Battered on the Brocken

A personal view point

The first morning looked set fair with clear blue skies and no breeze and being keen to get shots of steam trains in the snow on the Brocken, we happily entered the cosy ticket office on Drei Annen Hohne station platform.
Surrounded by eager would-be passengers, the lady behind the counter was obviously having some difficulty getting them to accept the fact that the first train was just not going to run. Disbelieving eyes flicked anxiously up to the web cam mounted on the wall behind her for the sole purpose of showing conditions at the top of the Brocken. The blank screen confirmed her emphatic statement that there was indeed nothing doing.
Did we hang about, possibly wasting a day and try for the late morning train or go off and do something else? The compulsion to get up the mountain was too great so we found ourselves on the now crowded third train of the day, calculating how much filming time we'd already missed.
The pleasant run climbs steadily, stopping at the pretty wooden station at Schierke then through the heavily snow laden peaceful fir trees with glimpses through the trees of the attractive snowy hills and woods in the distance. A warm companionable fug building up in the carriages, we were jolted out of our sense of security only by the increasing frequency of sudden stops when the engine tried to get a grip on the icy line again with a great deal of slipping, raising of steam and jokes and laughter in the carriages about the train going backwards. The skill of the engine driver repeatedly overcame the problems and the train continued the steep ascent of the mountain.
Anticipating good things and ready to get straight at it in an endeavour to make up lost time, we approached the top station. A strange scene greeted us on the station platform crowded with panic stricken faces surrounded in tightly done up anorak hoods - return passengers who in their eagerness to get back on the train could hardly wait for us to disembark.
We walked off the end of the platform and all hell broke loose. Location conditions can mean -40C in a Chinese winter and weather conditions in the European Alps can be extreme even in summer, but we had never stepped into such a raging blizzard as this one at the top of the Brocken. The only choice was to join the mass migration, doubled-up, faces down, heading the few hundred yards uphill to the building housing a restaurant. Here, despite full thermals and about three layers, it took hot goulash soup to revive and I found myself looking in amazement at the number of intrepid parents who had made it here through these conditions with toddlers in push chairs. When a few feet from the entrance door I had been blown flat to the ground and had crawled on all fours across ice to reach this salvation.
There was no possibility of cameras being uncovered in these conditions so before battling back to the top station we took the lift in the observation tower. From the outside this tower forms the impressive group of somewhat futuristic buildings that was the telecommunication centre in the Cold War era. Behind the protection of the floor to ceiling panoramic windows we had a full view of the top of the mountain, the surrounding scenery and an eerie sense of being above the storm.

We watched the fine snow being whipped off the edge as the raging wind reached the plateau and the 'onion peel' effects created in the surface snow by the storm tearing across the summit. In 2008 there were recorded wind speeds of 145 kph on the Brocken and it lays claim to holding the highest wind speed ever recorded in Germany at 264 kph.
The final day was decision time, did we take the risk and tackle the mountain again? Having been to the Hertz area before, our attempts to film the train on the Brocken had been thwarted twice. The first time the train had not been able to get further than Schierke because the line was blocked with snow. The second time you could not see more than a few yards due to thick fog. With a quite considerable breeze blowing at the base station Drei Annen Hohne and a cloudy dull sky, we dubiously pushed open the ticket office door, looking straight past the counter lady up to the all-telling web cam which confirmed that the top was indeed visible.
No point in getting cold standing on the little wrought iron balconies between carriages, craning our necks for locations - we knew what we wanted. Better to fortify ourselves with a hot chocolate for whatever awaited us at the top.

Soft sunshine lighting up the snow sculptures that were the fir trees, not a whisper of a breeze, and the beautiful black engine in the snow. We felt privileged to be here, to see it like this and to be able to stand up. Setting off down the wide, well defined path we were now pleased that our trip up the mountain a week ago had not been a complete waste of time but was proving to be a very useful recce as we knew exactly which spots to head for. Descending a little from the top station, we passed the first of the walkers coming up from the valley, looking nervous, the only question on their lips, "was it windy at the top"?
There will be days of warmth and picnics on the Brocken, I'm sure and as long as the snow plough can do its job of clearing the track, the train ride provides a comfortable way for everyone to enjoy the mountain even in the changing and surprising winter environment.