Earlier today as I was about to access by car the (long) approach road to the parking spot - as per Phil’s GPX file on SOTA maps.
At the very start, just after the Glamping Pods site, I was greeted by a ‘No Vehicles’ sign (White sign with Red Border which I believe also means no bicycles unless being pushed).
Below it was a sign stating this was a forestry road and access was only for those authorised.
Not wanting to fall foul to any French traffic laws nor the possibility of having my activation invalidated, I turned round.
I could not see an alternative approach to the summit nor the parking so skipped this one.
Does anyone have an alternative parking spot & route for the summit.
Did anyone manage to become ‘authorised’ to access the road and if so how did you go about obtaining this?
I activated this summit about 10 days ago. I approached it in the same way as you (from the east) and faced the same sign I believe. I was also planning to park further, as indicated on SOTA maps. I had a brief look at the map and decided against driving all the way to the other side; so I cannot tell you whether you are allowed from thar side (west). We decided to park and go for the hike anyway; it probably added an hour or two overall but had the luxury of time. It turned out to be a great summit and I had a fun SOTA.
I have also heard that further travel after the hotel is no longer permitted.
If you have a hike of over 400 altimeters in the future, then this summit will probably be one of the rare pearls in the Vosges (as there are quite a few) … especially since it is a bit out of the way.
But if you combine it with FL/VO-019 during the day, you have a drive-on to compensate
You did well, making it up by foot. It’s a shame they restricted access; I assume forestry vehicles got stuck too many times negotiating onward traffic.
Who knows, perhaps one day when all the work is done, they’ll re-open.
That’s correct. Not only is the forestry track now no longer accessible other than by foot, there is also no way to continue the journey either; effectively a dead end at the hotel.
I had done FL/VO-019 just before, so went to FL/VO-016 instead.
