The ski area
La Bresse-Hohneck tops out at 1,350 metres and offers around thirty pistes across 220 hectares, with reliable snow at the top of the area. The Lispach sector, smaller and gentler, suits beginners and children well. Together they form the most complete ski area in the Vosges, with a snowpark and a fun zone.
The Hohneck summit
The third-highest summit in the Vosges at 1,363 metres, the Hohneck offers a 360-degree panorama: the Alsace plain, the Black Forest and, on very clear days, the Bernese Alps. It is reached by car via the Route des Crêtes in season, or on foot from the Col de la Schlucht in about an hour and a half along the GR5.
In summer
La Bresse turns into a summer playground: a bike park with downhill trails, a treetop adventure course, an alpine coaster and hiking paths up to the mountain lakes. Lakes Lispach and Blanchemer, ringed by peat bogs, make two easy and beautiful walks.
A closer look at the Hohneck summit
An orientation table, installed as early as 1889 by the French Alpine Club, helps name what you can see from the 1,363-metre summit. On either side open two spectacular glacial cirques, the Frankenthal to the north and the Wormspel to the south, with Lake Schiessrothried below. The summit area is covered in chaumes, those broad grassy expanses free of firs and beeches that give the ridges their high-moorland look. In season you will find daffodils, yellow gentians and arnica.
Climbing the Hohneck: the options
A dead-end road leads to the summit from the Route des Crêtes: it is the simplest access, usable as long as the road is open. On foot, the gentlest route goes via the Pâquis des Hautes-Fées; another path links the Hohneck to the Petit Hohneck, overlooking Lake Schiessrothried. A chalet-restaurant occupies the summit. From the chalet, allow around thirty minutes by road via the Schlucht, or twenty-five minutes to the La Bresse pistes if the ski area is your goal.
