Turracher Höhe, also called Turracherhöhe, refers to a village, a pass across the Alps, and a countryside in the Gurktal Alps in Austria. The village and the Turracher Lake at the pass, which both share the same name, are separated by the border of the two federal states of Styria and Carinthia. Because of its distance to early settlement areas and its high location, the region was not settled until relatively late. In the 17th century, mining was started below the Turracherhöhe. The opening up of the top of the pass by a paved road did not occur until later. During the 20th century, the region was gradually developed for tourism. Efforts are being made to maintain the diversity of flora and fauna of the Turracherhöhe by means of landscape conservation areas and careful and nature-oriented extension of the tourist facilities. Geography Geographical location The Turracherhöhe is situated in the Nock mountains, the western part of the Gurktal Alps. The area extends from the peaks of the Rinsennock (2,334 m) in the west to the Lattersteighöhe (2,264 m) in the east; in the north-south direction, it extends from the village of Turrach to the plain of Reichenau in the south. Somewhat farther away are the peaks of Eisenhut (2,441 m), Großer Königstuhl (2,331 m), and Gruft (2,232 m). The highest point of the approx. two km long pass summit has an altitude of 1,795 m above sea level south of the Turracher Lake. The lake has a water level of 1,763 m above sea (Adria) level and is connected to the village. The Turracher Höhe, as a "classic" pass summit, is also part of a drainage divide between the Mura valley and the Upper Gurk River, whose source is beneath the Lattersteighöhe at approx. 2,000 m above sea level. The Turracher Road (B95), which goes from Salzburg along the western shore of Turracher Lake, connects the Styrian Upper Mura valley in the north with the Upper Gurk valley in Carinthia, and it continues further to Feldkirchen and the basin of Klagenfurt in the south. The road on the pass (from Turrach to the Reichenau plain) has a length of 16 km; the section between the junctions to the Murauer Road (B97) in Predlitz and the Kleinkirchheimer Road (B88) near Patergassen is 35 km long. A total of three municipalities share the region of Turracher Höhe: Styrian Predlitz-Turrach in the north