Osterkopf

The Osterkopf stands 708.5 metres above sea level in the Rothaargebirge range, part of the Upland region in northern Hesse. It rises north of Usseln, an eastern district of Willingen, within the Diemelsee Nature Park. The mountain’s upper slopes are covered by a rare highland heath landscape protected by conservation law. Two small watercourses, the Mülmecke and an upper stretch of the Diemel, flow close to its flanks. A minor road from the B251 leads walkers to the southern and south-eastern slopes, from where paths climb to the summit.

The Osterkopf’s exposed north-west face shows how wind and frost shape vegetation. Biologists recognise it as one of the few places in central Europe where alpine clubmoss still grows, a sign the summit has remained treeless since the last ice age. For centuries local people cut turf from the heath for animal bedding, a practice called plaggen, which kept the land open. After the Second World War, pine and spruce seedlings spread from nearby plantations, turning parts of the slope into woodland. In the 1970s scientists and local volunteers campaigned to save the remaining heath, leading to its 1982 designation as a nature reserve.

Visitors reach the protected summit through quiet tracks that cross wind-bent heather and patches of bilberry. The open plateau offers wide views across the Upland’s rolling moorland and distant ridges. On clear days the skyline stretches to the Sauerland and Thuringian Forest. Conservation workers now use controlled burning and hand cutting to maintain the heath, ensuring the landscape keeps its ancient character.