Děčínský Sněžník

View from Decin ( Decin ) on the Labe ( Elbe) westwards to Děčínský Sněžník ( High Schneeberg )

The Děčínský Sněžník ( German: Hoher Schneeberg, also Děčín Schneeberg ) at Jílové ( Eulau ) in the Czech region of Ústí nad Labem Region is 722.8 m with nm the highest mountain in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Typical are the steep, barely articulated rock walls of his flanks of solid sandstone of the Turon. The once existing on the flat summit plateau of dense spruce forest was completely destroyed in the 1980s by sulfur dioxide exposure.

Geographical location

The Děčínský Sněžník located in linkselbischen part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Its summit rises approximately 8 km west-northwest of the Labe ( Elbe) town of Decin ( Decin ). On the southwest side of the mountain is the village Sněžník (Snow Mountain ). Below the steep southern slope is located on the Labe inflow Jilovsky Potok ( Eulabach ) the city Jílové ( Eulau ) and a little further east than Bynov district of Decin. To the north runs the old road between Pirna and Decin (formerly National Highway 177), which is since 1945, interrupted at the nearby border. Lying parts of the landscape protection area Elbe Sandstone Rocks on the mountain.

History

When in the middle of the 19th century in connection with the Central European arc measurement in Bohemia and the Kingdom of Saxony, the country should be re-measured, was Franz Anton Graf von Thun und Hohenstein in 1864 according to plans of the Saxon Higher Regional architect Karl Moritz Haenel the still existing stone lookout tower build. He served from 1866 as a station 1st order No. 8 Schneeberg the Royal Saxon triangulation. For this was on the observation deck of the tower a stone survey point, which no longer exists today.

Opened in 1865 at the foot of the tower for the first time a serving. Some years later, a mountain cottage was built in the then -down in fashion Swiss style. In the following years, the mountain became a popular destination for walkers and day-trippers. 1936 was on the look-out tower for the first time in Bohemia, a television signal is received, which was broadcast to the Summer Olympics in Berlin. With a homemade device Professor Matthias Färber from soil Bach could hear the sound of the program.

After the expulsion of the German population of Bohemia after 1945, then fell into disrepair, the building gradually on the mountain. Until the 1970s, the Mountain cottage was still in operation. In 1986, she was torn. Also the condition of the observation tower deteriorated steadily, so that this end of the 1980s has been locked. Only after the political change in 1989, it was possible to stop the decay. In 1992, the now under preservation tower was extensively renewed and some years later at an historic location, a new mountain restaurant.

Geology and Mining

The contact zone of the Bohemian part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains is marked by the Mittelsächsische disorder expiring here. It is also the border between the gneiss area of ​​the Ore Mountains and the sandstone of the Bohemian Switzerland. In the south of the Ore Mountains entire running Egergraben the main section of tectonically -related volcanism was in the period 42-18 Ma BP ( before present million years ago), with the beginning of which also began the raising of the Erzgebirge desk plaice. While the Erzgebirge was raised before about 31-26 Ma PB (middle Oligocene ) ultimately about 600 to 800 meters, raising the eastern Ore Mountains came only in the lower Miocene to the financial statements and the adjacent sandstone deposits experienced this vertical transport until about 14-10 Ma PB (Middle Miocene ). Therefore, this area reaches the greatest heights of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains with the High Schneeberg, the highest summit.

The rock of the mountain tabular body is a medium - to coarse- grained quartz sandstone of the Jizera Formation from the middle to upper Turonian. At the foot of its steep walls are large amounts of sand and loose blocks, which have their origin in Pleistocene erosion processes.

Below the summit plateau is situated on the southern slopes of the High Schneeberg in the "Lower wall " a fluorite that 1906 was discovered by geologists Josef Emanuel Hibsch. A reduction of the occurrence but delayed until after the Second World War as part of an industrial development in Czechoslovakia. Between 1955 and 1957 was carried out to explore the deposit and first trial production. From 1968 was the inclusion of degradation. The deposit was developed through several tunnels, the extraction itself was carried out on 8 soles. The mining area comprised a total area of ​​about 250 hectares, the length of the applied tunnel amounted to approximately 21 kilometers. Advancing the tunnels the miners came upon a series of pseudo- karst caves that were up to 150 m long, 10 m wide and 30 m high. The formation of these caves dates back to gap formation in sandstone associated with the uplift of the Ore Mountains in the Tertiary. Hydrothermal solutions invaded the great chasms and crystallized this with fluorite. In 1993 the mine was closed for economic reasons am Schneeberg. The total funding amounted to rock by then to around 200,000 tonnes, with flow rates of up to 12,000 tonnes were achieved in individual years. The extracted rock had a fluorite of over 90 % in the control. Upon closure of the pit, the pit entrances were held. Only the mouth hole for Adit # 4 remained. It is the ( non-public ) access to a 1 km long tunnel section, which opens up more of the pseudo- karst caves and is protected as a natural monument since 1999.

View

The view from the high snow mountain is certainly one of the most beautiful and impressive in Bohemia, the view sweeps in the northeast about Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland, in the east on the Lusatian Mountains and Jeschke comb, in the south over the crest landscape of the Bohemian Uplands and in the west over the ridge plateau of the eastern Ore Mountains. In distant view to the east and the ridge of the Giant Mountains is visible. Famous is the location on the north side of the mountain plateau Dresdner view ( Drážd'anská vyhlídka ).

Routes to the summit

• You can get from Decin from the High Schneeberg About the red European long-distance hiking E3.
• A good starting point for visitors from Germany is also the community Rosenthal Bielatal. From there Rosenthal of the way through the border crossing at the owls Thor and over the village Sněžník (Snow Mountain ) leads to the summit.