Watzmann

Watzmann
The Watzmann, overlooking the town of Berchtesgaden
Highest point
Elevation	2,713 m (8,901 ft)
Prominence	953 m (3,127 ft)
Coordinates	47°33′19″N 12°55′24″E / 47.55528°N 12.92333°E / 47.55528; 12.92333Coordinates: 47°33′19″N 12°55′24″E / 47.55528°N 12.92333°E / 47.55528; 12.92333
Naming
Pronunciation	German: [ˈvatsman]
Geography
Watzmann Location in the Alps
Location	Bavaria, Germany
Parent range	Bavarian Alps
Climbing
First ascent	1799 or 1800 by Valentin Stanič
Easiest route	Scramble

The Watzmann (Bavarian: Watzmo) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory.

Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Südspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).

The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.

The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.

The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann.

The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres).

Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a JU 52 transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.

Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice.