The Sonnenberg is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

in the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (german: Oberharz, ) refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, th ...

surrounded by the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...

. The settlement of the same name located there is part of the borough of Sankt Andreasberg.

Topography

About a kilometre southeast of the Großer Sonnenberg is the Kleiner Sonnenberg which is only 40 cm lower. The L 519 state road runs over the 830 m high saddle between the two mountains and between the village of Sonnenberg and the main town of Sankt Andreasberg. Following the line of the crest further to the southeast for a further kilometre and beyond another saddle, 833 m high, one reaches the 892 m high Rehberg. On the eastern slope of the Großer Sonnenberg is a

triangulation station A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

at a height of 838 m; this is the height shown on most topographical maps and is frequently misinterpreted as the actual height of the Großer Sonnenberg.

Winter sports

There are three T-bars and a

rope tow A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-c ...

on the Sonnenberg for Alpine sports. * Total piste length: 2,600 m * Height difference: ca. 200 m * Difficulty: 1,400 m easy; 1,200 m medium For cross-country skiers the Sonnenberg Langlauf Network (''Loipennetz Sonnenberg'') offers a direct link to the trails around Sankt Andreasberg. In addition there is a connexion to the ''Ackerloipe'' and a link trail to Oderbrück, that runs past

Oderteich The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany. It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, today, is an important component of the ...

. For tobogganists there is a separate toboggan piste. Medical support is provided by a first aid station operated by the Sankt Andreasberg Mountain Rescue organisation (''

Bergwacht The Bergwacht is an organisation that is part of the German Red Cross (DRK-Bergwacht), whose primary functions are mountain rescue and nature conservation. The voluntary organisation provides over 90% of the emergency services in the impassable t ...

Sankt Andreasberg'') on the large car park, that is open during winter weekends. Due to its height the Sonnenberg has guaranteed snow until spring. On the Sonnenberg there is also the state

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

centre, in which national and international competitions are staged. In 2009, a

snowmaking Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

facility was built.

External links

Information about the Sonnenberg ski region

Großer Sonnenberg ski lifts
Mountains of Lower Saxony Mountains of the Harz Mountains under 1000 metres Ski areas and resorts in Germany Sankt Andreasberg

Topography

Winter sports

See also

External links