Muck · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
1,116 metres, to scale.
A slice through Garnitzenklamm where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Eiffel Tower · 330 m · Burj Khalifa · 828 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is. This is a narrow canyon: the published depth, where there is one, is the better figure.
1,116m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
9.0km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
45°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
571m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
7 °C warmer at the bottom.
In July the afternoon reaches 26 °C on the floor, against 18 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are in September. The rim freezes at night from November to April. The wettest months are in August: in a narrow canyon a flash flood arrives without warning, even from rain upstream.
- 3°-4°Jan
- 5°-3°Feb
- 9°2°Mar
- 14°7°Apr
- 19°12°May
- 23°16°Jun
- 26°18°Jul
- 25°18°Aug
- 20°13°Sep
- 15°8°Oct
- 10°2°Nov
- 5°-3°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Garnitzenklamm is a slot canyon in Austria, cut by the Kreuzgraben river. The relief model measures 1,116 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 9.0 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Hermagornearest town · 4.0 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,480 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Kehre 12nearest viewpoint · 1.5 km from the floor
- Klagenfurt Airport (KLU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 76 km in a straight lineCar hire at KLU airport (Klagenfurt am Wörthersee)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- In Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The Kreuzgraben runs highest from April to December.
The Kreuzgraben carries about 17 m³/s on average here.
- 7.5 m³/sJan
- 4.5 m³/sFeb
- 18 m³/sMar
- 27 m³/sApr
- 35 m³/sMay
- 31 m³/sJun
- 27 m³/sJul
- 35 m³/sAug
- 35 m³/sSep
- 37 m³/sOct
- 41 m³/sNov
- 22 m³/sDec
From about 4.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 41 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 679 km².
Follow the Gail from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 20 × 20 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 12viewpoints within 5 kmIda Warte, Franzenswarte, Kehre 12 and 9 more
- 23marked hiking routes within 4 kmSentiero Bepi della Schiava, Karnischer Höhenweg 403, Rupertiweg 10 and 20 more
- 10via ferrata routes within 4 kmKlettersteig Däumling, Nepalbrücke, Seilbrücke 1 and 7 more
- 1climbing crags within 3 kmKlettergarten Garnitzenklamm
- 16footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmGarnitzen-Klamm and 15 more
- 12car parks within 3 km
- 4information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 1bus stops within 2 km
- 2campsites within 8 kmCamping Flaschberger, EuroParcs Hermagor - Nassfeld
- 61hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmBerghof, Schlugas Wirtshaus "Harmonie", Alpen Adria and 58 more
- 17restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Hermagor4.0 km in a straight line
- Pontebba10 km in a straight line
- Malborghetto12 km in a straight line
- Kirchbach14 km in a straight line
- Stockenboi18 km in a straight line
- Paularo19 km in a straight line
- Steinfeld20 km in a straight line
- Feistritz an der Gail20 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Garnitzenklamm.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 3 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 |
| Afternoon · rim | -4 | -3 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 8 | 2 | -3 |
| Night · rim | -12 | -11 | -7 | -2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 0 | -4 | -10 |
| Rain (mm) | 59 | 64 | 77 | 87 | 116 | 120 | 129 | 147 | 122 | 123 | 128 | 87 |
| Rainy days | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.8 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 4.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 20 | 21 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 19 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | -4 | -12 | 59 | 3.8 |
| Feb | 5 | -3 | -11 | 64 | 4.6 |
| Mar | 9 | 2 | -7 | 77 | 5.6 |
| Apr | 14 | 7 | -2 | 87 | 5.7 |
| May | 19 | 12 | 2 | 116 | 6.2 |
| Jun | 23 | 16 | 7 | 120 | 7.4 |
| Jul | 26 | 18 | 8 | 129 | 8.3 |
| Aug | 25 | 18 | 8 | 147 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 20 | 13 | 3 | 122 | 5.9 |
| Oct | 15 | 8 | 0 | 123 | 4.6 |
| Nov | 10 | 2 | -4 | 128 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 5 | -3 | -10 | 87 | 3.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (571 m) and the rim (1,709 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 20% | 41% | 126% | 35% | 93% | 148% | 141% | 186% | 119% | 207% | 15% | 361% |
| 2021 | 227% | 119% | 25% | 85% | 195% | 54% | 108% | 94% | 55% | 56% | 125% | 75% |
| 2022 | 69% | 49% | 38% | 100% | 69% | 85% | 84% | 94% | 134% | 49% | 79% | 122% |
| 2023 | 123% | 23% | 91% | 103% | 141% | 106% | 181% | 131% | 44% | 176% | 124% | 136% |
| 2024 | 134% | 198% | 193% | 117% | 194% | 154% | 106% | 49% | 197% | 189% | 15% | 39% |
| 2025 | 166% | 71% | 183% | 110% | 158% | 82% | 153% | 86% | 139% | 89% | 94% | 27% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q1494400) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.






