The Höllental is one of the valleys in the Black Forest that cuts through the asymmetric ridgeline of mountains from its plateau-like eastern uplands and runs down its steep western escarpment. The valley follows the line of the Bonndorf Rift Valley, which runs from Kaiserstuhl via the Wutach gorge and Hegau to Lake Constance and is part of this tectonically formed fault. Additionally, it could have been created as a result of repeated glaciation of the Black Forest's uplands by ice lakes that could have spilled westwards over the eroded ridgeline. As a result, the tributaries of the Höllenbach east of the ridgeline flow initially southeast, turning almost 180° towards the northeast into the Höllental itself, a situation similar to that of the Maloja Pass in Engadin.
Course – "Hell" and "Heaven"
Below the high-lying hollows of Hinterzarten, the federal highwayB 31 winds downhill, partly in spectacular loops, at the head of the former glacial valley. In this enclosed bowl with the hamlet of Höllsteig, the so-called Löffeltal, where beginning in the 18th century metal spoons were forged, joins the Zartenbach stream south of the road. To the north, the Ravenna gorge, with its numerous waterfalls, opens up under the Ravenna viaduct of the Höllental Railway. From the south the Bistenbach and Alpersbach streams tumble into it, becoming waterfalls. After the station of Hirschsprung and following the U-shaped valley with steep slopes up to 600 m high is a section with towering cliffs up to 130 m and known as the Höllenpass. The narrowest part of the gorge is called the Hirschsprung and was originally only 9 m wide. Thus, a common tale is existing about a red deer's jump across it. Behind the rocks with the ruins of Falkenstein Castle, the valley broadens out somewhat and provides more space for the houses and farms of Falkensteig. At Himmelreich hamlet and its railway station, the valley abruptly opens up into the Basin of Zarten.
Importance for transportation
The great importance of the Höllental today for long-distance traffic crossing the relatively low-lying Hinterzarten saddle was only achieved at significant cost. Initially, the cart track through the Wagensteige valley to the north was more important. But by the 12th century, another track, the Falkensteige, had been built by the dukes of Zähringen from Freiburg im Breisgau to Donaueschingen, through what was then called the Falkenstein Valley, the present-day Höllental. The track was guarded at the exit to the narrow pass by the Falkenstein Castle, but was later threatened, nevertheless. Not until the coach and the large bridle train of Marie Antoinette, which was to bring her to her future husband, the subsequent Louis XVI of France, had to traverse the route, was the track developed into a road. The Falkenstein Valley achieved fame again during the retreat of French troops under General Moreau in 1796, at the Battle of Emmendingen, and was referred to as the Val d'enfer. As early as 1691, Emperor Leopold I had described the present-day Hirschsprung as die Höll, when he reviewed the defence of routes through the Black Forest. Even the name of the Ravenna ravine had French or other Romanic origins; it is related :fr:ravine|la ravine. The term arose considerably earlier because it was already in use by 1560. During subsequent work on the route, the gorge at Hirschsprung was successively blasted open. The level of traffic on the present-day B 31 has resulted in plans to replace the main road through Falkensteig, the gorge, and the bends at Höllsteig by tunnels. Since 1887, the Höllentalbahn has passed up the gorge, initially using a rack railway system. The incline is 1:18 and it climbs a total of 441 m. The walking trail along the bottom of the ravine, known as the Jägerpfad, once belonged to the Freiburg-Lake Constance Black Forest trail, but this has been currently diverted over the northern side of the valley due to the weight of road traffic.
A regional wind, which constantly supplies the town centre of Freiburg with fresh air, is named after the Höllental, although in fact only part of the wind blowing through Freiburg comes from the Hell Valley. The foehn wind from the valley combines with streams of cold air from the other side valleys of the Zarten Basin and blows through the narrow pass at Ebnet, accelerating at the exit of the basin into the Freiburg area of the Upper Rhine Plain.
Places of interest
Hirschsprung gorge with a deer monument
St. Oswald Chapel in Steig with a late-Gothic altar
