It connects the Carinthian Katsch Valley in the south with the historic Lungau region of Salzburg (present-day Tamsweg district) and the Mur river in the north, from where the road leads further on to the Radstädter Tauern Pass. The federal state border between Salzburg and Carinthia runs along the top of the pass. Katschberg also separates the Ankogel Group of the Hohe Tauern range in the west from the Nock Mountains, part of the Gurktal Alps, in the east.