The Carnic Alps (; ; ; ) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps 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 ...

and northeastern

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 ...

. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Italian

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

(

Province of Udine The province of Udine (; ; ; ; ) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia, with the capital in the city of Udine. Abolished on 30 September 2017, it was reestablished in 2019 as the Re ...

) and marginally in

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Etymology

They are named after the Roman province of Carnia, which probably has a

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

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 geochro ...

known as Carnian, an age in the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Period.

Geography

They extend from east to west for about between the Gail River, a tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

and the Tagliamento, forming the border between

and

Alpine Club classification

In the Carnic Alps is the southernmost

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 ...

, the Eiskar, nestling in the Kellerwand 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'' (2,348 m) * (2,332 m) * (2,280 m) * (2,187 m)

Mountain passes

The chief passes of the Carnic Alps are: * Plöcken Pass (

Tolmezzo Tolmezzo (; ; archaic or ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity of Udine, part of the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy. Geography Tolmezzo is located at the foot o ...

to Kötschach-Mauthen), road (1,360 m) * Naßfeld Pass ( Pontebba to Hermagor-Pressegger See), road (1,552 m) *Öfnerjoch ( Forni Avoltri to Sankt Lorenzen im Lesachtal), 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

Carnic Alps on kamdoalp.cz - Hikes description, prominent peaks

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 * Mountain ranges of Tyrol (federal state) Mountain ranges of South Tyrol Geography of East Tyrol Province of Udine Triassic Europe