Schnarcherklippen is the name of a rock formation (up to 671 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

) south of the village of

Schierke Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode. Situated within the Harz mountain range in the valley of the river Bode, at the rim ...

in the High Harz mountains of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

in central Germany. The name translates roughly to "snoring crags" or "snoring rocks".

Geology

The two

rock pinnacle A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples ar ...

s, which stand about apart and are some high, are part of the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

massif of the

Brocken The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. ...

and are a clear example of

spheroidal weathering Spheroidal weathering is a form of chemical weathering that affects jointed bedrock and results in the formation of concentric or spherical layers of highly decayed rock within weathered bedrock that is known as '' saprolite.'' When saprolit ...

" (''Wollsackverwitterung''). Another feature of the Schnarcherklippen is that they deflect compass needles away from magnetic north due to the presence of

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

in the rock.''Die Schnarcherklippen''
at www.harzlife.de. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010.

Access

The shortest way to the Schnarcherklippen rocks is by footpath from the Schierke. From the top of the rocks there is a view over the whole of the surrounding area, including the Bärenkopf, the holiday resort of Schierke, the

Erdbeerkopf The Erdbeerkopf is an 847.7 m-high mountain in the High Harz in central Germany, northeast of Schierke in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. To the north and east, the forested summit is bordered by the Wormsgraben, the valley of the Wormke The ...

, the

massif and the

Wurmberg Wurmberg is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Wurmberg is located on the so-called Platte, a Karst mountain range in the northern Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Municipality The municipality Wur ...

. The Schnarcherklippen are checkpoint no. 14 in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...

hiking trail network.

Climbing

The northeastern pinnacle may be ascended using an iron ladder, but the southwestern rocks are only accessible to climbers. There are various

climbing route A climbing route is a path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, rock, or ice wall. Routes can vary dramatically in difficulty and grade; once committed to that ascent, it can sometimes be difficult to stop or return. Choice of rou ...

s of grades I to VIIIb (Saxon grading) on the southwestern rocks and from IV to IXc on the northeastern rocks.

Name

When the wind blows from the southeast the rocks make a strange sound which was the inspiration for its name (''schnarchen'' = "snoring").

Goethe and the crags

On his third journey to the Harz in September 1784

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

visited the Schnarcherklippen. They are mentioned in the

Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in ...

scene of '' Faust I'' and in '' Faust II'': Panorama Schnarcherklippen

References

External links

YouTube video showing the magnetism phenomenon
{{Coord, 51, 45, 16, N, 10, 39, 59, E, type:landmark_region:DE-ST, display=title Rock formations of Saxony-Anhalt Rock formations of the Harz Wernigerode