Wendelstein (mountain)
Encyclopedia
The Wendelstein is a 1838 metres (6,030 ft) high mountain in the Bavarian Alps in South Germany. It belongs to the so-called Mangfall Mountains
, the eastern part of the Bavarian Pre-Alps. It is the highest peak in the Wendelstein massif. Due to its exposed location it has a very good view over the Bavarian Alpine Foreland and is unmistakable for miles around. It lies between the valleys of the Leitzach
and Inn
and is accessible via the Wendelstein Cable Car and the Wendelstein Rack Railway
. On its northern foothills rises the Jenbach, which becomes the Kalten on its way to the River Mangfall
.
Local valley settlements include Bayrischzell
, Brannenburg
(rack railway) and Osterhofen (cable car).
from the Upper Triassic
with dasycladales
- marine algae whose natural habitat
is shallow lagoons in tropical climates.The colour of the rock varies between grey white and light grey to speckled.
is 1714 mm (67.5 in) which is extremely high, lying in the upper twentieth of values in Germany. 99 % of German Met Office weather stations register lower values. The driest month is October, the wettest is July, which experiences 2.6 times as much precipitation as October. Annual variations are extremely large. Only 3 % of weather stations register higher annual variations.
, a weather station
, a geopark
and a transmission mast for the Bayerischer Rundfunk
that can be seen from a long way off. About one hundred metres below the summit, on the ridge between the Wendelstein and the Schwaigerwand, lie the mountain inn, the termini of the rack railway and cable car, the service building for the mast, the former mountain hotel (above the station), a hut for the mountain rescue service and the well-known Wendelstein Church.
The buildings around the mountain stations are linked to the summit, 100 m (328 ft) higher, by a metalled track, which also enables the summit to be reached by inexperienced hikers over many steps and bends. Because the path cannot be used in winter, there is also a lift in the middle of the mountain for employees of the observatory, weather service and transmission site, accessed from the station of the rack railway through a tunnel.
The rack railway, built in 1912 by Otto von Steinbeis, is the oldest working rack railway in Germany. Since its renovation in the early 1990s, it has been worked by modern railcar
s that have reduced journey times from over 50 minutes to about half an hour.
Near the rack railway mountain station is the well-developed Wendelstein Cave with several stalactite
s and stalagmite
s, and which contain ice until well into the summer months.
The beautiful panoramic view from the summit and its easy access over the rack railway and cable car have made the Wendelstein one of the best known and most popular mountains in the Bavarian Alps.
The little Wendelstein Church is also often called a chapel or the Wendelstein Chapel, but that is not only wrong from an ecclesiastical point of view, but also because there is actually a separate Wendelstein Chapel. This is dedicated to St. Wendelin and stands just below the summit. This summit chapel, a small wooden affair, is considerably older than the church; there are reports of it going back to the early 19th century.
belonging to the German Meterological Office, which is manned around the clock, and an observatory
of the Institute for Astronomy
and Astrophysics
at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. With an average of over 120 clear nights per year, Wendelstein's location is ideal for such installations.
The first weather observations on the Wendelstein were recorded in a makeshift observatory erected by the summit chapel by Paul Schiegg in July 1804, the records were, however, often frustrated by lightning
, storms, snow
and rain
. In 1883 the Wendelsteinhaus Meteorological Station was built by Dr. Fritz Erk of the Royal Bavarian Meteorological Central Station in Munich at an altitude of 1700 m. This was the first Alpine station in the Royal Bavarian Meteorological Station Network. The delivery of mail to and from this station was carried out in winter by the members of the Wendelsteinhaus Alpine Club and in summer by tourists. In 1962, the present weather station was built at the summit. It is staffed around the clock with full-time staff.
The observatory was founded in December 1939 by Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer
as a solar observatory for the German Luftwaffe. The recording of solar activity was supposed to enable the most accurate forecast possible of the optimal frequencies used for military communications. After the Second World War the observatory was funded by the US forces for the same purpose. Since 1949 the facility has belonged to the University of Munich. In the 1960s the observatory was enhanced with a coronagraph
; a device that enabled research to be carried out on the atmosphere of the sun. Due to increasing air pollution and research priorities switching back to night-time astronomy, scientific observations of the sun were ceased in the 1980s. Since 1988 the facility has become purely an observatory; the dome of the coronograph is only used today for viewing purposes. Today searches are conducted from the Wendelstein for extrasolar planet
s by evaluating occultation
s and research is carried out on variable star
s in dwarf galaxies using an 80-cm telescope
and CCD cameras. In 2011 the 80-cm telescope will be replaced by an instrument with a two metre aperture.
In addition, from 1950 to 1960 there was an observatory on the eastern summit of the Wendelstein, consisting of an observation dome and a residential house. There, the astronomer Rudolf Kühn carried out research. The facility was completely demolished in 1965, only the remains of the foundations are still visible. Where the observation dome once stood, a wind turbine
was later built, but that, too, was dismantled in 2007.
In spite of numerous explosions and other construction projects in the past 40 years, most of the runs on the Wendelstein are steep rugged slopes that are only suitable for experienced skiers. The most important and most feared downhill run is the Ostabfahrt that runs from the terminus of the Lacher lift to the Mitteralm. 3.8 km in length, it descends 500 m in altitude. Similarly difficult, albeit only a few hundred metres long, is the so-called Hotelhang, which runs from the termini of the railway and gondola lift to the main ski area and must be negotiated by every skier, even if they want to ski the easy runs around the Wendelstein's mountain pastures or Wendelsteinalmen. The Lacherlift to the Ostabfahrt begins in these pastures. The run from the Hotelhang to the Wendelsteinalmen goes past the so-called Krematorium, a rock face exposed in fine weather directly to the sun. The place was therefore used by skiers for sunbathing and tanning used - "to burn their bodies", hence the macabre name. Further on, there are two options: a steep slope and the somewhat easier variation via Davos - or in the local dialect "da wo's" ("there, where it is").
Throughout the year members of the Brannenburg Mountain Rescue Service are on duty at the so-called Klausen Hut (opposite the Wendelstein Church) and in the ski area and aim to reach ill or injured climbers as quickly as possible. There is even a defibrillator on the Wendelstein at all times.
Mangfall Mountains
The Mangfall Mountains , or sometimes Mangfall Alps, are the easternmost part of the Bavarian Prealps that, in turn, belong to the Northern Limestone Alps...
, the eastern part of the Bavarian Pre-Alps. It is the highest peak in the Wendelstein massif. Due to its exposed location it has a very good view over the Bavarian Alpine Foreland and is unmistakable for miles around. It lies between the valleys of the Leitzach
Leitzach
Leitzach is a river of Bavaria, Germany.-See also:*List of rivers of Bavaria...
and Inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
and is accessible via the Wendelstein Cable Car and the Wendelstein Rack Railway
Wendelstein Rack Railway
The Wendelstein Rack Railway , sometimes just referred to as the Wendelstein Railway, is an electrically-driven metre gauge rack railway that runs up the Wendelstein in the Upper Bavarian Limestone Alps. Together with the Wendelstein Cable Car it is operated by the Wendelsteinbahn GmbH...
. On its northern foothills rises the Jenbach, which becomes the Kalten on its way to the River Mangfall
Mangfall
The Mangfall is a left tributary of the River Inn in Upper Bavaria and 58 km long. The Mangfall is the tailstream of the Tegernsee lake and discharges near Rosenheim into the Inn....
.
Local valley settlements include Bayrischzell
Bayrischzell
Bayrischzell is a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany....
, Brannenburg
Brannenburg
Brannenburg is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria in Germany....
(rack railway) and Osterhofen (cable car).
Geology
The mountain consists mainly of Wetterstein limestoneWetterstein limestone
Wetterstein limestone and Wetterstein dolomite are the most common names for a carbonate rock from the Middle Triassic epoch of the Ladinian stage, comparable to the German stage in which muschelkalk rock strata were formed....
from the Upper Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
with dasycladales
Dasycladales
In taxonomy, the Dasycladales is an order of large unicellular green algae in the class Ulvophyceae. It contains two families, the Dasycladaceae and the Polyphysaceae....
- marine algae whose natural habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
is shallow lagoons in tropical climates.The colour of the rock varies between grey white and light grey to speckled.
Climate
The annual precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
is 1714 mm (67.5 in) which is extremely high, lying in the upper twentieth of values in Germany. 99 % of German Met Office weather stations register lower values. The driest month is October, the wettest is July, which experiences 2.6 times as much precipitation as October. Annual variations are extremely large. Only 3 % of weather stations register higher annual variations.
Development
On the summit of the mountain is the Wendelstein Chapel, an observatoryObservatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
, a weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
, a geopark
Geopark
A Geopark is defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in its UNESCO Geoparks International Network of Geoparks programme as follows:...
and a transmission mast for the Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
that can be seen from a long way off. About one hundred metres below the summit, on the ridge between the Wendelstein and the Schwaigerwand, lie the mountain inn, the termini of the rack railway and cable car, the service building for the mast, the former mountain hotel (above the station), a hut for the mountain rescue service and the well-known Wendelstein Church.
The buildings around the mountain stations are linked to the summit, 100 m (328 ft) higher, by a metalled track, which also enables the summit to be reached by inexperienced hikers over many steps and bends. Because the path cannot be used in winter, there is also a lift in the middle of the mountain for employees of the observatory, weather service and transmission site, accessed from the station of the rack railway through a tunnel.
The rack railway, built in 1912 by Otto von Steinbeis, is the oldest working rack railway in Germany. Since its renovation in the early 1990s, it has been worked by modern railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
s that have reduced journey times from over 50 minutes to about half an hour.
Near the rack railway mountain station is the well-developed Wendelstein Cave with several stalactite
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
s and stalagmite
Stalagmite
A stalagmite is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate. This stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the underground cavern. The corresponding formation on...
s, and which contain ice until well into the summer months.
The beautiful panoramic view from the summit and its easy access over the rack railway and cable car have made the Wendelstein one of the best known and most popular mountains in the Bavarian Alps.
Wendelstein Church
The foundation stone of the Wendelstein Church (Wendelsteinkircherl) was laid on 1 July 1889 on a rocky ridge a hundred metres below the summit. On 20 August 1890 Germany's highest church was consecrated. It is dedicated to the Patrona Bavariae and is managed by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising as a satellite church of the parish of Maria Himmelfahrt in Brannenburg. The Wendelstein Chapel's description as the "highest church in Germany" is indisputable; all other higher church buildings (such as the Zugspitze Chapel consecrated in 1981) are not churches in the ecclesiastical sense, but only chapels. Regular masses and marriage services take place in the mountain church in summer.The little Wendelstein Church is also often called a chapel or the Wendelstein Chapel, but that is not only wrong from an ecclesiastical point of view, but also because there is actually a separate Wendelstein Chapel. This is dedicated to St. Wendelin and stands just below the summit. This summit chapel, a small wooden affair, is considerably older than the church; there are reports of it going back to the early 19th century.
Mountain weather station and observatory
On the summit of the Wendelstein there is a weather stationWeather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
belonging to the German Meterological Office, which is manned around the clock, and an observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
of the Institute for Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. With an average of over 120 clear nights per year, Wendelstein's location is ideal for such installations.
The first weather observations on the Wendelstein were recorded in a makeshift observatory erected by the summit chapel by Paul Schiegg in July 1804, the records were, however, often frustrated by lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
, storms, snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
and rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
. In 1883 the Wendelsteinhaus Meteorological Station was built by Dr. Fritz Erk of the Royal Bavarian Meteorological Central Station in Munich at an altitude of 1700 m. This was the first Alpine station in the Royal Bavarian Meteorological Station Network. The delivery of mail to and from this station was carried out in winter by the members of the Wendelsteinhaus Alpine Club and in summer by tourists. In 1962, the present weather station was built at the summit. It is staffed around the clock with full-time staff.
The observatory was founded in December 1939 by Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer
Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer
Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. His research focused on the Sun, and for that purpose he initiated construction of several solar telescopes and founded the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics.-Life and work:Kiepenheuer was born in 1910 in Weimar, Germany, as a...
as a solar observatory for the German Luftwaffe. The recording of solar activity was supposed to enable the most accurate forecast possible of the optimal frequencies used for military communications. After the Second World War the observatory was funded by the US forces for the same purpose. Since 1949 the facility has belonged to the University of Munich. In the 1960s the observatory was enhanced with a coronagraph
Coronagraph
A coronagraph is a telescopic attachment designed to block out the direct light from a star so that nearby objects – which otherwise would be hidden in the star's bright glare – can be resolved...
; a device that enabled research to be carried out on the atmosphere of the sun. Due to increasing air pollution and research priorities switching back to night-time astronomy, scientific observations of the sun were ceased in the 1980s. Since 1988 the facility has become purely an observatory; the dome of the coronograph is only used today for viewing purposes. Today searches are conducted from the Wendelstein for extrasolar planet
Extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...
s by evaluating occultation
Occultation
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The word is used in astronomy . It can also refer to any situation wherein an object in the foreground blocks from view an object in the background...
s and research is carried out on variable star
Variable star
A star is classified as variable if its apparent magnitude as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth...
s in dwarf galaxies using an 80-cm telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
and CCD cameras. In 2011 the 80-cm telescope will be replaced by an instrument with a two metre aperture.
In addition, from 1950 to 1960 there was an observatory on the eastern summit of the Wendelstein, consisting of an observation dome and a residential house. There, the astronomer Rudolf Kühn carried out research. The facility was completely demolished in 1965, only the remains of the foundations are still visible. Where the observation dome once stood, a wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
was later built, but that, too, was dismantled in 2007.
Ski area
The rack railway and gondola lift and two drag lifts serve a small but challenging ski area on the Wendelstein. Plans to link it to the Sudelfeld ski area were discarded. Because of a dispute with an alpine farmer, there was no skiing on the Wendelstein from 1995 to 1997.In spite of numerous explosions and other construction projects in the past 40 years, most of the runs on the Wendelstein are steep rugged slopes that are only suitable for experienced skiers. The most important and most feared downhill run is the Ostabfahrt that runs from the terminus of the Lacher lift to the Mitteralm. 3.8 km in length, it descends 500 m in altitude. Similarly difficult, albeit only a few hundred metres long, is the so-called Hotelhang, which runs from the termini of the railway and gondola lift to the main ski area and must be negotiated by every skier, even if they want to ski the easy runs around the Wendelstein's mountain pastures or Wendelsteinalmen. The Lacherlift to the Ostabfahrt begins in these pastures. The run from the Hotelhang to the Wendelsteinalmen goes past the so-called Krematorium, a rock face exposed in fine weather directly to the sun. The place was therefore used by skiers for sunbathing and tanning used - "to burn their bodies", hence the macabre name. Further on, there are two options: a steep slope and the somewhat easier variation via Davos - or in the local dialect "da wo's" ("there, where it is").
Throughout the year members of the Brannenburg Mountain Rescue Service are on duty at the so-called Klausen Hut (opposite the Wendelstein Church) and in the ski area and aim to reach ill or injured climbers as quickly as possible. There is even a defibrillator on the Wendelstein at all times.