The Dreiländereck (also Ofen; ; ) is a mountain in the

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks (; , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west direction, the Karawanks chain is o ...

whose summit is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of the countries of

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 ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It thus is also the meeting point of three

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, and Slovene. The height of the summit is .

Geography

The municipalities that meet at the tripoint are

Arnoldstein Arnoldstein (, ) is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Location Arnoldstein is located at Austria's southern border between the Carnic Alps and the Karawanken mountain range, near the c ...

in the Austrian 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 ...

Kranjska Gora Kranjska Gora (; ) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italy, Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora. The tripoint between Austria, It ...

in the

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( ; ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The largest town in the region is Kranj, and other urban centers include Kamnik, Jesenice, Jesenice, Jesenice, Domžale and ...

region of Slovenia, and

Tarvisio Tarvisio ( German and ; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional Decentralization Entity of Udine, in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Geography The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Ka ...

in the Italian autonomous region of

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

. 20040727-59 Arnoldstein Dreiländergrenzstein.jpg, Boundary stone

Name and languages

The mountain's German and Slovene names ''Ofen'' and ' both mean 'cliff' or 'cave', although the Slovene word ''peč'' (which is also present in German as the loanword ''Pötsche)'' can secondarily mean 'oven'.Heinz Dieter Pohl: Stichwort ''Ofen.'' In:
Bergnamen
' (in 2.), (accessed 10 March 2011). The mountain's Italian name, ''Forno'', means 'oven'. The contemporary German name ''Dreiländereck'' (literally, 'three-land corner'; i.e., 'tripoint') is a modern creation, as is the similar Slovene ''Tromeja'' (literally, 'tri-border'). Because three linguistic regions meet here, the mountain is comparable to the Dreisprachenspitze (German for 'three-language peak') on the Stilfser Joch.

Development

The mountain has been developed into a

skiing area A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North A ...

with eight lifts and 17 km of

piste A ''piste'' () is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. This European term is French

served by the Dreiländereck Lift System (''Dreiländereck Bergbahnen'').

References

External links

Hiking around the Dreiländereck
, Arnoldstein {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreilandereck#Mountain One-thousanders Mountains of Carinthia Mountains of Slovenia Mountains of Friuli-Venezia Giulia One-thousanders of Austria One-thousanders of Italy One-thousanders of Slovenia Villach-Land District Municipality of Kranjska Gora Sava basin Italy–Slovenia border Austria–Italy border Austria–Slovenia border