The Großer Feldberg ('Great Field Mountain') is, at a height of 879.5 metres, the highest elevation of the
Taunus
The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m).
The Taunus range span ...
mountains, and of the entire
Rhenish Massif. It is situated in the
Hochtaunuskreis
The Hochtaunuskreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus ...
district in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
,
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 ...
.
The
Feldberg/Taunus transmitter
The Feldberg/Taunus transmitter is a facility for FM- and TV-broadcasting and for directional radio services located on the Großer Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Taunus region of Germany.
For FM- and TV-broadcasting; a guyed tubular m ...
mast is set at the top of the mountain. A lookout tower affords long-distance views onto the Taunus hills to the North and West and over and beyond the
Rhein-Main plain to the South and East. A restaurant and a small hut offer food and drinks.
The mountain is accompanied by the ''Kleiner Feldberg'', a subsidiary of 825 m at a distance of 1.3 km to the south-west, and the 798-metres-high
Altkönig
The Altkönig is the third highest mountain of the Taunus range in Hesse, Germany, reaching a height of .
Its summit is lies within the borough of Kronberg im Taunus not far from the village of Königstein im Taunus which is part of Falkenstein i ...
, 2.3 km to the south-east.
Height
There is a considerable uncertainty on the exact height of the Großer Feldberg, because the height given in the various sources varies up to several metres.
* At the summit is the
Feldberg summit cross including the summit register and information board, giving a height of 879.5 metres.
* The Geoportal of the Hessian State Office for Regional Management and Geo-information (''Hessische Landesamt für Bodenmanagement und Geoinformation''), gives the following heights in its online maps: 878 m on the H200 map of Hesse,
879 m on the PG50 and PG25 graphical maps and 878.5 m on the TK25 topographic map.
* The Geoportal of the
BfN gives the following heights in its online maps:
880 m at map scale 1:500,000, 879 m at 1:250,000, 1:100,000, 1:50,000 and 1:25,000, and 878.5 m at 1:10,000 and 1:5,000.
*
Laser scanning data results to a height of 880.9 m.
* In literature, even more heights are given, such as 881.5 m.
Tourism and Facilities
The treeless summit of the Großer Feldberg and the surrounding forests are a popular destination for motorbikers and cyclists in the summer, tobogganers and cross-country skiers in winter, and hikers year-round. Two small
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 ...
ski lifts are located on the North and West slopes of the mountain at the village of Oberreifenberg, and a larger
ski lift
A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald.
Types
* Aerial ...
used to extend up the North slope almost to the summit until the 1980s. The former lift track is popular with tobogganers.
The summit is easily reached from Frankfurt in approximately 30 minutes via roads from
Oberursel
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In 2011, the town hosted the 51st He ...
,
Königstein or by bus from these towns.
Since the top can be easily reached by car, crowds and a lack of parking spaces near the top are a common sight on weekends in fine weather.
References
[Hessenviewer](_blank)
''Hessenkarte H200'', beim Hessischen Landesamt für Bodenmanagement und Geoinformation, auf geoportal.hessen.de
[Alexander Stahr, Birgit Bender: ''Der Taunus – Eine Zeitreise'' (2007)]
[Taunus und Umgebung u. a. mit Großem Feldberg](_blank)
beim Bundesamt für Naturschutz, auf geodienste.bfn.de
[Hessisches Landesamt für Bodenmanagement und Geoinformation, Auskunft am 23. April 2012]
External links
Webcam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosser Feldberg
Mountains of Hesse
Mountains and hills of the Taunus
High Taunus