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 ha ...
in
France, 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 t ...
. The Rothenbrunnen mountain hut is 500m below. A car park is a further 500m away.
The
Col du Petit Ballon pass (elevation ) is close to the summit.
The mountain is part of the
Belchen System, a group of mountains with the name "Belchen" (in German) that may have been part of a
Celtic 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.
T ...
.
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
{{HautRhin-geo-stub