The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands , up to 699.1 m above sea level (NHN) , 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 hills, which had nothing to do with snow ( Schnee ), but with the name for a forest swathe ( Schneise ).
11-836: The Schnee Eifel natural region is formed by the southern part of the Hohes Venn-Eifel Nature Park . To the north it is bounded by the river Kyll , the border with the North Eifel , that begins near Hallschlag and Kronenburg with the Zitter Forest ; To the east the Kyll forms the boundary river with the High Eifel . To the south the Schnee Eifel merges into the South Eifel to Pronsfeld in
22-592: The Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate . The landscape here between Adenau , Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be confused with the western Hocheifel , better known as the Schnee Eifel . Nürburg Castle and the famous Nürburgring racing track are located in the northwest of the area. Despite being between 600 m and 700 m high
33-540: The North Eifel Nature Park ( Naturpark Nord Eifel ), is a cross-border nature park with elements in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate as well as the Belgian province of Liège . It has a total area of 2,485 km (959 sq mi). The nature park lies between Langerwehe and Eupen in the north and Bad Münstereifel , Prüm and Sankt Vith in
44-593: The Prümer Land . Its highest elevation is found on the Schneifel ridge: the 697.3 metres (2,288 ft) high Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man"). The term Schneifel is frequently employed in publications to mean the whole Schnee Eifel region, but they are not synonymous. The Schneifel is actually the uninhabited central chain of hills in the Schnee-Eifel; whose coverage goes beyond the narrow definition of
55-746: The Eifel belongs to the Rhine Massif . The Schnee Eifel, and in particular, the Schneifel , its highest region, is a truncated upland , the stumps of once great mountains that were formed by Hercynian folding during the Devonian period of geological history. After a long period of severe erosion they were uplifted again in the Quaternary period. Scattered areas of old rock with smooth relief still exist, although at times they are hard to discern. Rougher highlands stand out from this base, especially in
66-692: The Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park. The emblem of the nature park is the black grouse . In the middle of the nature park, largely around the former Belgian Army military training area at Vogelsang and the Rur Valley Dam , is the Eifel National Park founded in 2004 and expanded after the withdrawal of the Belgians on 1 January 2006. High Eifel The High Eifel ( German : Hocheifel (Ost) or Hohe Eifel ) forms part of
77-675: The Schneifel and includes the southern source region of the Kyll and its upper reaches as well as the adjoining Prüm Forest southeast of the main crest. The largest town in the Schnee Eifel is Prüm which lies on the river of the same name. Its well-known ski areas are the Schwarze Mann and the Wolfsschlucht . They lie about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) northwest and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Prüm respectively. Much of
88-759: The Steinberg (654 m). Due to its remote location the Schnee-Eifel is undeveloped, where rare plants and animals may be found, including the wildcat and, for several years now, the Eurasian lynx . The hamlet of Winterspelt is the setting for the novel of the same name by Alfred Andersch , which takes place in the final months of the Second World War . Hohes Venn-Eifel Nature Park The German - Belgian High Fens – Eifel Nature Park ( German : Naturpark Hohes Venn – Eifel ), often called
99-655: The east and over the Rur Eifel to the Belgian border in the west. The Hohe Venn is geographically seen as a separate natural region within the whole Eifel area, but is nevertheless included in the nature park. In 1960, the president of the now-defunct administrative district of Aachen, Hubert Schmitt-Degenhardt, founded the North Eifel Nature Park. In 1971 it was merged with the Belgian Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes to become
110-534: The north ( Prümer Land ) ], owing to the hardness of their rocks, like the quartzite ridge of the Schneifel. This long, sinewy ridge juts out above the less jagged, old plateau by around 100 metres and is clear evidence of the resistance of the local quartz rock to the forces of weathering. It is remarkable for its length of 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) against an average width of just 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). With little variation in height, it runs from Brandscheid as far as Ormont near Stadtkyll , where it ends at
121-763: The south and covers six regions: the Rur Eifel , the High Eifel , the Limestone Eifel , the Our valley, the Venn Foreland and the Hohes Venn , a raised bog and heath landscape, remnants of the last ice age 7,500 years ago. The geographical description North Eifel in its narrowest sense only covers the Eifel landscape between Zitter Forest in the south and Aachen in the north, Bad Münster Eifel to
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