The ''Treppenstein'' is a rock formation in the

Oker valley The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction. Origin and meaning of the name The r ...

in the

Harz mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

of central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It lies on the trail from the

Romkerhall Waterfall Romkerhall (also frequently called ''Romkerhalle'') is a popular tourist destination on the River Oker in the Harz Mountains of Germany. There is a public car park here as well as a hotel and restaurant opposite the Romkerhall Waterfall. Romkerh ...

to the ''

Kästeklippen The ''Kästeklippen'', often shortened to ''Käste'', is a rocky tor above the Oker valley in the Upper Harz mountains of central Germany. It lies at a height of . Near the ''Käste'' are other similar granite rock formations such as the ''Hexenk� ...

''. The rocks consist of

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 ...

and have clearly undergone so-called "wool sack weathering" (''Wollsackverwitterung''). The ''Treppenstein'' is a popular destination and part of the system of checkpoints (no. 117) 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. The summit has safety railings and may be climbed using steps hacked out of the rock and flights of stairs attached to the rocks. From the summit there is a view towards the west. In addition, part of the rock formation, the ''Kleine Treppenstein'' is used for

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

. The

routes Route or routes may refer to: * Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver * route (command), a program used to configure the routing table * Route, County Antrim, an area in Northern Ireland * ''The Route'', a 2013 Ugandan film * Ro ...

here are rated as Grade VI (UIAA).Kleiner Treppenstein – Okertal
im Felsinformationssystem des DAV. Retrieved on 21 May 2010

References

Rock formations of the Harz Climbing areas of Germany Rock formations of Lower Saxony {{LowerSaxony-geo-stub