Monte Kaolino, An Artificial Sand Hill Popular For Sand Skiing

Monte Kaolino is a 120-meters tall sand dune located in the outskirts of the city of Hirschau, in southeast Germany. It consists of approximately 35 million tons of kaolin-quartz sand, a by-product of more than 180 years of kaolin mining in the area. Kaolin or china clay is rich in a mineral called kaolinite that is used in the production of a wide variety of things such as paper, ceramics, toothpaste, paint, and cosmetics, to name a few.

Mining of kaolin began in 1833, and as workers extracted quartz and kaolin from the sand-clay mixture, they tossed aside the leftover sand into a growing hill. A portion of the sand is used in the manufacture of glass and by construction industries, but a large part of the deposit remains unused.