The Carnic Alps ( it, Alpi Carniche; german: Karnische Alpen; sl, Karnijske Alpe; fur, Alps Cjargnelis) are a

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of the

Southern Limestone Alps The Southern Limestone Alps ( it, Alpi Sud-orientali, german: Südliche Kalkalpen), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacent l ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and northeastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. They are within Austrian

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It is c ...

and

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

, and Italian

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

(

Province of Udine The province of Udine ( it, provincia di Udine, fur, provincie di Udin, sl, videmska pokrajina, Resian dialect, Resian: , german: Provinz Weiden) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia of Italy, borderi ...

) and marginally in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

Etymology

They are named after the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

province of

Carnia Carnia ( fur, Cjargne or ''Cjargna''/''Cjargno'' in local variants, vec, Ciargna, german: Karnien, sl, Karnija) is a historical-geographic region in the northeastern Italian area of Friuli. Its 27 municipalities all belong to the Province of Ud ...

, which probably has a

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic origin. The mountains gave their name to the stage on the

geologic time scale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochrono ...

known as

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

, an age in the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Period.

Geography

They extend from east to west for about between the

Gail River Gail ( sl, Zilja, it, Zeglia) is the name of a river in southern Austria, the largest right tributary of the Drava. Its drainage basin is . Etymology The name ''Gail'' developed from Old High German ''Gîla'', in turn from the form ''*Gīla'' (wh ...

, a tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

and the

Tagliamento The Tagliamento () is a braided river in north-east Italy, flowing from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea at a point between Trieste and Venice. The Tagliamento river is considered as the last morphologically intact river in the Alps. (Its ...

, forming the border between

and

Alpine Club classification

In the Carnic Alps is the southernmost

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

, the

Eiskar The Eiskar is the only existing glacier in the Carnic Alps. It is a typical cirque glacier that, thanks to its shady location and to avalanche breaks in its catchment area, has been able to survive at the relatively low height of 2160–2390 m ...

, nestling in the

Kellerwand The twin peaks of the Kellerspitzen ( it, Creta delle Chianevate) form the second highest mountain () in the Carnic Alps, a mountain range in the Southern Limestone Alps. The two summits rise in the middle of the east-west oriented ''Kellerwandg ...

massif.

Notable peaks

Among the most important mountains of the range are: * / (2,782 m) * (2,774 m) * / (2,694 m) * / (2,689 m) * (2,603 m) * (2,586 m) * (2,474 m) * (2,462 m) * (2,434 m) *'' Cresta di Enghe'' (2,414 m) *''

Monte Ferro Monte Ferro is a mountain of the Veneto, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory l ...

'' (2,348 m) * (2,332 m) * (2,280 m) * (2,187 m)

Mountain passes

The chief passes of the Carnic Alps are: *

Plöcken Pass Plöcken Pass (german: Plöckenpass, it, Passo di Monte Croce Carnico) is a high mountain pass in the Carnic Alps mountain range at the border between the Austrian state of Carinthia and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. It links the m ...

(

Tolmezzo Tolmezzo ( fur, Tumieç; sl, Tolmeč; archaic german: Tolmein or ''Schönfeld'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Udine, part of the autonomous Friuli Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy. Geography Tolmezzo is located at the ...

Kötschach-Mauthen Kötschach-Mauthen ( sl, Koča-Muta) is a market town in the district of Hermagor in Carinthia in Austria. Geography The municipality lies in the west of Hermagor at the transition of the upper Gail Valley into the Lesachtal, between the Gail ...

), road (1,360 m) *

Naßfeld Pass Nassfeld Pass ( it, Passo di Pramollo, sl, Mokrine) is a mountain pass connecting Hermagor in the Austrian state of Carinthia with Pontebba in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located in the Carnic Alps between the Gail valle ...

(

Pontebba Pontebba ( fur, Ponteibe, german: Pontafel, sl, Tablja) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Geography Pontebba, named after it, ponte meaning "bridge", is situated at the confluenc ...

Hermagor-Pressegger See Hermagor-Pressegger See ( sl, Šmohor-Preseško jezero) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is the administrative centre of the Hermagor District.The town is named after Saint Hermagoras of Aquileia, the first bishop of Aquileia. Ge ...

), road (1,552 m) *Öfnerjoch (

Forni Avoltri Forni Avoltri ( fur, For Davôtri, Carnian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine, on the border with Austri ...

to Sankt Lorenzen im

Lesachtal Lesachtal ( sl, Lesna dolina) is a municipality in Hermagor District, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It comprises the western part of the eponymous valley formed by the upper Gail River, and stretches from the Carinthian border with East Tyro ...

), footpath (2,301 m) *Wolayer Pass (same to Kötschach-Mauthen), footpath (1,922 m)

References

External links

Carnic Alps on SummitPost

Carnic Alps on Hike.uno

Portal and interactive key to the flora of the S Carnic Alps
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Alps Southern Limestone Alps Mountain ranges of Italy Mountain ranges of Carinthia (state) * Mountain ranges of Tyrol (state) Mountain ranges of South Tyrol Geography of East Tyrol Province of Udine Triassic Europe