Region: Lower Rhine
Departure: Moosch
Height: 1,343 metres
Altitude Gain: 951 m
Length: 12.3 kilometres
Average gradient: 7.7%
Maximum Gradient: 12%
Another
less-heralded climb used in the Tour de France is Le Grand Ballon. Not to be confused with its relatively close compatriot, the Ballon d'Alsace, it's the only
Hors Categorie climb in the Vosges. It has appeared in the Tour on 7 occasions,
the first being in 1969, when Belgian cyclist Lucien Van Impe was the first to
reach its summit. Its most recent appearance was in the Stage 9 race from
Gérardmer to Mulhouse in 2014.
Like
Italy’s iconic mountain, Monte Grappa, the Grand Ballon has many routes up to
its 1343-metre summit. Coming from our overnight stay in Urbès, I began the
climb from the small village of Moosch along the D13B8, via the N66. Joining
the road at Geishouse, the climb averages 7.7% over 12.3 kilometres.
Despite
the drizzle, the first 5 kilometres along bitumen road was easy enough. But the remainder of the climb, with the exception
of the final 2 kilometres was along pothole-infested road. The constant
rumblings and lightning flashes amidst the driving rain left me with no
illusions that indeed Le Grand Ballon is not only the highest point in the
Vosges but the windiest and wettest. Of its many roads leading to the summit,
it took only seconds to realise that I’d chosen the worst. Travelling at not
much more than 6-kilometres per hour, I spent the next 40 minutes avoiding
small holes and clumps of gravel through the dark forest ‘road’. 
Finally reaching the main road from the north, the
D431, was a welcome surprise. The rain had all but ceased and I was back on a
road more fitting for a bicycle with 23mm tyres. It wasn’t long before the
well-known giant white balloon appeared on my right, indicating that I was
little more than a kilometre from the summit.
Despite gradients of 12%, it was nothing compared to the slow slog
through the forest. Still soaked to the bone as I rounded the climb’s final
switchback, I couldn’t wait to enjoy a bowl of soup, perhaps two, at the
Ballon’s summit restaurant. 
Books by Mark Krieger:
‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia and other online bookstores.
Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
“I still must abide by the rules of
the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization.”
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