The Ballon d'Alsace (; , ) (el. 1247 m.), sometimes also called the Alsatian Belchen to distinguish it from other mountains named "
Belchen") is a mountain at the border of
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
,
Lorraine, and
Franche-Comté. From its top, views include the
Vosges, the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
valley, the
Black Forest
The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
, and the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
.
A road leads over a pass near the peak at the
Col du Ballon d'Alsace, . The pass is noted as the site of the first official mountain climb in the
Tour de France on 11 July 1905,
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.
Geography
Climate
Ballon d'Alsace has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Dfb''). The average annual temperature in Ballon d'Alsace is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Ballon d'Alsace was on 24 July 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 20 December 2009.
Gallery
Jeanne d'Arc at Ballon d'Alsace.JPG, Statue of Jeanne d'Arc at Ballon d'Alsace
Monument demineurs Ballon d'Alsace.JPG, Deminers monument at Ballon d'Alsace
See also
*
Col du Ballon d'Alsace
*
Souvenir Henri Desgrange
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Authority control
Mountains of the Vosges
One-thousanders of France
Mountains of Vosges (department)
Mountains of Haut-Rhin
Mountains of the Territoire de Belfort
Mountains of Haute-Saône