briquet, from the Atelier de la Petite Montagne in Vosbles-Valfin: cabinetmaker, carpenter, it is he who made the woodwork of the musical cabin of the Berbois refuge, as well as the carpentry of the outdoor accommodation ( tipis, yurt). He is also a drummer and made his own drums.

His hikes. Summer: Go up to Chalam Ridge before sunrise. “With the radio I'm used to waking up very early, I love going up to the headlamp and watching the sunrise over the Alps”. Winter: Go up to Crêt au Merle on snowshoes. “I like getting lost in the valley of oblivion, it’s a hike that clears my head.”

Its soundtrack. “All at the end of my fingers, the stigmata of winter…”, it is with these words that the song Couleurs Tactiles begins from the album Fragments, the latest album by Initial(es) Fox, “the boss’s music”. Olivier Danrey actually wrote and produced this album with his friend François Lemasson, which they partly recorded in the musical cabina small secret annex of the Refuge du Berbois.

His event. The Azimut Festival

“I like the idea that this festival where I went to get upside down years ago when I returned from reporting, lasts over time and that it has been taken over by a group of young people”. THE Azimut Festival, which has made La Pesse vibrate since 1983 held its 33rd edition this year on October 5 and 6.

Son restaurant. The shelter's kitchen.

In the cellar of the Berbois refugethe shelves are overflowing with jams and preserves homemade. In the fridges, boxes of Mont d’Or waiting for the first guests to be put in the oven. On the board, slices of bread are always ready to be toasted and covered with slices of County, Morbier and Bleu de Gex. And on the fire, there is always a vegetable soup ready to be reheated at any time of the day.

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