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35-502: The mountain attracts many tourists thanks to the numerous footpaths leading to its summit, its mountaintop restaurant, extensive views over the Palatinate wine region and striking rock formations on its forest-clad mountainsides. The mountain lies within the municipal forest of the wine village of Maikammer and 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) southwest of the independent town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße . Several lower peaks are grouped around

70-556: A department of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Forestry Commission. Another feature is that the values were introduced to alert nature lovers, because exceptional visibility is very rare and difficult to forecast. The summit has a good view of the Rhine Plain , over 500 m below, as well as the nearby villages of Maikammer and St. Martin. There are views of the cities of Ludwigshafen, Mannheim on

105-717: A response to the evolution of the Alps to the south. It remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms a downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows. The Upper Rhine Plain was formed during the Early Cenozoic era, during the Late Eocene epoch. At this time, the Alpine Orogeny , the major mountain building event that was to produce the Alps , was in its early stages. The Alps were formed because

140-577: Is a major rift , about 350-kilometre-long (220 mi) and on average 50-kilometre-wide (31 mi), between Basel in the south and the cities of Frankfurt / Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the France–Germany border . It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System , which extends across Central Europe . The Upper Rhine Graben formed during the Oligocene , as

175-487: Is also used for sporting events like mountain running competitions and road bicycle racing . Since Mai 2008 a so-called Stoppomat , an automatic timer, has been available for the use of sports cyclists, runners and skaters; the starting apparatus is at the western exit of Maikammer village (about 170 m), the finish apparatus at the Kalmit car park just below the summit, 5.75 kilometres away. On 23 and 24 August 2009

210-570: Is an 80 km (50 mi) stretch situated under the lee of the Palatinate Forest on the Haardt Mountains , a continuation of Alsace 's Vosges Mountains . Its climate is much like that of Alsace (France) in the south or Baden (Germany) in the east; and it is one of the warmest, sunniest and driest of German wine regions, with only parts of Baden (the only Zone B region in Germany), such as

245-682: Is classified as a major region of the 3rd order. Within the internal classification of the natural region, it belongs to the Central Palatine Forest and the mountain range of the Haardt, which forms the boundary of the Palatine Forest with the Upper Rhine Plain . In summary the natural regional classification of the Kalmit is as follows: On the summit is the Kalmithaus , a hut managed by

280-767: Is estimated to be ~2. To both the east and west of the Rhine Plain, two major hill ranges have formed that run the length of the basin. To the west, in France, these hills are known as the Vosges mountain range and in the east, in Germany, the hills comprise the Black Forest . These ranges exhume the same types of rocks in their cores, including deep crustal gneiss . Both ranges correspond to uplifts of more than 2,500 metres, much of which has since been eroded. This uplift has occurred because of

315-492: Is not only served straight, but is also mixed with sparkling water to make up a popular refreshing drink called Schorle , a term that also describes juice, mixed with water. Every wine making city or village has its own Weinfest (wine festival) once a year, dedicated to drinking the local wines. On such occasions, wine is normally consumed as Schorle . It is traditionally served in 50  cl glasses called Schoppen (meaning 1 ⁄ 2 litre) as well as in

350-519: The Kalmit . After another six kilometres the Kalmitstraße road runs roughly from east to west past the summit of the Kalmit to the north. On a plateau on the mountainside there is a large walker's car park which is only a few minutes walk from the summit itself. From May to October, the local public transport services operate a "walkers' bus" ( Wanderbuslinie ) from Neustadt (Weinstraße) Central Station to

385-644: The North Palatine Uplands . On the Kalmit's subpeak, the Hüttenberg, is the Hüttenberg Felsenmeer . Here, large pieces of rock from the Middle Bunter , the so-called Karlstal beds, lie on the surface. These blocks were formed during the various ice ages , but frost action has broken down the once uniform layer of rock into a felsenmeer or blockfield . The steeply climbing Kalmitstraße road

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420-509: The Palatinate Forest on the western and the Odenwald on the eastern side. The extension induced by the formation of the Alps was sufficient to thin the crust and provide suitable dilational conduits for magmatic and volcanic activity to occur. This resulted in the emplacement of mafic dykes , which follow the general structural trend of the extensional faults. In addition, isolated volcanoes such as

455-650: The Palatine Forest Club mainly at weekends and public holidays. There is also a weather station and a free-standing, steel-framed radio tower , the Kalmit Transmitter ( Sender Kalmit ). After the 1868 viewing tower on the exposed summit had collapsed, in 1928/29 a new 21-metre-high observation tower was built by the Palatine Forest Club, which, from the outset was fitted with living accommodation, electric light and running water. From this tower there

490-557: The Hüttenberg is a well-known bouldering area. The Kalmit is a waypoint on several circular walks as well as the following long distance paths in the Palatine Forest : Private cars may approach the area from the A ;65 motorway (from Ludwigshafen am Rhein to Karlsruhe ), leaving at the Edenkoben exit. After 3 kilometres on the B ;38 federal highway to Maikammer , there are signs for

525-689: The Kaiserstuhl were formed. The Kaiserstuhl (literally "Emperor's Chair") is a cluster of volcanic hills to the northwest of Freiburg, within the Rhine Graben. The highest point of this small, isolated volcanic centre is the Totenkopf (557 metres). Volcanic activity was most prevalent in the Miocene epoch, some 15 million years ago. Today, the Kaiserstuhl volcano is extinct. In 1356, the Basel earthquake occurred in

560-457: The Kaiserstuhl, being warmer. The vineyards are planted on a mixture of sandstone and volcanic soil . The region is divided into two districts ( Bereich ), Südliche Weinstraße (Southern Wine Route) in the south and Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße (Central Haardt-German Wine Route) in the north. The Northern vineyards are located north of Neustadt an der Weinstraße in a region often listed on wine labels as Mittelhaardt and includes

595-601: The Kalmit. The journey time is about 35 minutes; these buses are shown on the local rail service timetable. Special tickets, such as the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket ( Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket ) are accepted on these buses. Palatinate (wine region) Palatinate ( German : Pfalz ) is a German wine -growing region ( Weinbaugebiet ) in the area of Bad Dürkheim , Neustadt an der Weinstraße , and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate . Before 1993, it

630-514: The Palatinate are traditionally dry ( trocken ) with a full body , though some examples of sweet Portugieser still exist. The red wines often reach alcohol levels of 13% and go through malolactic fermentation and spend some time in oak . Since the 1990s there has been increased production in the sparkling wine ( Sekt ) made from Riesling. The most cultivated grape varieties, by area in 2022, were: Unlike most other German wine regions, wine

665-465: The Palatinate region, for example near Wachenheim and Ungstein . The Flurbereinigung restructuring of the 1980s raised the quality of the area's vineyards to modern standards and by the end of the 20th century, Palatinate wines were garnering international notice for their quality. The Palatinate wine region overlaps with, but is not coextensive with, the traditional German region of Palatinate , making up only 5% of its area. The wine region

700-604: The Palatinate. Overall the production is split between 61% white wine and 39% red wine. For many years the dominant grapes of the region were the Müller-Thurgau , Kerner and Morio Muscat with Riesling always having a strong foothold in the Mittelhaardt. Toward the end of the 20th century, plantings of Riesling began to increase in the south as well as an increase in plantings of red wine varieties such as Spätburgunder (Pinot noir), Portugieser and Dornfelder . The wines of

735-562: The Rhine Plain. It was perhaps the most destructive earthquake ever in northwest Europe , destroying the city of Basel and flattening buildings as far as 200 km away. It was the most significant historic seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe. Its epicenter was between Waldkirch and St. Peter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald . However, it remains disputed whether the fault that ruptured to cause this earthquake

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770-410: The continents of Europe and Africa collided. It is thought that because the collision was irregular , the initial contact between the two continents resulted in the formation of dilational (extensional) structures in the foreland basin to the north of the Alps. The result was substantial crustal thinning, forming a major extensional graben and causing isolated volcanic activity. The stretch factor

805-496: The endurance athlete, Christoph Fuhrbach, ran 488 kilometres (303 miles) on the Kalmitstraße within 24 hours, climbing a total of 17,615 metres in height. He ran the just under 6 kilometre-long stretch between Maikammer and the Kalmit car park 42 times there and back; on the 43rd ascent he reached the 400 metre sign at the 24‑hour point. Fuhrbach thus beat the hitherto best German performance by Rainer Klaus, who climbed 15,458 metres in height in 1996. The Felsenmeer on

840-419: The following towns and villages: The Southern subregion located south of Neustadt an der Weinstraße has significant plantings of the varieties Grauburgunder (Pinot gris) and Weissburgunder (Pinot blanc) but also produces some Riesling . The soil here ranges from sandstone to slate . The subregion includes the following villages: There are 45 white and 22 red grape varieties permitted to be cultivated in

875-409: The isostatic response associated with the formation of an extensional basin. As a consequence, the highest mountains exist immediately adjacent to the margin of the basin, and become increasingly low outwards. The boundaries between the hill ranges and the Rhine Graben are defined by major, normal fault zones. The northern section of the Rhine Plain is equally framed by somewhat lower mountain ranges,

910-701: The main summit, including the Zwergberg (589.3 m) to the north, the Taubenkopf (603.8 m) to the northeast, the Kanzel (531.7 m) and the Wetterkreuzberg (400.7 m) to the southeast, the Breitenberg (545.2 m) to the south and the Hüttenberg (591.2 m) to the southwest. On the Hüttenberg ridge there is a blockfield or felsenmeer , which also bears that name, with great boulders of bunter sandstone on

945-426: The plain and also of Speyer and Philippsburg . In the far distance, the southwestern part of the Odenwald forest near Heidelberg and the first foothills of the northern Black Forest may be made out. Schwetzingen Castle , 36 kilometres away, is exactly west-southwest of the Kalmit. To the north-northwest, also 36 kilometres distant, is the highest summit in the Palatinate, the 686.5 m high Donnersberg in

980-562: The present-day Federal Network Agency with a frequency of 145.700 MHz. The amateur radio relay is housed in the tower next to the Kalmithaus. Since 2012 there has been a special facility on the Kalmit for measuring visibility; its task is to record visibility in the Palatine Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve. Whilst at many, unmanned, weather stations, visibility measurements are made automatically for

1015-512: The range 0 to 10 km which is relevant to traffic safety, the measurement station on the Kalmit is designed for the range 10 to 390 km, which is relevant in assessing the fine dust content of the air. Measurements and survey photographs are obtainable through the "Fern-Sehen Project" ( Projekt Fern-Sehen ) in the Palatine Forest, which is managed by the House of Sustainability in Johanniskreuz,

1050-533: The surface of the terrain. The Kleine Kalmit ("Little Kalmit"), which is only 270.5 m high and is designated as a nature reserve lies just outside the Palatine Forest and is about 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) to the south. The Kalmit belongs to the natural region known as the Palatine Forest which, in the system published by Emil Meynen and Josef Schmithüsen in their Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany and its successor publications

1085-897: The typical 25 cl ones called Viertel ("quarter", for 1 ⁄ 4 litre). They are of a special shape specific to the region and are known as the Dubbeglas , widening from bottom to top and featuring indentations or large dimples ( Dubbe ) that give the glass its name. The older, undimpled cylindrical half-litre Schoppenglas is also frequently seen in the region. The German Wine Route ( Deutsche Weinstraße ) traverses this wine region. The region also produces spirits , sparkling wines , wine vinegar , and grape seed oil . Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain , Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German : Oberrheinische Tiefebene , Oberrheinisches Tiefland or Oberrheingraben , French : Vallée du Rhin )

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1120-484: Was a comprehensive panoramic view that not only took in the entire Palatine Forest and the Vosges to the south, but also, on clear days, the ranges of the Hunsrück , Taunus , Odenwald and Black Forest . According to contemporary sources, the Kalmit was thus "the most beautiful viewing mountain in the Palatinate" . Since then, in and around the tower, various survey and radio-technical facilities have been added so that it

1155-614: Was known as Rhine Palatinate ( Rheinpfalz ). With 23,698 hectares (58,560 acres) under cultivation in 2022, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen . There are about 6,800 vintners producing around 2.3 million hectolitres of wine annually. Although wild varieties of the vine were most probably native in the Palatinate region, the Romans brought the cultivated vine and winegrowing techniques around 1 A.D. Several Roman landhouses ( villa rusticae ) were found in

1190-793: Was part of the Rhine Valley extensional system, or simply one of the many thrust faults that make up the Alps to the south. Doubts have been raised over the adequacy of the seismic evaluation and design of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant , built in the Rhine Plain close to the faults. Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km (11,000 cu mi) of fresh water and supplies some 3 million people in France and Germany, supplying 75% of their drinking water and 50% of

1225-546: Was periodically and then generally placed out of bounds to the public. The Kalmit Transmitter is used to broadcast the RPR1 103.6 MHz and BigFM 106.7 MHz radio stations. Amateur radio hams also use the height and location of the Kalmit. A branch of the German Amateur Radio Club , Ortsverband Z22 , erected a relay station on the summit with the call sign, DB0XK, which was authorized on 30 November 1971 by

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