The Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man") is a mountain in the western part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

which is known as

Schnee Eifel The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands, up to , that forms part of the western Eifel in the area of the German-Belgian border. The name may have been derived in the 19th century from the Schneifel chain of ...

. With a height of 697.8 meters it is the highest peak in the

and third highest in the

Geography

Location

The ''Schwarzer Mann'' rises in the west of the Eifel in the

, near the border with

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and within the

High Fens-Eifel Nature Park High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

. Its mountain summit lies around 3 kilometres west of Halenfeld (part of Buchet), 3.8 km west-northwest of Wascheid (part of Gondenbrett) and 3.3 km (each

as the crow flies The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points. Etymology The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838): ...

) north of Sellerich; the boundary between Buchet and Sellerich runs over the top. In the vicinity is the town of

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm (Verbandsgemeinde), Prüm. Geography Prüm lies o ...

to the southeast as well as the villages of Bleialf to the west-southwest and

Ormont Ormont is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' (a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality) situated in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, who ...

to the northeast. On the northern slopes of the mountain rises the Alfbach stream, on the eastern mountainside, the Litzenmehlenbach and on its southern slopes, the Mönbach. Near the summit is the ''Tranchotstein''. This small boundary stone was named after French geographer, Jean Joseph Tranchot (1752–1815), who undertook a survey of the Rhinelands by order of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Geology

The Schwarzer Mann is made of

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

which is also 15-kilometers-long.

Usage

The area surrounding of Schwarzer Mann is a well-developed hiking area and the largest skiing area in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Flora and fauna

The heavily wooded mountain ridge is covered mainly with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

and is host to a number of rare wild species including the

European wildcat The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...

Name

The name of the mountain is derived from the nearby abandoned lead ore mine in Bleialf from which the miners would return with blackened faces.

References

{{GeoQuelle, DE-RP, LANDIS-Karte, REF-NAME="RP-LANDIS"

External links

Skiing area Schwarzer Mann

Mountains under 1000 metres Mountains and hills of the Eifel Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate