The Aschberg (; ) is a mountain on the border of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

) and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is part of the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

. The summit lies on the Czech side, in the municipality of

Bublava Bublava () is a municipality and village in Sokolov District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. Geography Bublava is located about north of Sokolov and northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies on the borde ...

Location and region

Near the summit there is an

observation tower An observation tower is a tower 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, and woo ...

on the German side and a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

next to it. The summit plateau is populated on the Saxon side. The scattered houses, originally mountain farmhouses, are known as the Aschbergsiedlung ("Aschberg settlement"). There is a

transmission mast Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-m ...

on the mountain that transmits at the following frequencies: * VHF 93.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

(

MDR MDR may refer to: Biology * MDR1, an ATP-dependent cellular efflux pump affording multiple drug resistance * Mammalian diving reflex * Medical device reporting * Multiple drug resistance, when a microorganism has become resistant to multiple drugs ...

1 Radio Sachsen) - Power: 0.2 kW * VHF 98.4 MHz (

Kultur) - Power: 0.2 kW * VHF 103.5 MHz (Vogtland Radio) - Power: 0.05 kW The summit lies on the Czech side of the border and consists of a small rock outcrop supporting a square-section granite column of the Royal Saxon Survey. It is a level 1 station and bears the number 24. It only has historical significance. Not far from the peak there are other outcrops formed by woolsack weathering, the most famous of which is the group of rocks called ''Tři skalky''; the name means "three rocks". The view over

and Klingenthal into the

Elster Mountains The Elster Mountains (, ) is a small mountain range within the Fichtel Mountains in Germany and the Czech Republic. They lie in a region known as Vogtland, and take their name from the river Elster, or more precisely the White Elster which has its ...

opens up a distant view over the Bohemian and Saxon highlands towards the

Slavkov Forest The Slavkov Forest (formerly also Emperor's Forest; , ) is a highland and geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the Karlovy Vary Region. Slavkov Forest is also the name of a protected landscape area, partially locat ...

, the Kapellenberg and the heights of the northern

Upper Palatinate Forest The Upper Palatine Forest ( or ''Böhmischer Wald''; , ) is a mountain range in Central Europe that is divided between the Czech Republic and Germany. It is a part of the larger Bohemian Massif and the German Central Uplands. Geography Th ...

. A vantage point on the border trail below the youth hostel was given the name ''Paul-Apitzsch-Blick'', where a bench named after this local historian commemorates him and is one of the most important viewing points over the Saxon

Vogtland Vogtland (; ) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euroregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former leadershi ...

. There is a ski slope on the mountain and the ''Kammloipe'' cross country skiing trail, which runs from Mühlleithen to Schöneck or Carlsfeld to

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt (, ) is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized hea ...

History

Along with miners and hammersmiths, glassmakers also came to the western

to process the

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

found in several veins on this mountain, as well as other places. The vast forests, which had never been exploited before, provided sufficient wood for the smelting furnaces and for "liming", the extraction of

potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

from

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

. The mountain was also populated on the Czech side. With the expulsion of the German population after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the buildings south of the summit were dismantled.Information board on the Sonnenloipe in Klingenthal (see gallery image). On the northern slopes there was a

ski jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

, the ''Curt A. Seydel Schanze'', which was in use from 1923 to 1940.

References

{{Authority control Mountains of Saxony Mountains of the Ore Mountains Geography of the Karlovy Vary Region Klingenthal