First snow fall in Germany

It was freezing cold at minus seven degrees (19.4 Fahrenheit). From an altitude of 2000 meters (6562 ft.) a closed snow cover had formed on Germany's highest mountain (2962 meters). 

This Monday, however, meteorologists expect sunshine again - just in time for the anniversary of the first ascent of the Zugspitze: on August 27th, 1820 surveyor Josef Naus and mountain guide Johann Georg Tauschl are said to have managed the first documented ascent of the Zugspitze. In fact, people had already stood on Germany's highest mountain 50 years earlier, as a historical map from 1770 in the archive of the German Alpine Association shows. 

Nowadays, however, most people reach the summit by cable car or cog railway. The Zugspitze, which belongs to the Wettersteingebirge mountain range, is visited by around half a million tourists and mountaineers every year.

fm/ sbc (dpa)