The Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man") is a mountain 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 ...

which is known as

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 ...

. With a height of 697.8 meters it is the highest peak in the

and third highest in the

Geography

Location

The ''Schwarzer Mann'' rises in the west of the Eifel in the

, near the border with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and within the

High Fens-Eifel Nature Park High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

. Its mountain summit lies around 3 kilometres west of Halenfeld (part of Buchet), 3.8 km west-northwest of Wascheid (part of Gondenbrett) and 3.3 km (each

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...

) north of Sellerich; the boundary between Buchet and Sellerich runs over the top. In the vicinity is the town of

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 ...

to the southeast as well as the villages of Bleialf to the west-southwest and

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 ...

to the northeast. On the northern slopes of the mountain rises the Alfbach stream, on the eastern mountainside, the Litzenmehlenbach and on its southern slopes, the Mönbach. Near the summit is the ''Tranchotstein''. This small boundary stone was named after French geographer, Jean Joseph Tranchot (1752–1815), who undertook a survey of the Rhinelands by order of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Geology

The Schwarzer Mann is made of

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

which is also 15-kilometers-long.

Usage

The area surrounding of Schwarzer Mann is a well-developed hiking area and the largest skiing area in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Flora and fauna

The heavily wooded mountain ridge is covered mainly with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and is host to a number of rare wild species including the

European wildcat The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It inhabits forests from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus. Its fur is ...

Name

The name of the mountain is derived from the nearby abandoned lead ore mine in

Bleialf Bleialf is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Geography Bleialf lies in the North Eifel Nature Park North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposi ...

from which the miners would return with blackened faces.

References

{{GeoQuelle, DE-RP, LANDIS-Karte, REF-NAME="RP-LANDIS"

External links

Skiing area Schwarzer Mann

Mountains under 1000 metres Mountains and hills of the Eifel Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate