Gurktaler Alpen

Gurktal Alps, geologically part of the central Alps with complex make-up of crystalline schists and limestone layers, between the upper part of the River Mur/Mura and the River Gurk in the Styrian Eisenhut highest peak 2,441 m; high to low mountain range - made up of old schists - on the northern border of Carinthia, facing upper Styria and the Lungau region in the province of Salzburg. Their boundaries are marked by the Katschberg Pass in the west and the Neumarkter Sattel Pass in the east; the eastern part is divided into two ranges by the Metnitztal valley. The mountains in the Gurktal Alps generally have wooded slopes, grassy, broad ridges and flat, dome-shaped mountain tops; only the highest elevations show more rugged features. There are small lakes in some scattered old cirques. The transit road over the Turracher Höhe Pass (1,783 m) is a major link between Carinthia (upper Gurk Valley) and Styria (upper Mur Valley). In the south-west the Gurktal Alps merge into the Nock Area, in the north-east they are referred to as Metnitz Alps. Agriculture and forestry, skiing and hiking area.