Roundtrip Petit Ballon from Sondernach 25 km
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 15.83 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,566 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 2,566 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,816 ft
- TrailRank
-
54
4.3
- Min elevation
- 1,388 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 2 hours 5 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1210
- Uploaded
- September 22, 2021
- Recorded
- September 2021
near Metzeral, Grand Est (France)
Viewed 457 times, downloaded 4 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Short roundtrip from Metzeral across the Col du Petit Ballon. We cycled this trip as a kind of warming-up for longer trips later the cycling weekend. The climb from Sondernach is 9.7 km and bridges 624 vertical meters. See profiles on climbfinder.com (https://climbfinder.com/en/climbs/petit-ballon-sondernach) and cyclingcols.com (https://www.cyclingcols.com/col/PetitBallon). From Metzeral you first climb slightly on the D10 to Sondernach, where the climb starts. The climb is reasonably even without any real steep parts. The climb is on a very quiet road with reasonable paving. The first 1.4 km is through the village, and then you ascend through woods for 2.4 km. Here the scenery opens up with views to the top and two farms. After 1.4 km you ride through the woods again until 500 meters below the summit. The views on the top are great toward the Rhine valley and across the Vosges mountains. The paving in the descent to Luttenbach-Près-Munster is a bit worse, especially in the woods down from Le Ried. When you are down in Luttenbach-Près-Munster, you follow the cycling route back to Metzeral through the valley. The cycling route is partly on minor roads (a bit bumpy) and cycling paths. There are some auberges/restaurants in the descent, and in Metzeral. The pictures displayed with this route were taken on other days. The Petit Ballon is the most challenging col in the Vosges apart from the Grand Ballon, but much less touristic, and much quieter. The climb from this side is the easiest of three variants. The descent is down the hardest variant..
Waypoints
Mountain pass
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Col du Petit Ballon 1163 m
Col du Petit Ballon at 1163 m, the highest point of the climb.
Waypoint
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Cycling route through Munster valley
From here you follow the signposted cycling route through the Munster valley to Metzeral.
Waypoint
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Descent to le Ried
The first part of the descent to le Ried has good views. There is a restaurant after a bit more than 1 km and at le Ried
Waypoint
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Descent to Luttenbach-Près-Munster
This part of the descent from Le Ried is largely through woods with the mediocre paving.
Waypoint
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Start climb Petit Ballon
Here the start of the climb to Petit Ballon starts. See https://climbfinder.com/en/climbs/petit-ballon-sondernach
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Behoorlijk pittig. Verbetering wegdek, helaas alleen reparaties door de Tour van 2023. Blijft zo een minder prettige afdaling met pijnlijke handen door remmen en gehobbel
Dag Peter, afdaling is inderdaad wat minder. Bedankt voor jouw commentaar!