The Feldberg is the highest mountain in the Black Forest and also of Germany outside the Alps; with an elevation of 1493 metres. Freiburg im Breisgau is the closest city.  [It is not to be confused with the two smaller hills in Hochtaunuskreis district some 300km to the North, Kleiner Feldberg (825 m) and Großer Feldberg (880 m), which was used for hillclimbing races. These kind of motorsport contests took also place in Black Forest, at the nearby Schauinsland.]  

Geographically the Feldberg is situated south-east of Freiburg im Breisgau, surrounded by the communities of Hinterzarten, Titisee, Menzenschwand, Bernau and Todtnau. From the main peak 1493m there is a plateau in south-east direction with the about 2km peak of the Seebuck 1448m, which is belonging itself to the Feldberg mountain. From there, there is a deep valley in north-eastern direction with the Feldsee, a lake of glacial origin in about 1000m altitude. Some more deep valleys are existing around the Feldberg, such as the north-western Zastlertal and the south-western Wiesental. 

Sporting activities on Feldberg

• Skiing
• Snowboarding (rental gear available at not bad rates)
• tobogganing
• circuit walks
• hiking
• hang-gliding

Feldberg is the biggest skiing resort of Germany in Winter, outside of the Alps. The first ski lift ever, has been build in 1907 in the Feldberg area, Today it has about 28 ski lifts and alpine pistes have up to black level of difficulty.

Altogether there are over 50km of skiing pistes in the area. Therefore tourism is the main business of the inhabitants from the surrounding communities.

Snowboarding equipment rental varies in price. There are three main rental huts/shops nextdoor to each other, the smallest of the three is ran by a British man and is by far the cheapest. Rental prices last year were around 14 Euros per afternoon, over 20 Euros for the same time at the other two shops.

A ski pass can cost around 23 Euros for the day but better value is the points card whereby you pay a small fee for around 50 points. You can use 2 points per lift with a pole lift and 7 points to the top of the piste on a sit-down chair lift, which is the only option for snowboarders really.

Instruction can be expensive but it is very possible to hold-up a piece of card offering say 15 Euros to pay for an hour's instruction. Many students who ski there will be happy to earn 15 Euros for one hours easy work.

Getting there

Trains from Freiburg run every hour to Baerental station (967m), and this takes about 45min.

From there catch the bus to the Feldberger Hof.

Tickets are around 6 EUR for a day-ticket available from the Automats at the main train station or on the buses and trams.

Views and the Climate

Because of its unique nature with a subalpine vegetation the region is also a natural resort. From the top of the Feldberg one has a great view, especially in the winter time, when the air is clear and the valleys suffer from fog because of inversion weather. The view reaches up to about 200km in all directions, so one can see the French Vosges as well the northern black forest with Hornisgrinde, the Swabian alp, Bavarian Alps with the Zugspitze, Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps (Säntis) and also French Alps with Mont Blanc. This means that with luck you can see France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria from its top.

The annual mean temperature is around 3°C. The mean annual rainfall is 2114mm, but most of it falls as snow. The only month to never have had snow recorded on the summit is August.

The German meteorological service has had a weather station for many years on the top of the mountain. Because of the exposed situation, there are wind speeds up to 130km/h possible throughout the year.