Carnic and Gailtal Alps

The range is bound by the Drau River in the north, separating it from the Western Tauern section of the Central Eastern Alps. The northern, entirely Austrian range is called the Gailtal Alps or Drauzug, bordered by the Gail River in the south. The Gail Valley is on the Periadriatic Seam, so that from a tectonic perspective the Gailtal Alps belong to the Central Eastern Alps. The Gailtal Alps are divided by the very deep Gailbergsattel (981 m) into a higher western section called the Lienzer Dolomites and a lower eastern section, to which the name Gailtal Alps is sometimes restricted. Passes in the eastern section include the Kreuzbergsattel and Windische Höhe.

The main ridge of the Carnic Alps forms the Austrian-Italian border and stretches from prominent Mt. Helm near Sexten at the tripoint of East Tyrol, South Tyrol and Veneto to the Canal Valley at Tarvisio in the east. It includes several peaks reaching nearly 2,800 m (9,200 ft) as well as the Plöcken and Naßfeld passes.

In the south the Carnic Prealps stretch between the Piave and Tagliamento rivers down to the Padan Plain.

Administratively the range is divided between the Italian Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and the Austrian states Tyrol and Carinthia.

Mount Lumkofel (2,287 m), in the Gailtal Alps

WWI. Austro-hungarian machine gun team at Mount Gamskofel, c.1916

Some notable summits of the range are: