A steam train chugs through a wintry landscape on Sunday, Dec. 28. The engine is climbing up the narrow-gauge track that leads to the peak of the “Brocken.” At 1,142 meters, it is the tallest mountain in the Harz mountain chain and the highest peak in northern Germany. The mountain is currently covered by a 75-centimeter-thick blanket of snow. Traditionally, many hikers climb the Brocken in the period around the New Year. dw-world