TheHöllental (German pronunciation:[ˈhœlənˌtaːl],lit. 'Hell's Valley') in theBlack Forest is a deep valley - in places like agorge - in the state ofBaden-Württemberg inGermany. The valley, which is about 9 km long, is located in the southern part of theSouthern Black Forest Nature Park about 18 km southeast ofFreiburg im Breisgau betweenHinterzarten andBuchenbach-Himmelreich. TheRotbach stream (also calledHöllenbach in the upper Höllental) runs through the valley. "Hölle" is the German word for "hell". In the narrow, dark valley, travellers almost felt like moving underground. The valley was the locale of theBattle of Emmendingen in 1796, part of theFrench Revolutionary Wars.
The Höllental is one of the valleys in the Black Forest that cuts through the asymmetric ridgeline of mountains from its plateau-like eastern uplands and runs down its steep western escarpment. The valley follows the line of the Bonndorf Rift Valley (Bonndorfer Graben), which runs fromKaiserstuhl via theWutach gorge andHegau toLake Constance and is part of this tectonically formed fault. Additionally, it could have been created as a result of repeated glaciation of the Black Forest's uplands by ice lakes that could have spilled westwards over the eroded ridgeline. As a result, the tributaries of the Höllenbach east of the ridgeline flow initially southeast, turning almost 180° towards the northeast into the Höllental itself, a situation similar to that of theMaloja Pass inEngadin.
Below the high-lying hollows of Hinterzarten, thefederal highway B 31 winds downhill, partly in spectacular loops, at the head of the former glacial valley. In this enclosed bowl with the hamlet ofHöllsteig ("Hell Path"), the so-calledLöffeltal ("Valley of Spoons"), where beginning in the 18th century metal spoons were forged, joins theZartenbach stream south of the road. To the north, theRavenna gorge, with its numerous waterfalls, opens up under the Ravenna viaduct of theHöllental Railway. From the south the Bistenbach and Alpersbach streams tumble into it, becoming waterfalls. After the station ofHirschsprung and following the U-shaped valley with steep slopes up to 600 m high (and its four-lane road) is a section with towering cliffs up to 130 m and known as theHöllenpass ("Hell Narrows"). The narrowest part of the gorge is called theHirschsprung ("Deer's Jump") and was originally only 9 m wide. Thus, a common tale is existing about a red deer's jump across it. Behind the rocks with the ruins of Falkenstein Castle, the valley broadens out somewhat and provides more space for the houses and farms ofFalkensteig. AtHimmelreich ("Heaven") hamlet and its railway station, the valley abruptly opens up into the Basin of Zarten.
The great importance of the Höllental today for long-distance traffic crossing the relatively low-lying Hinterzarten saddle (about 910 m) was only achieved at significant cost. Initially, the cart track through theWagensteige ("Wagon Ascent")[1] valley to the north was more important. But by the 12th century, another track, theFalkensteige ("Hawk Ascent"), had been built by the dukes ofZähringen fromFreiburg im Breisgau toDonaueschingen, through what was then called the Falkenstein ("hawk stone") Valley (Falkensteiner Tal), the present-day Höllental. The track was guarded at the exit to the narrow pass by theFalkenstein Castle ("Hawk Rock Castle"), but was later threatened, nevertheless. Not until the coach and the large bridle train ofMarie Antoinette, which was to bring her to her future husband, the futureLouis XVI, had to traverse the route, was the track developed into a road. The Falkenstein Valley achieved fame again during the retreat of French troops under GeneralMoreau in 1796, at theBattle of Emmendingen, and was referred to as theVal d'enfer ("Hell Valley"). As early as 1691,Emperor Leopold I had described the present-day Hirschsprung asdie Höll ("hell", formerly also "hollow"), when he reviewed the defence of routes through the Black Forest. Even the name of the Ravenna ravine had French or otherRomanic origins; it is relatedla ravine. The term arose considerably earlier because it was already in use by 1560.[2][3] During subsequent work on the route, the gorge at Hirschsprung was successively blasted open. The level of traffic on the present-day B 31 has resulted in plans to replace the main road through Falkensteig, the gorge, and the bends at Höllsteig by tunnels.
Since 1887, theHöllentalbahn (Hell Valley Railway) has passed up the gorge, initially using arack railway system. The incline is 1:18 and it climbs a total of 441 m.
The walking trail along the bottom of the ravine, known as theJägerpfad ("hunter's path"), once belonged to the Freiburg-Lake Constance Black Forest trail (Schwarzwald-Querweg Freiburg-Bodensee), but this has been currently diverted over the northern side of the valley due to the weight of road traffic.
A regional wind, which constantly supplies the town centre of Freiburg with fresh air, is named after theHöllental, although in fact only part of the wind blowing through Freiburg comes from the Hell Valley. Thefoehn wind from the valley combines with streams of cold air from the other side valleys of the Zarten Basin and blows through the narrow pass at Ebnet, accelerating at the exit of the basin into the Freiburg area of theUpper Rhine Plain (Oberrheinische Tiefebene).
Important cities and tourist sites in  Germany: Greater region ofFreiburg (Breisgau–Black Forest–High Rhine) | |||||||
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