The Reisseck Group or Reißeck Group () is a small mountain sub-range in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n state of

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

. As the southern part of the

Ankogel Group The Ankogel Group () is a sub-group of the Central Eastern Alps. Together with the Goldberg Group, the Glockner Group, the Schober Group, the Kreuzeck Group, the Granatspitze Group, the Venediger Group, the Villgraten Mountains and the Rieserfern ...

, it belongs to the

High Tauern The High Tauern (plural, pl.; , ) are a mountain range on the Main chain of the Alps, main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salz ...

range of the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps () or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South of them is ...

Geography

The Reisseck Group is separated from the northern Ankogel Group by the Dösen valley, stretching east of

Mallnitz Mallnitz is a municipality in the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria. Geography It is situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range stretching southwards down to Obervellach on the Möll river and separating the A ...

up to the ''

Dösener See The Dösener See (also Dösnersee) is an alpine lake of Carinthia, Austria. It is part of the High Tauern National parks of Austria, National Park and located in the municipality of Mallnitz. Geography The lake is situated at 2270 metres above ...

'' alpine lake at a height of , and the ''Gößgraben'' gorge down to the Malta Valley. Its eastern boundary is formed by the Malta and Lieser rivers with the town of Gmünd, separating it from the

Gurktal Alps The Gurktal Alps (, ) is a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria which is named after the valley of the Gurk river. The range stretches west to Lake Millstatt and east to Neumarkter Sattel (north-northwest of Neumarkt in Steie ...

(

Nock Mountains The Nock Mountains ( or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the Gurktal Alps in Austria, spread over parts of the federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Styria. Their appearance is characterised by numerous dome ...

). To the south, it is bounded by the

Möll valley The Möll (; presumably from , "rubble") is a river in northwestern Carinthia in Austria, a left tributary of the Drava. Its drainage basin is . Course The river rises in the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps on the Pasterze Glacier a ...

and the neighbouring Kreuzeck Group. Reisseckgruppe

The Reisseck Group is predominantly formed of

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

es. The highest peak in the mountain range is the

Reißeck Reißeck is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau District, Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria. Geography Situated within the valley of the Möll river, a tributary to the Drava, Reißeck is located about northwest of the ...

at (). Other significant summits are the Tristenspitz (), the Hohe Leier () and the Gmeineck (). The Kaponig valley in the northwestern Reisseck Group has been part of the High Tauern

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

since 2005. In the Reisseck Group there are numerous mountain lakes, of which the Radlsee (Hoher See), the Hochalmsee (Spapniksee), the Zwenberger See and Mühldorfer See are the most important. The water is used by the Reißeck-Kreuzeck Hydropower Group to supply the

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power plants in the

municipality. For tourists the mountains are accessible from the Möll valley on the Reisseck Funicular. However, service on the former

Reisseck Mountain Railway The Reisseck Mountain Railway () was a narrow gauge railway with a track gauge of 600 mm, that started at the top station of Schoberboden on the Reisseck Funicular Railway in Austria. It was closed in 2014. History An industrial railway w ...

connection to the mountain lakes plateau discontinued in 2014. The former ski area has been closed.

Literature

*Manfred Posch: ''Reißeck, Kreuzeck. Die schönsten Touren''. Klagenfurt, 2000, Kärntner Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reisseck Group Mountain ranges of Carinthia