The Gazon du Faing is a granitic summit of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...

massif located on the ridge line between the

Col du Bonhomme The Col du Bonhomme () (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Vosges Mountains of France. The pass connects Kaysersberg (Haut-Rhin) with Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (Vosges) (east–west) and is also crossed by the Route des Crêtes (north–south). Th ...

and the

Col de la Schlucht The Col de la Schlucht (; elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Vosges Mountains of France. On the west side lies the historical region of Lorraine (Lothringen in German), on the east side lies the historical region of Alsace (Elsass in German). ...

in eastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The panorama towards the

Orbey Orbey (; ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 Communes of France, communes of the French Departmen ...

valley and the

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

valley ( Soultzeren- Stosswihr) is remarkable. 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 ...

, the Jura, 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. ...

are also visible in clear weather.

Geography

This nearly flat summit with rounded edges, ranking among the ten highest in the massif, has a fairly steep slope on the Alsatian side, giving rise to a glacial cirque that harbors Lac Noir 350 meters below. The Soultzeren Eck, meaning the "boundary corner of Soultzeren," is a boundary point shared by three municipalities: Soultzeren and Orbey on the Alsatian side, and

Plainfaing Plainfaing () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Geography The commune is positioned in the east of the department, at the foot of the 949 meter high Bonhomme Pass ''(Col du Bonhomme)'', between Saint-D ...

on the

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

side. This late toponymic formation, for altimetric identification purposes in the Belle Époque, follows the same linguistic genesis as that of the Ringbuhl.

History

The vast mountain pasture, with its evocative name, which is now partly abandoned, stretched across the Lorraine slope, overlooking the and especially the upper valley of the River Meurthe nearly 600 meters below. It was allocated to the municipality of Plainfaing after the division of the high mountain pastures with the municipality of Le Valtin, during the Restoration period. Its farm-inn is located along the

Route des Crêtes Thé Route des Crêtes (; ) is an road in the Vosges Mountains in Eastern France, which passes through the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park, Parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges. It connects Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (north) with Cernay, Hau ...

, at an altitude of 1,225 meters, south of the former pasture.

References

{{reflist Mountains of Haut-Rhin Mountains of Vosges (department) One-thousanders of France Mountains of the Vosges