The Drei Brüder (Three Brothers) are a striking group of rock towers on the trail between the Rudolfstein and the Schneeberg, and rank among the finest geotopes…
The Rudolfstein is also known as the “Matratzenlager” (“stack of mattresses”), because that is exactly what its rock formation looks like. Under this motto, the three closely spaced rock towers known as “Die Drei Brüder” (The Three Brothers), south-west of the Rudolfstein, were included among the 100 finest geotopes in Bavaria.
They form an impressive group of granite rocks that were formed around 285 million years ago. At that time, towards the end of the Palaeozoic era, several continental plates collided in the area of present-day Central and Western Europe. This led to the formation of the Variscan mountain range. In the process, some of the rocks – sediments and volcanic rocks from the former continental margins and the ocean basin between them – were pushed down to great depths. Under the pressures and temperatures there, they were transformed and partly melted. The resulting molten rock rose through weak zones in the Earth’s crust, but often did not reach the surface, solidifying instead several kilometres down as what are known as intrusive rocks. The granites of the Fichtel Mountains are a typical example. Over many millions of years the Fichtel Mountains were uplifted, and weathering and erosion exposed the deeper layers of rock. This is why granites that formed deep in the Earth’s crust can be found at the surface today.
You will find a description of the hike to the Rudolfstein and the “Die Drei Brüder” geotope here:
