A winter’s tale at the Harz
One month ago already we booked a weekend trip into the Harz. I wanted snow for the two days. Eventhough I am not a big fan of bitterly cold weather there is nothing more romantic to me than snow-covered Harz. And actually it worked. Just right at the start of the ascent onto the Brocken the scenic landscape of the Harz turns into a winter’s tale. The fabulous start of the weekend lasts for two days.
A magical snowscape
We have big plans for this Saturday. We start at Bad Harzburg and hike via Burgberg, Molkenhaus, Eckertalsperre and Scharfenstein onto the Brocken. As far as I know it is the most challenging path onto the highest height of the low mountain range.
The way onto the Burgberg alone heats up our bodies to a comfortable temperature. Now we are warmed up. Right at the Molkenhaus the white stuff begins to cover the ground. We cross the meadow leading to the river Ecker. It is wonderful how the snow crunches underfoot. There are only a few footsteps so far, therefore the landscape has almost an untouch white. Further up I am totally fascinated what kind of shapes the snow forms even on thin branches.
All ist glittering and shining where the sun falls onto illuminating the ice crystals. The snow has already shaped a bizarre and fascinating picture. The branches of the fir trees look like big paws. I take the first picturesque photo at the Eckertalsperre. With all that snow and fog it almost looks like a Norwegian fjord. Behind us the sky clears up and shows a blue ribbon that accompanies us for a while.
Attention moving cougar cage
After a while we reach the Scharfenstein, the last bastion before the steep ascent onto the brocken starts. We stop for a coffee break in order to recharge our batteries. A young couple and a group of girls are sitting in the small dining area. We sit down at the couples‘ table and order beer, apple juice spritzer and bockwurst.
Outside it starts snowing heavily. I am happy, this is going to be real fun. The best thing is that the ugly convoy road is snow covered and does not hurt my eyes that way. Just when the group of girls is about to leave a group of youn guys enters the room. Suddenly the contemplative calm is gone. It gets loud, abbrasive and above all they smell like cougars when the guys remove their jackets. It is a body-ordour that comes from the synthetic fibre of their shirts. It is time to leave.
Gone with the wind
We are ready for the last stage of our hike. This part is really challenging. It is not only that you have to overcome a diffence of altitude of about 300 metres on a distance of 3.5 kilometres. It is the time and again freshening wind that pushes the snow flakes into our faces. I am aware that the ascent is a challenge for both, our upper thighs and calves. The path becomes more and more exhausting. Fortunately we do not sink in with our walking boots as the snow is grippy. Still I am happy that I have my walking sticks with me. There are only a few people on this walk. We overtake most of them even though I stop from time to time for a picture.
There is only low visibility by now therefore we have no idea how far the peak is still away. With the heavy wind, the snow flurry and the poor visibility we feel like being on a North Pole expedition. We keep a stiff upper lip and move on. After a while we see a sign telling us that we have reached an altitude of 1.000 metres. That means we are already there. However we are surprised that the sign is still readable as all the other signposts are totally snow-covered.
After 50 minutes the Brockenhaus appears dimly before us. We made it! We climb up the stairs and are surprised that the peak is almost packed with people. Some took the narrow-gauge railway, others made it via the Goetheweg.
Fighting against the wind we move towards the summit stone. Nearly everybody is taking the „must-have-photo“ of the stone having the inscription „1.141 m altitude“ demonstrating you have been there. I don’t like the rush plus my hands are ice cold. Therefore we start our descend via the Goetheweg to the Torfhaus.
An Unimog in the ditch
A flow of people walk towards us on the tarmac road. You should be careful here as the street is partly frozen and thus very slippery. The real attraction is today underneath the peak: it is an Unimog that could not hold its course and slided into a ditch.
We leave the tarmac road and turn right. We follow the rails of the Harzer narrow-gauge railway. Suddenly we hear a snuffling noise from a far. This must be the railway climbing the hill. And that is exactly what it is. A huge black cloud of smoke coming from the steam train illustrates the struggle. That does not look very eco-friendly to me.
We trudge through the snow, that continues to fall down. The soil is already covered. A huge wide area lies before us. At nearly three o’clock in the afternoon, almost a six hours‘ walk, 25 kilometres and 1021 metres of altitude we reach the Torfhaus. We are lucky again, our bus comes in 10 minutes.
Hunting lodge Windenhütte: Under the banner of the deer
We drive directly to our Hotel close to Altenrak. We turn into a forest track. Via a lot of potholes we reach the hunting lodge Windenhütte. We booked an overnight stay and a candle light dinner. I was a little bit confused beforehand by the closing times of the restaurant. On the internet page they say seven o’clock p.m. My guess was that this does not include hotel guests. But it does. We arrive at a quarter to five and are about to take a nap. However the waitress tells us that 5.30 p.m. is the last chance for food intake.
We are at first a little bit annoyed, but what can we do about it? The hotel is located in the middle of nowhere so what can you do after seven o’clock then? There is no hotel bar and no room with a fireplace where you can spend the rest of the day. In the end our fears were in vain. We take a shower and return to the restaurant. We ordered a three-course meal. Being a vegetarian I was a little skeptical at first. But the choice of dishes is well selected. We start off with a parsnip-carrot-soup which is very delicious. The soup is followed for me by a Tarte Flambee which is very good. I am already full when the dessert comes. But it looks so tempting that I cannot resist: Chocolate muffin, cream and vanilla ice. Afterwards we take a bottle of sparkling wine and some chocolate candy with us. We manage to drink one glas of the sparkling wine before we fall asleep instantly.
On the Köhler path
The next morning we enjoy an extensive breakfast before we start to our final hike. The sun is shining and some snow flakes are falling down. The snow layer on the balcony is glittering. We start our walk directly at the hotel and walk towards Hasselfelde. On the country road we turn right into a forest path which leads us to the Stemberghaus. The trail is in a bad condition. Weh ave to cross a little creek and then walk uphill. After a while we reach the Köhlerweg which leads us directly to the hut.
The Stemberghaus is our today’s turning point. From there we follow the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg and hike to the Schöneburg-Blick. From the Stemberghaus on the sun accompanies us. Once again the landscape is bathing in a wonderful light and the small ice crystals are sparkling like diamonds. After a short break at the refuge we walk on a steep path down to Altenbrak. At the site we turn right into the forest road that leads back to the hunting lodge. This time we travelled a distance of 16 kilometres and 350 metres difference in altitude. We are looking back onto a weekend in the Harz with a lot of snow in the altitudes.
