At Feldberg

View east from the Feldberg

Image: Hamsterkiste

The Feldberg’s story is like that of a heavy man who has lost a lot of weight several times, only to put it back on again. In the case of mountains, of course, this has nothing to do with food, but with the immense forces at work in the Earth’s crust. These forces cause mountains to rise and then wear down again over a very long time. A mountain is said to have formed three times in the area where the Feldberg is today. Each time, however, took about a billion years. The present-day Feldberg formed about 65 million years ago, during the period known as the Tertiary. The age of the dinosaurs was just coming to an end. From the Feldberg, there are sweeping views across the Black Forest. At 1,493 m, it is Germany’s second-highest mountain. It lies southeast of the city of Freiburg and is surrounded by other high mountains. These include the Seebuck and the Baldenweger Buck, which are almost as high and are usually considered part of the Feldberg. It is much colder on the Feldberg than at lower elevations. The average temperature is 3.3 ° C. In the city of Freiburg, which is about 1,200 m lower, the average temperature is 11.4 ° C. Because of the low temperatures, it often snows on the Feldberg, which is covered by an unbroken blanket of snow for about 150 days a year. Even so, the sun often shines on the Feldberg. It has been calculated that the sun shines here for 1,700 hours a year. This makes the Feldberg one of the sunniest areas north of the Alps. The mountain’s name comes from the old word “Velt,” meaning a larger treeless area. The lack of trees is partly because cattle used to be driven up onto the Feldberg to graze. The animals ate the young trees and shrubs, so no forest could grow here. However, many rare animal and plant species settled here and thrive on the nutrient-poor land.

Find out:

1. How many times is the Feldberg said to have existed?

2. When did the present-day Feldberg form?

3. How high is the Feldberg?

4. Which mountains are near Feldberg?

5. How many days is this mountain covered in snow?

6. How many hours of sunshine does the Feldberg get?

7. Where does the name come from?

8. Why are there so few trees on the Feldberg?