| Grand Ballon | |
|---|---|
| Great Belchen | |
 The Grand Ballon from the west | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 1,423 m (4,669 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,071 m (3,514 ft)[1] |
| Listing | Ribu |
| Coordinates | 47°54′03″N7°05′53″E / 47.90083°N 7.09806°E /47.90083; 7.09806 |
| Naming | |
| Native name |
|
| English translation | Great mountain |
| Geography | |
  Grand Ballon France | |
| Location | Haut-Rhin,Grand-Est,France |
| Parent range | Vosges Mountains |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | unknown |
TheGrand Ballon (French pronunciation:[ɡʁɑ̃balɔ̃]) orGreat Belchen[2][3] (German:Großer Belchen[ˌɡʁoːsɐˈbɛlçn̩];Alsatian:Grosser Belchen) is the highest mountain of theVosges, located 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest ofMulhouse, France. It is also the highest point of theGrand-Est French region.[4]
Grand Ballon means "great [round-topped] mountain" because aballon in French is a geographical term for a mountain with a rounded summit, similar to the GermanKuppe.
Some still call itBallon de Guebwiller, after the name of the closest town,Guebwiller, located 8 km (5 mi) to the east. It is 1,423.7 metres (4,671 ft) high.[5]
According to theKöppen climate classification, the top of the Grand Ballon features asubalpine climate (Köppen:Dfc) due to its high altitude comparable to theAlps or thePyrenees. Along with theHohneck the summit of the Grand Ballon is the coldest and windiest point in Alsace. A record low of −30.2 °C (−22.4 °F) was recorded on 10 February 1956, a record high of 29 °C (84 °F) was recorded on 13 August 2003. The temperature difference between the Grand Ballon and the neighboring plain (Mulhouse area) usually ranges from 7 to 10 °C (13 to 18 °F) and is higher in summertime. Winter snow cover is usually more than 1.5 m (5 ft) above 1,350 m (4,430 ft) of altitude. The highest snow accumulation ever recorded was 3.7 m (12 ft) on 7 March 2006; in 1969 and 1970 the snow cover was above 3 m (10 ft).[6]
The well knownRoute des Crêtes (French for "route of the peaks") circumvents the mountain top around east, crossing a mountain pass at an altitude of 1,343 m (4,406 ft), betweenLe Markstein winter sports station andHartmannswillerkopf, a rocky spur.
Theroad over the pass to the north of the mountain is occasionally used in theTour de France, the first crossing being in1969. It is the onlyHors categorie (beyond categorization) climb in northern France.
The mountain is part of the so-calledBelchen system, a group of mountains with the name "Belchen" (in German) that may have been part of aCelticsun calendar.[7]
Near theradar station orair traffic control centre, there are two First World War (1914–1918) memorials called,Memorial Diables Bleus Grand Ballon, commemorating the French troops, in particular theChasseurs Alpins, whose nickname is Les Diables Bleus (Eng: The Blue Devils), who fought there in World War I. The original single monument was erected in 1927 but was dynamited, by German troops, in July 1940 during World War II and rebuilt in 1960.[8]
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