Sněžka

Where is Sněžka?

Sněžka is part of the Giant Mountains.

You will find it in: Czechia.

Summit: 50.736° N, 15.740° E

The story behind it

Sněžka looks like a stone pyramid with the corners rubbed off, because ice and frost have been breaking its rock into blocks for a very long time. Up there the weather behaves like a small piece of the far north: wind blows hard almost every day, snow can fall even in summer and low cushion plants grow between the stones instead of trees. On the summit stand a tiny stone chapel, a weather station shaped like two flying saucers and a marker where the border runs, because the ridge is shared with Poland. Walkers reach the top on stone paths from the valley, and a chairlift carries people part of the way up. Old stories from the region tell of a mountain spirit called Rübezahl who plays tricks on rude travellers and helps the friendly ones.

Find it on the globe

Sněžka is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.