The Petit Ballon (german: Kleiner Belchen) or Little Belchen,
[Chevrier, Jean-François. ''From Basel - Herzog & de Meuron'', Basel: Birkhäuser, 2016, p. 54.] is, at 1272m, one of the highest peaks of the
Vosges Mountains
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
in the department of
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is the ...
,
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, about 5 km away from the village of
Wasserbourg
Wasserbourg ( gsw, Wàsserburig; german: Wasserburg) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Geography
Wasserbourg is situated in the Vosges Mountains, in the valley of the small river Krebsbach, and at th ...
. The Rothenbrunnen mountain hut is 500m below. A car park is a further 500m away.
The
Col du Petit Ballon
The Col du Petit Ballon (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Vosges Mountains in the Haut-Rhin department of France, close to the summit of the Petit Ballon mountain ().
It was crossed on Stage 10 of the 2014 Tour de France cycle race.
Detail ...
pass (elevation ) is close to the summit.
The mountain is part of the
Belchen System
The Belchen System refers to five mountains with the name ''Belchen'' around the tripoint of Germany, France and Switzerland that may have been used by the Celts as a solar calendar. The term is an extension of the Belchen Triangle. The mountai ...
, a group of mountains with the name "Belchen" (in German) that may have been part of a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
sun calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar.
...
.
References
Bibliography
''Alsace and Lorraine Rough Guides Snapshot France' Penguin, May 23, 2013
''A wayfarer in Alsace''Bernard Stephen Townroe Houghton Mifflin, 1926
''Petit Futé Alsace''Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette Petit Futé, Mar 3, 2010
''Trekking in the Vosges and Jura: the GR5, GR53 and other treks and walks'' Les Smith, Elizabeth Smith Cicerone Press Limited, 2006
''Les plus beaux circuits en camping car 2014 Petit Futé (avec cartes, photos + avis des lecteurs)'' Collectif, Petit Futé, Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette Petit Futé, Feb 7, 2014
''Alsace'' Hervé Lévy Petit Futé, 2009
''Alsace, Lorraine, Vosges'' Manufacture française des pneumatiques Michelin, Pneu Michelin, 1989
Mountains of the Vosges
One-thousanders of France
Mountains of Haut-Rhin
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