Wurmberg (Harz)

Wurmberg
height	971.2 m above sea level NHN
location	District of Goslar , Lower Saxony , Germany
Mountains	Harz (Upper Harz)
Dominance	3.1 km → Rabenklippe vom Königsberg (Brocken)
Notch height	182 m
Coordinates	51 ° 45 '24 " N , 10 ° 37' 6" E Coordinates: 51 ° 45 '24 " N , 10 ° 37' 6" E
Development	1922 Ski jump; 1950s restaurant ; 1963 Wurmbergseilbahn; 1972–94 IC - reconnaissance tower
particularities	highest mountain in Lower Saxony , Wurmbergschanzen

The Wurmberg , formerly called Wormberch , Wormsberg or Wormberg , in the district of Goslar is 971.2 m above sea level. NHN the second highest mountain in the Harz low mountain range and the highest mountain in Lower Saxony ( Germany ).

Geographical location

View from the Großer Knollen over Sankt Andreasberg to the Wurmberg

The Wurmberg rises just outside the Harz National Park in the Harz Nature Park around 3.3 km north of Braunlage (around 560 m ) and around 3 km west-southwest of Schierke , which is located in the neighboring district of Harz in Saxony-Anhalt .

Its summit is around 4.8 km south (as the crow flies ) of that of the Brocken . Both mountains are separated from the valley of the Kalten Bode , which flows there in a west-east direction between 700 and 650 m altitude. The border with Saxony-Anhalt passes the mountain to the north and east. Beyond that, in the direction of Schierke, there are Großer ( 906.4 m ) and Kleiner Winterberg ( 837 m ).

The Bremke rises between the Wurmberg and the Kleiner Winterberg . To the west past the mountain flows the Große Bode as the eastern source stream of the Warmen Bode , which flows south of the mountain through Braunlage.

geology

The Wurmberg is essentially made up of chunks of granite . Above that there is still contact-metamorphic Hornfels , which shows that it is the roof region of the Brockenpluton .

Wurmberg nature reserve

Until October 2006, the Wurmberg was within the "Upper Harz" nature reserve. In order to create further opportunities for alpine skiing, since then only two sub-areas with a total of 183 hectares on the west and south-west slopes have been designated as the Wurmberg nature reserve.

Wurmberg Cliffs

On the southern flank of the Wurmberg there are the two distinctive Wurmberg cliffs , which are part of the numerous Harz cliffs :

The Große Wurmbergklippe or Große Klippe ( ⊙ ; max. 823.8 m ), which is designated as a natural monument (ND GS 32), is located in the Wurmberg nature reserve about 220 m west of the cable car route between the mountain and middle station of the Wurmberg cable car , a little above of the upper Wurmberg quarry, which has now been filled in .51.74825 10.614611111111

The Kleine Wurmbergklippe or Kleine Klippe ( ⊙ ; at about 690 m ) is located between the middle and valley station of the cable car, almost 100 m east of the cable car route in the spruce forest.51.741444444444 10.617194444444

history

Mountain name

As early as the 13th century, the name Wormberch appears for the Wurmberg in the loan books and property registers of the County of Regenstein - Blankenburg in connection with iron ore mining . In the 19th century, the mountain was still called Wormsberg or Wormberg , a conclusive interpretation of the name is not yet available.

Historic stone structures

View from the Achtermannshöhe to the Wurmberg with the former Wurmbergschanze

Small Wurmberg cliff near the middle station of the Wurmberg cable car

The summit of the Wurmberg is covered with old, peculiar stone structures, which have long been interpreted as the remains of an allegedly millennia-old pre-Christian place of worship.

A long, straight staircase made of uncut stones starts about 90 meters above the mining area on Eisenerz on the eastern flank of the mountain and ends at the edge of the summit plateau in a terrace field with edges made of equally uncut stones. In the 19th century these stairs were popularly called Heidentreppe ; in the 20th century the name Hexentreppe became common . Heinrich Pröhle reported in his Harz sagas in 1856 that a stone path on the plateau leads to a round pile of stones as an extension of the stairs. On the occasion of his collection of the sagas of the Upper Harz in 1851, residents of Braunlage told him that there had once been a pagan temple there.

Between 1949 and 1956 Walter Nowothnig (1907–1971) carried out several archaeological excavations on the Wurmberg. The collection of sagas from Pröhles reinforced his suspicion that the rumor that this staircase was only built by the forester Daubert, who lived in Braunlage around 1825, was no longer tenable. The stone path was rediscovered through Nowothnig's excavations and finally at the end of the path a circular rampart about 10 m in diameter, which encloses the remains of a square stone building. Furthermore, the foundations of a small round building were discovered south of the path. In 2006 another, larger rampart on the western edge of the summit plateau became known. Nowothnig found no clues as to the dating of the complex, which is why it was henceforth listed as a prehistoric cult site of an unknown calendar .

Unscientific speculations quickly turned the stone setting into a Celtic cult complex. The square structure within the ramparts became a temple , the path became a processional street , the stone terraces became a cult theater and the remains of the small rotunda were given the name witch altar . From 1999 to 2000, archaeological investigations were carried out again on the Wurmberg under the direction of Michael Geschwinde and Martin Oppermann. The results of this research are quite sobering. The square formation turned out to be the foundation of an existing stone hut from 1820 to 1840, which the chief forester Daubert had built there. The remains of this hut, the pile of stones mentioned by Pröhle, were used in 1890 for the construction of the trigonometric measuring tower mentioned in the General section . The circular system was only created when this tower was built as an abutment for inclined posts that supported the tower on all sides. An English button from around 1800 was found below one of the stones of the witch's staircase, which ultimately turned out to be the work of Daubert. The large ramparts were probably also an enclosure created by the forester in question. The round witch altar could be identified as the remains of the foundations of the old signal system from 1850. Only the age of the stone terrace complex could not be clarified beyond doubt. A fast team believes a geological formation that was naturally formed by severe erosion and that was later expanded by human hands is likely.

Nowothnig seems to have been so blinded by his fabulous finds that he did not include the measuring tower, which was only demolished twenty years before the excavations, and the signal that was known to him from Prohle's reports in his investigation. The forester Daubert and his daughter were known for their feasts on the mountain, and the superstition of Braunlager residents seems to have suspected pagan acts behind them. In just a few decades, their stories turned into the legend of the pagan temple . Although it can be ruled out with certainty that there was once a prehistoric cult facility on the mountain, the mountain plateau was designated as an archaeological reserve in 2003 due to its unique traces of human use of the Upper Harz in the early modern period.

View from the Brocken to the Wurmberg with the former Wurmbergschanze

General

Around 1850, the first signal to measure the Harz was set up on the summit of the Wurmberg . It was replaced by a wooden tower for trigonometric measurements in 1890 , which lasted until 1930.

In 1922 a ski jumping hill was built (see section ski jumping hills ) and in the 1950s a restaurant was built right next to it - the Wurmberg-Alm .

The division of Germany meant that the inner German border ran past the Wurmberg to the north and east. During the Cold War there was a listening station on the summit plateau: In 1972, US secret services erected an 81 m high tower on the Wurmberg, the North Tower , to accommodate the corresponding listening devices. This station was blown up on August 22, 1994 and its remains removed ( see also: Reconnaissance tower on the Stöberhai ).

The Wurmberg cable car has been leading up the mountain from Braunlage since 1963 .

Transmitting and measuring systems

On the Wurmberg there was a filling transmitter for the city of Braunlage . This served at the time of the German division inadvertently to supply parts of the East , including the city of Halle (Saale) , with the Western television of ZDF , because the transmitter peat by as basic network stations in this area Brocken was shielded. After the reunification , additional frequencies were added to supply the village of Schierke .

channel	Frequency (MHz)	program	ERP (kW)	Transmission diagram round (ND) / directional (D)	Polarization horizontal (H) / vertical (V)
26th	511.25	The First (MDR)	0.01	D.	H
43	647.25	ZDF	0.25	D.	H
58	767.25	MDR television Saxony-Anhalt	0.032	D.	H
60	783.25	NDR television Lower Saxony	0.25	D.	H

There has been a 70 cm amateur radio relay on the mountain top since September 2007. It has the callsign DB0WUR and transmits on 438.550 MHz. This enables large parts of Lower Saxony, Thuringia , Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt to be reached.

One of 25 measuring points of the Lower Saxony air hygiene monitoring system is also located in a container on the summit .

Wurmberg quarry

Wurmberg quarry and Große Wurmbergklippe from a distance

Wurmberg quarry up close

The quarry at Wurmberg was laid out in 1899 when the Walkenried – Braunlage / Tanne narrow-gauge railway was being built . Since September 1, 1899, the Wurmberg freight station was located at the foot of the Wurmberg on Brockenweg (until 1958). This is where the raw and cut stones made of Wurmberg granite were loaded. The gravel works called "Knacker" had been located at the freight yard since 1925.

The Wurmberg loading station was initially connected to the lower quarry floor further up on the mountain by means of a brake mountain. On this the stones were transported in carts attached to ropes. The embankment on which the tracks for this transport system were laid can still be seen in full today. Later a cable car was built on the dam , the pillar foundations of which can still be found in the forest today.

In 1974 the quarry was closed. What remains is a considerably high rock wall in the lower part of the quarry. The upper quarry was filled with overburden that arose in the first construction phase of the Braunlage bypass. Since 2006 it has been located within the Wurmberg nature reserve .

Wurmberg cable car

Valley station of the Wurmberg cable car

Wurmberg-Alm on the summit

The toboggan house near the middle station of the cable car

View over the outlet of the former Wurmbergschanze (2006) with treeless stripes (left) in front of the Großer Winterberg on the former inner-German border and the foothills of Schierke (right)

Hexenritt descent on the Wurmberg

The Wurmberg cable car runs as a small cabin lift from Braunlage to the Wurmberg. The former two-section lift was built in two construction phases: Since 1963 it has run from today's middle station to the top station; the lower section from the valley station to the mountain station was only opened in 1967. In 2001, today's completely continuous lift was inaugurated - with the option to get on and off at the middle station. The cable car overcomes an altitude difference of 397.5 m, is 2.8 km long, open all year round and is used, for example, for winter sports enthusiasts and hikers as an ascent aid.

Wurmberg Tower

The Wurmberg Tower in April 2020

The old tower with ski jump on the Wurmberg, built in 1951, was demolished in 2014 due to the risk of collapse. Construction of the new Wurmberg tower began in 2018.

The construction work on the tower took 13 months - and thus longer than initially expected. The reason was the weather, because of strong storms and snowfalls it was not possible to work for several months. The total costs of the 32-meter-high new building made of red metal and a glass viewing platform were around two million euros . Going up is via an elevator or stairs , downhill visitors can also slide down through an approximately twelve-meter-long stainless steel tube.

The new tower opened in September 2019.

Hiking and leisure

Hiking destinations on or near the Wurmberg include the Rodelhaus restaurant , the small and large Wurmberg cliffs , the Wurmberg quarry , the bear bridge on the Warmen Bode and the villages of Braunlage , Elend , Königskrug and Schierke .

In the warm season you can ride mountain bikes and monster scooters on the mountain . The restaurant Wurmberg-Alm on the mountain is included as No. 156 in the system of stamping points of the Harz hiking nobility.

Winter sports area

A winter sports area is located on the Wurmberg (about 570 to 971.2 m altitude):

Ski jumps

The Wurmberg is the location of several ski jumping hills: The Wurmbergschanze was built on its summit in 1922 , the 30 m high inrun tower of which contained a viewing platform ; due to structural damage, it was demolished in 2014. The Brockenwegschanzen are located on the southern slope near Braunlage .

Toboggan house and toboggan run

The toboggan house is about halfway up the southern slope, 100 m from the middle station of the Wurmberg cable car. It emerged from a simple farm building right at the beginning of the toboggan run , which opened in 1908 , is still managed today and a popular excursion destination. On the 1.5 or 2 km long route you can toboggan down to the engagement meadow near the valley station of the cable car.

To ski

On the Wurmberg there are six ski slopes with levels of difficulty from easy to difficult and around 12 km in total. The longest slope is mainly on the southern slope with a length of 4.5 km and a difference in altitude of 400 m; on a more direct route, another piste with a length of around 3.5 km runs partly parallel to it. On the south-east slope there is the Kaffeehorst ski slope , which is 400 m long and has a difference in altitude of 80 m, and the Hexenritt slope , which is around 180 to 200 m long and has a difference in altitude of 60 m; There is also the snowboard slope for snowboarders , which is 400 m long and has an altitude difference of 80 m. On the north side is the Nordhang slope , which is 350 to 400 m long and has an altitude difference of 80 m.

In addition to the Wurmberg cable car (see above), there are three drag lifts for skiers and snowboarders - the double anchor lift (430 m long; built in 1968) on the south-east slope at Kaffeehorst and Hexenritt and two parallel j-bar lifts (each 300 m long; built in 1974) on the north slope at the ski meadow - are available, which together have a transport capacity (excluding the cable car) of 2,454 people per hour. A new four-chair lift will also be available from the 2013/2014 winter season.

The 3.5 km long Wurmberg trail is available for cross-country skiers , from which there is a connection to other trails, whereby the trail network in the Harz has a total length of over 500 km.

New descent from the summit down to the witch's ride

View from the east of the Schneisee

View from the west of the lake and the summit

Wurmberg 2015

In the late summer of 2012, the 7.5 million euro project “Wurmberg 2015” was started against considerable opposition from nature conservation organizations. The clearing work for widening the existing ski slopes as well as two new ski slopes and a large car park south of the Kaffeehorst was largely completed on September 29, 2012. 2013 of the peak of 5.000 m² was then west Schneisee applied, wherein the water supply is used by extensive snowmaking equipment. The new descent from the summit down to the Kaffeehorst was equipped with a modern snow lance system and a 4-seater chair lift.

At the start of the 2017/2018 season, a lighting system for floodlighting was put into operation. There is a large car park with 600 spaces directly below the slope. The other slopes were made snow- sure by snow cannons ; However, critics doubt whether this measure makes sense in the altitude of the Upper Harz. Finally, a number of the buildings required for the operation of the new facilities were erected. The various slopes are now connected to one another via the summit.

The converted ski area was opened on December 6, 2013.

"Schierke 2000"

To the northeast of the Wurmberg - in the area between the Großes and Kleiner Winterberg - a lift or gondola with four new runs is planned in the direction of the village of Schierke in Saxony-Anhalt. In addition, a tire toboggan facility (snow tubing) with a lift is to be built. In the final stage, the winter sports and skiing area could have 13 runs with a total of around 30 km of slopes. In addition, the possibilities for activities in the warm season are to be expanded: For example, a ziprider is to be built.

The project, which has not yet been finally decided, is criticized for being based on public-private mixed financing and for requiring additional snow-making systems with corresponding water requirements. A feasibility study of the "Naturally. Schierke" project assumes that more than 40 hectares of mountain forest have been cleared and that particularly protected biotopes and rare bird species have been severely affected or destroyed. These interventions should u. a. can be compensated by afforestation.

An economic amortization should take place with a basic scenario of an average of 60 skiing days in 2020.

and display information about the image

South panorama of Braunlage with Wurmberg in the background