Little Zschand

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The Kleine Zschand is a dry valley in Saxon Switzerland . As a side valley of the Kirnitzschtal, it leads from the Felsenmühle in a south-westerly direction to below the Great Winterberg and lies in the Ostrau district . Various hiking trails run in the valley and its side valleys; most of the climbing peaks of the sub-area of ​​the Saxon Switzerland climbing area of the same name are located in the southern part in particular .

As in the Großer Zschand, there is no continuous watercourse in the Kleiner Zschand. Apart from the last section before the confluence with the Kirnitzschtal, the valley floor is also extremely flat, it is consistently in a clayey intermediate layer between two sandstone horizons . In its southern part, the Kleine Zschand splits into a larger western and a smaller eastern part. The western valley arm is also known as the "Quenengrund". The meadows in the valley floor are called "Quenenwiesen". This unusual name is possibly due to the largely disappearing watercourses there ( Middle High German quinen = to shrink ), possibly also to the branching of the valley (mhd. Kinen = to split).

Panorama seen from Winterstein, with the Pechofenhorn, Wartburg, Kleinem Winterberg and Wildenstein

history

The valley can already be found in Matthias Oeder's map from 1592. The map shows various routes through the Kleiner Zschand, which Oeder calls “quene”. As a connection to the Roßsteig , which originally represented the important connection in the Middle Ages from the Elbe at Herrnskretschen via the Großer Winterberg and on to the Hohen Straße to Bautzen and Zittau , a path led from the Neuen Wildenstein , the seat of the Wildenstein rulership, through the Kleiner Zschand and at the end of the valley on the Roßsteig below the Winterberg.

In the upper part of the Quenengrund, mining experiments took place at the beginning of the 18th century . Attempts were made to find and mine gold in two mines with the names "Der Himmelsfürst" and "Dasjoyte Glück". However, traces of these mines can no longer be found.

Climbing area

The Kleine Zschand is also part of the Saxon Switzerland climbing area. In addition to the climbing peaks, especially in the southern part of the valley, which are located on the eastern slopes of the Kleiner Winterberg and the northern slopes of the Großer Winterberg, this also includes the rocks adjoining it to the east up to the Winterstein , which itself served as a climbing peak for a short time. The most important peaks are Heringstein , Kleines and Großes Bärenhorn , Hinteres Pechofenhorn , Wartburg and the Gleitmannstürme

The mountaineering development began in 1893 with the ascent of the Heringstein and the Wartburg, although the latter had already been climbed in the Middle Ages as an outpost of the castle on the Winterstein. Around 1900 the peaks around the Bärenhörner and Pechofenhörner were opened up. Until around 1945, due to the long access routes, new peaks and paths were rarely climbed. After 1945, the Winterstein was first developed as a climbing summit, as the stairs there had fallen into disrepair after the war years and was then removed. In 1952 the staircase was rebuilt and the Winterstein was no longer used as a climbing summit in accordance with the Saxon climbing rules. At this time, the systematic development of the other peaks began. In 1950, the Bärfangkegel, one of the three most difficult peaks in Saxon Switzerland, was climbed for the first time in a sporty way.

One of the first important first-time climbers was Oskar Pusch , who first climbed the Hintere Pechofenhorn in 1899 and then completed other new tours at various Zschand peaks. More recently, for example, Bernd Arnold can be mentioned with paths such as the barometer for moods on the Heringstein (level of difficulty 2 / Xc) or the Lustgarten on the Elfiturm (Xb).

literature

  • Hermann Lemme, Gerhard Engelmann: Values ​​of the German homeland, Volume 2, Between Sebnitz, Hinterhermsdorf and the Zschirnsteinen , Akademieverlag Berlin, 1966
  • Dietmar Heinicke (Ed.): Climbing Guide Saxon Switzerland. Volume Affensteine, Kleiner Zschand , Berg- & Naturverlag Rölke, Dresden 2002, ISBN 3-934514-05-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hermann Lemme, Gerhard Engelmann: Values ​​of the German Homeland, Volume 2, Between Sebnitz, Hinterhermsdorf and the Zschirnsteinen , Akademieverlag Berlin, 1966, p. 119 ff.
  2. ^ Hermann Lemme, Gerhard Engelmann: Values ​​of the German Homeland, Volume 2, Between Sebnitz, Hinterhermsdorf and the Zschirnsteinen , Akademieverlag Berlin, 1966, p. 8, p. 124
  3. ↑ a b Dietmar Heinicke (Ed.): Climbing Guide Saxon Switzerland. Volume Affensteine, Kleiner Zschand , Berg- & Naturverlag Rölke, Dresden 2002, p. 219

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 32.5 "  N , 14 ° 15 ′ 57.6"  E