The Eckerloch (845 m above sea level) is a valley hollow in Schierke. The hiking trail through the Eckerloch is one of the most beautiful hiking trails in the Harz Mountains.
The history of Eckerlochschanze begins in the early 1920s, when the people of Schierk gave up the south-facing ski jump on Erdbeerkopf and looked for a place for a new, snow-safe ski jump.
The Eckerloch was given to them in 1923 by the Stolberg Wernigeröd Chamber of Princes for the construction of a ski jump, and in the years that followed it was one of the most renowned ski jumps in the Harz Mountains.
In 1950, the first GDR ski jumping championships were held there after it had been rebuilt in 1949. At the same time, it was named the „Schanze der Einheit“ (unity ski jump).
Unfortunately, as time went on, the political developments in Germany at the time did not allow for unity and with the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the inevitable division of Germany, their fate was sealed.
Due to its location in the immediate border restricted area of the GDR, it was no longer allowed to be used, fell into disrepair over time and was finally demolished in the 1970s.
From Schierke, first follow the Brockenstraße until the Eckerlochstieg branches off to the right at a small waterworks. From the rest area in Eckerloch, where the stamp box is located in the refuge, the path becomes much steeper and stonier.
