The Schalke is a mountain, , 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 ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. It lies in Goslar district north of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and west of Schulenberg. From 1959 there was a French listening post on the summit, which was supplemented in 1968 by a 64 m high concrete tower. This tower stood empty from 1993 and was demolished on 11 October 2002; the entire facility being removed in September 2003. Other listening posts in the Harz were located on the Wurmberg and the Stöberhai. Towers that still exist include those on the Ravensberg and the Bocksberg, the latter not far from the Schalke. The

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

, which was about 10.5 m high, stood about 50 metres southeast of the listening post until 2002 and, following the demolition of the latter, was moved back to its original site on the summit. However it only has good views towards the east and south. The view extends from the Brocken past the Wurmberg and Hanskühnenburg to Clausthal-Zellerfeld. Next to the tower stands a shooting hut belonging to the

Harz Club The Harz Club (german: Harzklub) is club dedicated to maintaining the traditions of the Harz mountains in Germany and looking after the walking trails in the Harz. It was founded in 1886 in Seesen and, today, has about 16,000 members in some 90 ...

and stamp checkpoint no. 125 which is part of 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 tower is the oldest (built 1892, restored 1992) of four steel observation towers belonging to the ''Harzklub'' in the Harz. A road, closed to private cars, runs from the Auerhahn Inn on the B 241 federal highway up to the Schalke. There are also long hiking trails from Zellerfeld and

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

and a short, steep footpath from Mittelschulenberg past the Lower Schalke Pond and Festenburg, two parishes in Schulenberg, up to the Schalke.

External links

Photographs of the SchalkeVideo of the demolitionSchalke (Harz) listening post
File:SchalkeEhemaligerTurm.jpg, The old listening post File:SchalkeGipfel.jpg, Observation tower and Pötzschner hut from the south File:Schalker Turm.jpg, ... and from the north {{Coord, 51, 51, 03, N, 10, 23, 00, E, type:mountain_elevation:762_region:DE-NI_dim:2500, display=title Mountains of Lower Saxony Mountains of the Harz Goslar (district)

See also

External links