The Ballon d'Alsace german: Elsässer Belchen (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 (, ; ; 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 ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

, and Franche-Comté. From its top, views include the

Vosges 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 ...

, the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

valley, the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the 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 t ...

, and the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. 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 The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

on 11 July 1905, the first rider to the top of the climb being

René Pottier René Pottier (5 June 1879 in Moret-sur-Loing, Seine-et-Marne – 25 January 1907 in Levallois-Perret) was a French racing cyclist. Pottier won the amateur category of the 1903 Bordeaux–Paris race before turning professional. He came second in ...

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 freezing ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''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

References

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

Geography

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links