The Reißkofel is, at 2,371

metres above the Adriatic Metres above the Adriatic ( it, Metri sopra l'Adriatico, german: Meter über Adria, Serbo-Croatian: ''Metara iznad Jadrana'') is the vertical datum used in Austria, in the former Yugoslavian states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, ...

(7,779 ft), the highest mountain of the

Gailtal Alps , ''Drauzug'' , photo=Grosse Sandspitze 1.jpg , photo_size= , photo_caption=Große Sandspitze, the highest peak in the range , country= Austria , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= , geology= Limestone , orogeny=Alpine o ...

east of the ''Lienz Dolomites''. It is situated in the centre of the Gailtal range, part 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 ...

, in the

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 ...

n state of

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 ...

. The steep massif is mainly composed of

Corallian Limestone The Corallian Group or Corallian Limestone is a geologic group in England. It is predominantly a coralliferous sedimentary rock, laid down in the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic. It is a hard variety of "coral rag". Building stones from this geol ...

and

Dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

. It is a dominant peak, having a

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of some , as it is situated amongst much lower peaks. It lies between the

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

valley in the north, near the town of

Greifenburg Greifenburg is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The settlement stretches in the upper Drava Valley (''Drautal'') between the Kreuzeck mountain range in the north, part of the High ...

, and the

Gail Gail may refer to: People *Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer and ...

valley to the south, both of which it dominates, towering over the valleys some below it. The mountain is the culminating point of a long ridge, and is steep and rocky on both its northern and southern faces. It was first climbed in 1848 by Johann Festin von Wald.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reisskofel Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Carinthia (state)