Two weeks before Christmas it snowed properly in the Harz mountains for the first time this winter. This immediately attracts many winter sports fans. Hardly that the trails are groomed and the paths are cleared.

Schierke (dpa/sa) - Thanks to heavy snowfall and permafrost, the first tobogganists, winter hikers and skiers were out and about in the Upper Harz Mountains at the weekend. In Schierke am Brocken, three prepared toboggan runs and the cleared "Schierker Panorama-Runde" were available for winter hikers on Sunday morning, the Harz Tourism Association announced on its winter sports website.

In the tourist resort belonging to Wernigerode at the foot of the 1141 meter high Harz summit, there is currently a maximum of 20 centimeters of snow. It was foggy on the Brocken on the third Sunday in Advent and freezing cold at almost minus ten degrees. Snow, wind and frost had created a bizarre ice landscape on the plateau, as can be seen on the Wernigerode Tourismus GmbH webcam. Many visitors could also be seen, according to information from the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, the Brockenbahn was on its way as planned.

Above all, the many cleared paths through the snowy landscape - from the Goetheweg to the Auerhahnweg to the Harzer Klosterwanderweg - attracted day-trippers on Saturday and Sunday. It was said that they often combined this with visits to one or more of the numerous Christmas markets.

The cross-country trails around the Harz winter sports resorts in Saxony-Anhalt are not yet groomed, but in Lower Saxony some are already. According to the tourism association, cross-country skiing is possible in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Sankt Andreasberg and in Braunlage-Hohegeiss on the Bohlwegloipe. In Sankt Andreasberg, the alpine ski area on the Sonnenberg has also been open since Saturday - currently the only one in the Harz Mountains. On the Wurmberg in Braunlage, the largest ski area in Germany's northernmost low mountain range, it is currently not possible to ski downhill, but the first cross-country trails have been groomed and the toboggan runs have been prepared, it said.