Königsberg (Brocken)

Königsberg
Königsberg
Highest point
Elevation	1,034 m above sea level (NN) (3,392 ft) [1]
Prominence	39 m → Brocken
Isolation	1.1 km → Brocken
Coordinates	51°47′20″N10°35′58″E / 51.78889°N 10.59944°E Coordinates: 51°47′20″N10°35′58″E / 51.78889°N 10.59944°E
Geography
	Königsberg Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Parent range	Harz Mountains

Last updated April 16, 2019

The Königsberg is a neighbouring peak of the Brocken and, at 1033.5 m above sea level ^[1] the third highest elevation in the Harz mountains. It lies on a long ridge that runs from southeast to northwest about 1.5 km south of the Brocken's summit. Near its summit on the northwest side is the rock formation of Hirschhörner (max. 1,023.2 m).^[1] To the east the land descends to the Schwarze Schluftwasser, a small tributary of the Kalte Bode which flows south of the mountain. To the east on the far side of the Schwarzer Schluftwasser is the Heinrichshöhe (1,039.5 m), another subpeak of the Brocken.

The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of Northern Germany; it is located near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C (37.2 °F). It is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany; travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the Ural Mountains in Russia.

Normalnull or Normal-Null is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this reference system were to be marked "Meter über Normal-Null". Normalnull has been replaced by Normalhöhennull.

The Kalte Bode is the left-hand headstream of the Bode in the High Harz Mountains in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) long.

Geography and former access

The mountain is located in the heart of the national park and is out-of-bounds to walkers. Formerly two paths ran to the top:

Harz National Park national park of Germany

Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern slopes. 95 % of the area is covered with forests, mainly with spruce and beech woods, including several bogs, granite rocks and creeks. The park is part of the Natura 2000 network of the European Union.

The Old Königsberg Way (alte Königsbergweg) began near Eckerloch and ran uphill, alongside the old Königsberg Quarry, and up to the Kanzelklippen crags. From there it ran over the Rabenklippe, the old Eckerloch ski jump, towards the Kesselklippe and then through the Goethe Moor to the station at Goetheweg. It ran along the entire ridge to the Hirschhornklippen .
The Old Goethe Way (alte Goetheweg) began at Goetheweg station and crossed the Königsberg between Hirschhornklippen and Gipfelklippe. It then ran downhill alongside the Goethe Moor to the railway line at Neuen Goetheweg.

The Eckerloch is a forested mountain valley, 845 metres above sea level near the village of Schierke in the Harz Mountains of central Germany.

Goethe Way is the name given to a number of footpaths or trails that run through various regions in Germany and the Alps as well as a railway station on the Brocken Railway. They are all named after the German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Goetheweg station railway station in Wernigerode, Germany

Goetheweg station is located between the stations of Schierke and Brocken on the Brocken Railway in the Harz Mountains of Central Germany at a height of 956 m above sea level. The track layout today consists, as in the past, of a horizontal reversing track (Rückdrückgleis) and just one turnout, whilst the running line maintains its continuous gradient of 33 permille.

Crags

There are several prominent granite crags on the ridge. From east to west they are the:

Granite A common type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock with granular structure

Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar.

Stangenklippe,
Schluftkopf,
Kanzelklippen,
several small unnamed crags,
Rabenklippe,
Kesselklippe,
Summit of the Königsberg and the
Hirschhornklippen (Hirschhörner).

The Stangenklippe and the pillar-shaped Schluftkopf used to be popular destinations and lie between the Brocken road and Brocken Railway (Brockenbahn). The Kanzelklippen consists of a group of several granite crags, some of which are over 20 m high. On the Rabenklippe is a fireplace about 70 cm in diameter, that has been hewn out of the granite. Its age is unknown. The Gipfelklippe is only about 1.5 m high.

The Brocken Railway is one of three tourist metre gauge railways which together with the Harz Railway and Selke Valley Railway form the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways railway network in the Harz mountain range of Germany.

Gallery

Old path to the Stangenklippe crag
The Stangenklippe
Old path by the Schluftkopf
The Schluftkopf
The Kanzelklippen
Small unnamed crag
The Rabenklippe from the west
The Rabenklippe from the north
Fireplace on the Rabenklippe
Königsberg, Gipfelklippe

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References

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