The Schneifel is a range of low mountains, up to , in the western part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

in Germany, near the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

border. It runs from

Brandscheid Brandscheid is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...

near

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm. Geography Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...

in a northeasterly direction to

Ormont Ormont is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' (a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality) situated in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, whos ...

. The name Schneifel has nothing to do with the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

words ''Schnee'' (

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

) and ''Eifel''. It is derived from the former dialect of this region and means something like ''Schneise'' ("swathe"). This swathe ran over the mountains. The term was "Germanised" during the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n era and the term

Schnee-Eifel The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands, up to , that forms part of the western Eifel in the area of the German-Belgian border. The name may have been derived in the 19th century from the Schneifel chain of ...

("Snow Eifel") was born, albeit referring to a larger area. Winters in this low mountainous region are unusually cold and snowy for western and parts of central

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and snow lies here for longer than anywhere else in the Eifel. As a result, the winter sports season is longer here than in the surrounding region. The highest point of the Schneifel is the 699.1-metre-high Schwarze Mann ("Black Man"), which is also the third highest point of the Eifel range after the

Hohe Acht The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain ( ) in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Landkreis Ahrweiler, Ahrweiler and Landkreis Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography an ...

and the Erresberg (Ernstberg). There is a winter sports area on the Schwarze Mann with the same name. The Schneifel is covered along its entire length by the ruins of

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. ...

s which formed part of the

Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the west ...

. On the heights of the Schneifel is the former US radar station, Prüm Air Station, and the Schnee Eifel transmission tower for

terrestrial TV Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an anten ...

and VHF which, with a height of 224 m is clearly visible for miles.

References

Regions of the Eifel Mountain ranges of Rhineland-Palatinate {{RhinelandPalatinate-geo-stub