--- title: Google Doodle: 197th Anniversary Of Zugspitze First Ascent description: Google Doodle celebrates the first ascent of Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, 197 years ago today canonical: https://time.com/5378829/germany-zugspitze-google-doodle/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-27T07:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:54.512Z og:title: Google Doodle Marks The First Ascent of Germany's Highest Peak og:description: The Zugspitze is located at the border of Germany and Austria og:url: https://time.com/5378829/germany-zugspitze-google-doodle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05438f3d1669e96a/698938c2db2987715026086e/197th-anniversary-of-zugspitze-first-ascent-5343713998929920-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=818&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 818 og:image:height: 460 og:image:alt: 197th-anniversary-of-zugspitze-first-ascent-5343713998929920-2x og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Marks The First Ascent of Germany's Highest Peak twitter:description: The Zugspitze is located at the border of Germany and Austria twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05438f3d1669e96a/698938c2db2987715026086e/197th-anniversary-of-zugspitze-first-ascent-5343713998929920-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=818&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Zugspitze Was First Summited 197 Years Ago Today. Here's What to Know About Germany's Highest Mountain > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2dbb4263-cf6b-4867-a9f6-67262a42e9cb&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 27, 2018 7:00 AM UTC  An illustration of Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, for the Aug. 27, 2018 Google Doodle. An illustration of Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, for the Aug. 27, 2018 Google Doodle. Google by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 27, 2018 7:00 AM UTC Soaring 2,962 meters over the Wetterstein range stands the Zugspitze, the tallest mountain in Germany. Google [is celebrating](https://www.google.com/doodles/197th-anniversary-of-the-first-ascent-of-the-zugspitze) the 197-year-anniversary of the mountain’s first ascent with a new Doodle. Here’s what you need to know about the peak. ## Where is Zugspitze? Located along the border between Germany and Austria, Zugspitze is in the southeastern German state of Bavaria, formerly the Kingdom of Bavaria. The mountain is flanked by three glaciers, two of which are the largest in Germany. ## When was the first ascent? Zugspitze was first summited in 1820 in an effort to prove the mountain was indeed the tallest in the then-Kingdom of Bavaria. The Royal Bavarian Topographic Bureau commissioned Lieutenant Josef Naus, a 27-year-old engineer from the army with the task, ultimately to make an Atlas of Bavaria. Naus, his survey assistant Johann Georg Tauschl, and a military orderly named Maier, set out on their expedition in July. They trekked along melting glaciers — with a major risk of avalanches — and headed to a shepherd’s hut that would serve as their home base. From there, on Aug. 27, 1820, the team launched their ascent, and ultimately reached the summit in 7 hours and 45 minutes. Soon after storm clouds cloaked the mountain, forcing the team to descend quickly.  Numerous excursionists use the beautiful weather for an excursion to the summit cross on the Zugspitze. Sven Hoppe—picture alliance/Getty Images However, there is some evidence that others climbers beat Naus’ team to the top. According to mountaineering historians, a map recovered from 1770 “[strongly suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/21/germany.lukeharding)” that Zugspitze was actually conquered 50 years prior, probably by local hunters or shepherds, the _Guardian_ reports. The first successful winter ascent did not come until Jan. 7, 1882. ## Can anyone climb it these days? Today, visitors can reach the top with far less peril, as a cable-car now runs from the base to the summit. Spectators can enjoy stunning views of limestone peaks over both Austria and Germany. The mountain offers ample hiking opportunities, and is a popular destination for snow sports, including skiing and snowboarding. Zugspitze also boasts the highest ski resort in Germany. Monday’s Doodle depicts the mighty snow-peaked Zugspitze rising up behind three traditional Bavarian houses bearing the Google letters as hanging signs. ## Transcript >> The Doodle team was able to meet Ira Glass from This American Life, and he was just meeting us for fun. I guess, I'm not even sure why he was here, but we talked about potentially collaborating and they thought that it'd be fun to collaborate with us on Valentine's Day, so I took the lead on this project. >> We do Valentine's Day pretty much every year, and we've done your typical like lovebirds and, you know, flowers and things like that. But Ira and his team are awesome. >> They were able to pull stories that they have collected over the years, they've recorded new stories for us, and they're all about love in all different respects of the word. They sent us maybe 8 or 10 stories and they're all really fun and really sweet. >> The stories run the [ unk ]. There is a story about middle school love. >> I was in the cafeteria, just got on a drink of root beer and she walks up to me. >> There is a story about a new bride who's in doubt that she made a mistake. >> My husband, me and I, we're just so worried, his face I could tell. I said, " Where he could be ," you know, and I-- and I called the police because I thought he got lost or something happened. >> When I first got the audio from Ira, my co- worker and I listened to it together and we wrote down bullet points of where we wanted to have a little drawing come up. >> One of my favorite stories, it involves middle schoolers. We're titling it, " Puppy Love" so true to the title, I just-- I just drew everyone as a dog. >> Each stories are-- containing a little candy heart. >> And when you click on it, the heart will flip, the audio will play and you will also see the images that we've drawn to accompany the phrases. So, now we are all going to brainstorms together because we need the creative side and we also need the technical side to tell us what is possible and what isn't possible. For this one, it's a pretty conservative on the interactive side, because we didn't want to overshadow the audio. When I first started, they were no engineers on the team, we only did static doodles, but since then, we've started doing more animated stuff, more interactive work, and for that we needed a dedicated team. >> Some of our most like ambitious to those have come from engineers that are just incredibly talented and spare similar time for our projects. >> Sometimes the illustrators will come up with an idea that is way too wacky and just not possible yet. The technology hasn't been invented, but sometimes we're too conservative and it's great to have the engineers there to tell us that we can actually be way wackier with our ideas. The relationship with my engineer on this was to just keep my files size at a reasonable capacity, I was getting a little bit ambitious with how many frames I wanted to draw and my engineers said, " Hey, you need to double it ." >> We tried to do as many doodles as we possibly can. We're a pretty small team, relative to how many audiences are out there [ unk ], but yeah, we-- you never know what you're gonna get. And, you know, we keep making more and more of these things. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5378829/germany-zugspitze-google-doodle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5378829/germany-zugspitze-google-doodle/"},"headline":"The Zugspitze Was First Summited 197 Years Ago Today. 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