Nassfeld

Nassfeld
	Nassfeld ski area
Pass height	1530 m above sea level A.
Mountains	Carnic Alps
particularities	220 m long spiral tunnel on the Italian side
	profile
	map
Coordinates	46 ° 33 '36 " N , 13 ° 16' 33" E Coordinates: 46 ° 33 '36 " N , 13 ° 16' 33" E

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The Nassfeld (Slovenian Mokrine , Italian Passo di Pramollo ) in the Carnic Alps is a saddle between the Austrian Gail and the Italian Canal Valley . The pass is at 1530 m above sea level. A. , the surrounding mountains are the Gartnerkofel ( 2195 m ), the Rosskofel ( 2239 m ) and the Trogkofel ( 2280 m ). The Gartnerkofel is known for the occurrence of the cow step , a rare and endemic mountain flower.

The largest ski area in Carinthia is located on the Austrian side at the top of the pass . The valley locations are in the Gailtal Tröpolach (Slovenian Tropolje , municipality Hermagor ) and in the Canal Valley Pontebba (German Pontafel , Slovenian Pontabla ). For several years there has been a plan to open up the ski area with ski lifts from the Italian Canal Valley.

Ski Area

Panorama Nassfeld

Nassfeld is the largest ski area in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The ski area extends from 610 m to 2020 m above sea level. A. It operates from December to April. Thanks to its location, Nassfeld, also known as the “snow hole”, benefits from a microclimate that promotes snow reliability in the ski area through frequent Adriatic lows from early December to mid-April. In addition, mechanical snow-making systems are in use on all slopes. At the same time, Nassfeld, with an average of 850 hours of sunshine in the winter season, is one of the ski areas with the most hours of sunshine in the Alps. The total length of the slopes in the Nassfeld ski area is 110 km, of which 11 km are classified as difficult, 69 km as medium and 30 km as easy. The longest floodlit piste in the Alps for night skiing at 2.2 km is also located in the Nassfeld ski area. In addition to ski slopes, there are also freeride areas and a snow park with a kicker line with four kickers that lead to a jump height of up to 14 meters, a beginners line for beginners, a public line and various other obstacles . 80 km of cross-country ski trails, 55 km of winter hiking trails and five toboggan runs as well as the natural ice rinks on the Pressegger and Weissensee offer additional winter sports opportunities .

Lifts and cable cars

Most of the railways are on the Carinthian side. There are five 15-person gondola lifts, five 6-seater high-speed chairlifts (two with heated seats), three 4-seater high-speed chairlifts and a fixed-clamp 4-seater chairlift, 15 drag lifts and several baby and button lifts.

The Millennium-Express I, II, the Trogkofelbahn and the Zweikofelbahn (BJ 1999) and the Millennium-Express III (BJ 2000) are all 15-person single circulating gondolas. The Millennium Express, the 6001 m longest cable car in Austria and the second longest in the Alps, connects the Gailtal with Nassfeld in 17 minutes. It leads from the Tröpolach valley station over the Gmanberg and the Treßdorfer Alm (both intermediate stations with transfer options) up the mountain.

In place of the two tow lifts 21 and 21A on the Rudnigsattel (Sattel slope No. 65), the 6-seater cable car "Rudnigsattel" with a length of 1,252 meters was built in the summer of 2015. With a transport capacity of up to 3,200 people per hour and a travel time of 4.59 minutes from the 2015/16 winter season.

summer

Hiking and climbing

More than 1000 km of marked hiking trails at an altitude of 600 to 2800 m lead through Nassfeld in the Carnic Alps and the Gailtal Alps . There are 25 themed hiking trails, including several long-distance hiking trails :

Südalpenweg 03 from Bad Radkersburg to Sillian (500 km long)
Rupertiweg 10 from the Bohemian Forest here (approx. 560 km)
Carnic High Trail (155 km)
Gailtaler Höhenweg (150 km)

There are 25 managed huts along the hiking trails around Nassfeld.

For family hikes with children, the 1.5 km long so-called Aqua Trail, which can also be used with prams, is particularly suitable. There are several children's play stations, trampolines and water games along the route. Gondola rides are offered on the Rosskofelteich, which the Aqua Trail passes by (with the Millennium Express to Kofelplatz Madritsche (mountain station) and via the Aqua Trail to the Rosskofelteich).

On the geotrails through Nassfeld you can find rocks and rock deposits from ancient times that provide evidence of the formation of the Alps. Around the Wolayer See are the oldest rocks of the Alpine arc, which contain fossils such as Orthoceren from the Devonian.

There are the following via ferratas in the Nassfeld area :

Zottachkofel via ferrata (A / B, easy and short climb over the north side to the summit)
Ferrata Enrico Contin (A / B, easy and short climb from the Italian Winkeltal to the Contin-Scharte between Rosskofel and Torre Clampil)
Via ferrata Torre Clampil (D / E, difficult and exposed climb through the approximately 180 m high north face of the Winkelturm / Torre Clampil)
Winkelturm Ostgrat (B / C, short panoramic via ferrata along the Austria / Italy border to the summit of the Winkelturm)
Ferrata Crete Rosse (B / C, climb through the southeast face of the Trogkofel)
Däumling via ferrata (B / C, on the west side just below the summit of the Gartnerkofel)

Mountain bike

In Nassfeld there is a 950 km long, cross-border, marked network of cycle and mountain bike trails with a total of 31 routes of varying degrees of difficulty. The Millennium Express transports mountain bikes up the mountain for currently 20 euros, where one of the longest downhill routes in the Alps begins at 11.7 km.

Summer toboggan run

The longest summer toboggan run in Carinthia, the so-called Pendolino, is located in Nassfeld at 2 km and overcomes 400 meters in altitude. This begins at the mountain station (Madritsche) of the Millennium Express and leads downhill to the Treßdorfer Alm (intermediate station).

Bathing possibilities

There are bathing opportunities in the nearby Carinthian lakes . The Pressegger See is only a few kilometers east of Hermagor .

Nassfeld Pass

Memorial stone at the top of the pass

Until the 16th century, the Nassfeld Pass was a popular alternative to the Saifnitz and Predil passes among merchants . When these passes were given roads, the Nassfeldpass, which had only one, poorly maintained, mule track, lost its importance. The documents that are available from the customs collection points at Nassfeld are evidence of this. In order to upgrade the Nassfeldpass again, there were soon numerous expansion projects, for example by a Count Widmann in 1640. This plan was never carried out any more than any other eighteenth-century plan. In these reports, the Nassfeld Pass is still referred to as “crossing” or “Pass an den Lanzen”. It was not until the First World War , when the Nassfeld Pass, like the Plöcken, was a theater of war, that Nassfeldstrasse was expanded as a military road. Today a military cemetery in the village of Tröpolach commemorates the many fallen soldiers on both sides.

The pass road is passable all year round on the Austrian and Italian sides. The north ramp is much better developed than the Italian south ramp. A special feature on the Italian side is an approximately 220 m long spiral tunnel , i.e. a 180-degree curve in the mountain. Expansion of the south ramp was discontinued after geological difficulties.