The Kamnik–Savinja Alps () are a mountain range of the

Southern Limestone Alps The Southern Limestone Alps (, ), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the mountain range, ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacent lands of Austria and Slovenia. The ...

. They lie in northern

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 ...

, except for the northernmost part, which lies in

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 ...

. The western part of the range was named the Kamnik Alps () in 1778 by the scientists

Belsazar Hacquet Belsazar de la Motte Hacquet (also Balthasar or Balthazar Hacquet) ( – 10 January 1815) was a Carniolan physician of French people, French descent in the Enlightenment Era. He was a war surgeon, a surgeon in the mining town of Idrija, and a prof ...

and Franz Xaver von Wulfen, after the town of Kamnik (''Stein'') in the valley of the Kamnik Bistrica River. Its eastern part was named the Savinja Alps (''Sanntaler Alpen'') or Solčava Alps (''Sulzbacher Alpen'') by the mountaineer Johannes von Frischauf in 1875, after the settlement of Solčava (''Sulzbach'') and the main river, the upper

Savinja The Savinja () is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja Valley () and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Savinja Alps (Sln. ''Savinjske Alpe''). It flows into ...

(''Sann'').

Geography

The Kamnik–Savinja Alps are located south of the Karawanks range at the border of Austria and Slovenia, stretching from the Sava River in the west to the Savinja in the east, where the adjacent Slovenian Prealps with the Pohorje range, the

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

Hills at the Dravinja River, as well as the

Sava Hills The Sava Hills () are the eastern part of the Slovene Prealps. They are oriented in the east-west direction and are located to the north and south of the Sava River in central and eastern Slovenia, among the Ljubljana Basin to the west, the Ce ...

are located. In the northwest, the valley of Vellach Creek (at ) leading to Bad Vellach is the southernmost point of both 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 ...

and Austria as a whole. The entire main chain is today part of Slovenia. Historically it formed the border between the Inner Austrian duchies of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, and Carniola. 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 ...

was located at the Carinthia Mount Rinka (). There is also a small

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

below Mount Skuta, which is the easternmost glacier in the Southern Alps.

Mountains and passes

The most important peaks are: * Grintovec – * Kočna – * Skuta – * Carinthia Mount Rinka – * Planjava – * Ojstrica – * Brana – * Kalce Ridge – * Cold Mountain – * Storžič – * Krofička – In total, 28 peaks surpass 2,000 m. The total area of the Slovene part is about 900 km². About three-quarters of the area is covered with forest, and many of the higher peaks are bleak and rocky. The most important passes are the Seebergsattel () between Austrian Carinthia and Slovenia's Municipality of Jezersko, as well as the Pavlič Pass. On the Slovenian side, there is a skiing area, whereas tourism in the Vellach Valley focuses on health spas.

Gallery

Image:Kamniske Alpe.JPG, The Kamnik–Savinja Alps; the highest peak in the picture is Storžič. Image:Kranj 06.jpg, The Kamnik–Savinja Alps seen from

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

Image:Kranj 19.jpg,

and the Kamnik–Savinja Alps in background File:Upper Kamnik valley and Alps.JPG, A portion of the Kamnik–Savinja Alps with the northern suburbs of Kamnik in the foreground Image:Blick von Kärnten zu den SteinerAlpen.jpg, The Kamnik–Savinja Alps seen from

References

Bibliography

External links