Ballon de Servance, Servance

The Ballon de Servance is a summit of the Southern Vosges massif, on the border of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est regions. It is the highest point of the department of Haute-Saône, and of the national natural reserve of the Ballons Comtois. It is the first significant summit of an altitude higher than 1 000 m when one approaches the Vosges massif from the southwest. Its neighbor, the Ballon d'Alsace, dominates it only of 31 meters.

The summit part is occupied by a stubble, one of the smallest of the massif, dominated by military installations forbidden of access and an alpine pasture intended for the herds of cows during the summer. A double air disaster occurred there on June 25, 1963, involving two American fighter planes, whose pilots were killed. The alpine pasture is crossed by a hiking trail that links the Ballon de Servance pass to the Sailley refuge and the Luthier pass.