Drauzug mountain chain

The Drauzug mountain chain is a Limestone alpine ridge comprising mountain ranges such as the Lienz Dolomites and the Gailtal Alps.

In the south of Austria, strictly speaking in East Tyrol and Carinthia, there is the so-called Drauzug mountain chain, featuring a length of 100 km. This Limestone alpenstock extends between the Drautal and Gailtal valleys and comprises the Gailtal Alps and the Lienz Dolomites. Even if the latter bears the name of the neighbouring Dolomites, this mountain range is not part of the Dolomites and does not consist of Dolomite rocks. From a geologic viewpoint, the Drauzug mountain chain does also not make part of the Southern Alps, but the East Alps. Neighbouring mountain ranges are the Villgraten mountains in the north-west and the Carnic main divide as well as the Karawaken in the south. In the east the Drauzug mountain chain is delimited by the Gurktal Alps, while in the north the Ankogel, Kreuzeck and Schober mountain groups rise.

Also Lake Weissensee in Carinthia, the highest located lake for bathing of Austria, belongs to the Drauzug mountain chain. The Lienz Dolomites, about 40 km long, range from the Carinthian saddle in the east of Sillian in the Alta Pusteria to the Gailberg saddle. The Gailtal Alps, featuring some 65 km of length, comprise the mountain groups of the Reisskofelgruppe, Latschurgruppe, Spitzegelgruppe and Dobratsch and stretch to Carinthia.

Peaks: the highest mountain of the Drauzug mountain chain is the Grosse Sandspitze (2,770 m), the highest peak of the Gailtal Alps is the Reisskofel (2,371 m). Further peaks that are worth mentioning are the Spitzkofel (2,718 m), the Jauken (2,275 m), the Gamswiesenspitze (2,486 m), the Lumkofel (2,287 m), the Sattelnock (2,033 m) and the Spitzkopfel (2,223 m).

Trails: the so-called high-altitude trail “Gailtaler Höhenweg” is a 150 km long hiking trail. Mountain huts that can be found in the Drauzug mountain chain are the Karlsbader Hütte, the Kerschbaumeralm Schutzhaus in the central Lienz Dolomites and the Comptonhütte in the north of the Reisskofel mountain.