A Vosges á deux, s'il vous plait

[jacob]

I dreamed about Walkhighlands.
It might sound silly, but I did.
I opened my laptop, and somebody (who? in dreams you never know) pointed out a new anouncement saying you're only allowed to report about the same route once. Do it more than once and you're banned.
So I got banned.

Now I'm awake, and I realise there's no such rule on this board. And that's a good thing. Because it's only a month ago I posted another w-r about sentier des roches, in the Vosges in France.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=69083

But I walked this route again, and it was even better this time. Better weather, more snow, but above all: this time I walked with the mrs. And anything is better when done with your loved ones.

I will try to post another variation of photos though, just to be on the safe side and not get banned for this w-r

Starting at the bealach of Col de la Schlucht, which is one of the few ways to get from east to west Vosges and vice versa by car, the walk starts as a pleasant stroll through the forest.

But soon the pleasant stroll leads you past the first exposed parts of this rocky path.

Going round the corner at some of the exposed parts might make one feel a bit wobbly.

Most of the exposed parts have some kind of bar to hold on to

This is looking down at the drop

And on goes the path, with snow more than kneedeep at times.

This is looking down one of the few open and less exposed parts of the walk

And this is crossing one of the open spaces

A frozen waterfall blocks the path. Beneath it there's quite a drop that looks like it might be quite painful to fall down. That means roping up to cross the waterfall.

Another airy ridge to get across, luckily with handholds again.

Along the path there's a nature made tunnel you have to go through. A nice element in this path that came from the drawing board of the local mountain association as early as 1906.

Once out of the tunnel there's still enough steepness ahead.

Downhill.

And past a running waterfall, just hidden behind the trees.

Having finished the Sentier des Roches, you arrive at the valley of Frankenthal. From here it's upwards to reach the summit of Hohneck at 1364 metres. This is looking up at it's summit on the left. The bealach in the middle is the route of ascend.

This photo is taken from the same spot, but looking the other way, east, towards the German Black Forest.

This is a zoomed photo, also taken from the same spot, of Martinswand, a steep and rocky wall north of Hohnecks main summit.

And this is a zoom towards the bealach that is the route of ascend. For scale: there's a person standing on top of it.

On our way up, we saw some rockclimbers on Martinswand.

The going is tough, because of the snow that is at times kneedeep. Not too steep at first though.

The higher you get, the steeper it gets.

First photo with me in it, battling to get the last steep metres done.

Close to the summit, the mountain rescue team is doing an excercise.

In the blink of an eye, the fine weather is deteriorating. Here's some trailrunners passing some cornices that we luckily ascended past.

Worse weather, fine looking cornices.
Time for our walk out, back to the car. A very fine walk.

[ChrisW]

Another cracker Jacob, so different to the first post of the place I'm sure your dream won't be coming true anytime soon Looks to be some hard work in the snow and some dodgy drops too Great selection of photos that really did give an entirely new perspective on the hike

[jacob]

I'm sure your dream won't be coming true anytime soon

Well, did my best for that. I'm glad it's noticed and appreciated

[petelynn]

Funnily enough I was at the Col de la Schlucht the day before your walk. I noticed the sign saying closed in winter conditions. Seeing your report I'm glad I didn't ignore it - not equipped (both gearwise and fear wise) for that kind of walk in those conditions. Instead did a gentle forest (but still snowy) walk near the Lac Vert. This picture from that walk may well be the Hohneck.

[jacob]

Funnily enough I was at the Col de la Schlucht the day before your walk. I noticed the sign saying closed in winter conditions. Seeing your report I'm glad I didn't ignore it - not equipped (both gearwise and fear wise) for that kind of walk in those conditions. Instead did a gentle forest (but still snowy) walk near the Lac Vert. This picture from that walk may well be the Hohneck.

We may have just walked past each other then, because we too were on C dl S the day before, just to check the circumstances.
Your picture is Hohneck for sure, the Auberge at the summit is quite recognizeable.
My overall opinion about Vosges now after 2 visits is that the eastern part is a much more beautiful place than the western part. My short holiday alone I spent west of the range, this time we spent it east of the range.
As we were driving from hotel to C dl S and back, we were surprised at how beautiful and big the forests east of the range are (compared to the past glory ski resorts I found in the west), so I imagine your walk near Lac Vert must have been too.