Ballon d'Alsace

The Ballon d'Alsace German: Elsässer Belchen (el. 1247 m.), sometimes also called the Alsatian Belchen to distinguish it from other mountains named "Belchen"[1][2][3] is a mountain at the border of Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté. From its top, views include the Vosges, the Rhine valley, the Black Forest, and the Alps.

Not to be confused with the Grand Ballon in Alsace.
Ballon d'Alsace
Highest point
Elevation1,247 m (4,091 ft)
Prominence217 m (712 ft)
Isolation562 km (349 mi)
Coordinates47°49′20″N 6°50′43″E
Geography
Ballon d'Alsace
Parent rangeVosges

A road leads over a pass near the peak at the Col du Ballon d'Alsace, 1,171 m (3,842 ft). The pass is noted as the site of the first official mountain climb in the Tour de France on 11 July 1905,[4] the first rider to the top of the climb being René Pottier and the stage being won by Hippolyte Aucouturier. Stage 9 of the 2005 Tour crossed this pass on the centenary of the original climb.

Ballon d'Alsace features Alpine and Cross Country skiing tracks.

The mountain is part of the so-called Belchen System, a group of mountains with the name "Belchen" (in German) that may have been part of a Celtic sun calendar.

  • Statue of Jeanne d'Arc at Ballon d'Alsace
  • Deminers monument at Ballon d'Alsace

See also

References
  1. Herbertson, Andrew John, A Handbook of Geography: Volume I. General Geography. The British Isles and Europe, London: T. Nelson (1912), p. 173.
  2. Karfeld, Kurt, Peter; Walter Dirks and Manfred Hausmann, Germany in Colour, Karfeld Verlag, 1956, p. 16.
  3. Schickele, Rene, Heart of Alsace, AA Knopf (1929), p. 164.
  4. "L'HISTOIRE 1903-2008" (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (pdf) on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
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