Col de la Schlucht

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The Col de la Gorge ( German: Canyon Pass) is a 1139 m high mountain pass in the Vosges Mountains and an important traffic route between the regions of Alsace and Lorraine. The Col de la gorge is eponymous for a ski resort below the 1362 m high Hohneck.

Location

The road D 417 (Route 417 Departmental ) over the Col de la gorge connects the cities of Munster in the East and in the West Gerardmer. At the Col de la gorge The pass road crosses the route of the Crètes, a 77 km long mountain road that runs from Lac Blanc up to Cernay and always moves at an altitude of around 1000 meters. Furthermore, the D 61 from the north into the pass and the D 430 discharges encountered a few hundred meters west of the pass from the south on the D 417

The pass made ​​from 1871 to 1918, the border between France and the German Empire. Today the pass is in the area of the Lorraine town of Le Valtin in Canton Fraize.

One kilometer south-west of the pass is on the route of Crètes the source of the Meurthe.

Hiking area

At the Col de la gorge of the Via Ferrata Sentier des Roches, the proceeds from the Col to Hohneck begins. He is considered one of the most impressive ( and dangerous ) Alsatian mountain trails.

Just one kilometer east there is something north of the D 417 the viewpoint Belvédère du peak rock, from which one, namely the Grand Ballon and the Hohneck has a comprehensive look at the Sentier des Roches, as well as the highest and the third highest mountain in the Vosges.

Tour de France

The Col de la gorge was ridden in 1931, 1957, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1992, 2005 and 2009 of the Tour de France.

In the literature

The novel The inn in Alsace (Le Relais d' Alsace) by Georges Simenon from 1931 playing on the Col de la gorge in a fictional guest house there.