Kranjska Gora (German: Kronau, translated: Krainer Berg) is a municipality in the Upper Carniola in the extreme north-west of Slovenia. The municipality has around 5000 inhabitants (2004); 1403 inhabitants live in the central town itself (2002). Kranjska Gora is known primarily as a resort for recreation and winter sports.
In the street
From the north via the Wurzenpass, Loiblpass or
Karawanken Tunnel, from the west on the national road from Tarvisio.
By bicycle
the route D-2 connects the place with Ljubljana
and Tarvisio.
Russian chapel. Russian Churches.
Monument
Jakob Aljaž
Liznjek's house
Triglav Museum
A ski area was developed in 1948 on the slopes of the
modest neighboring Vitranc massif, which culminates in Ciprnik (1,746
m), with the construction of the Preseka ski lift - still in service in
2007. Only a 1-seater chairlift of archaic design directly joins the
heights of Vitranc, however it is reserved for pedestrians because in
2011 there is no passable ski slope to go down. The station plans to
replace it with a more modern device.
The resort has 19 ski lifts
for alpine skiing, spread over the municipalities of Kranjska Gora and
Podkoren. Despite recent efforts to modernize the infrastructure, the
majority of the lift fleet is made up of surface lifts. The ski area is
one of the seven largest and one of the best known in Slovenia.
From some tracks, it is possible to admire the more majestic setting of
the surrounding mountains, which are located mostly in the territory of
the Triglav National Park. The domain is made up of the following three
sub-domains:
Kranjska Gora
This sub-domain has been developed
on the immediate outskirts of the city. The heart of the area, it is
served by three modern 4-seater chairlifts, one of which is detachable.
The only night ski run in the resort is served by the latter. A very
well-equipped snowpark has been set up near the Kekec chairlift. The
only black run in this sub-domain is unmarked, it only exists on the
piste map. Indeed it turns out in 2011 to be unmaintained and covered
with emerging shrubs.
Podkoren I
It is connected to the
previous sub-domain by the Podkoren 4-seater chairlift, which culminates
at 1,295 m (highest point of the domain). The slopes - of red and black
difficulty levels - are the most interesting from a technical point of
view. They offer a direct view of the Wurzenpass, which serves as the
border with Austria.
Podkoren II
It is located further away
from the two main subdomains, and requires pushing on the poles to get
there and back. It consists of 2 ski lifts and a 2-seater chairlift of
archaic design and very slow, which culminates at 1,110 m. The slopes,
wide, short and with a very low slope, are particularly suitable for
beginner level skiers. No track is equipped with snow cannons. This
sub-domain turns out to be less frequented than the two central
sub-domains.
The slopes are, with the exception of the slopes
served by the Podkoren chairlift, on the whole relatively short. The 5
chairlifts cover almost the entire ski area. The ten ski lifts that also
serve the area are therefore mostly superfluous outside peak periods,
and can be dangerous at crossings with the slopes.
Due to the low
altitude of the area, the ski season can be interrupted early - already
at the beginning of March - on the lowest parts of the area, despite the
use of artificial snow over more than half of the area. The resort
offers night skiing on the slopes served by the Dolenčev Rut chairlift
and the Velika Mojca ski lift.
Although it is located just a few
kilometers from Austria and Italy, the Krajska Gora estate turns out to
be frequented by an essentially Slovenian/Croatian clientele.
Each year, the resort organizes an event of the Alpine Skiing World Cup,
known as the Vitranc Cup - slalom and giant slalom events. The event
celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011. In summer, the resort also
hosts a downhill mountain biking event.
In summer, the resort
offers a summer toboggan run as well as a "summer tubing" track (sliding
on an inflatable cushion).
The remote valley in the northwest of the Carniola
March was deforested and settled only in the fourteenth century. The
parish of Chrainow, first documented in 1326, became the center of the
surrounding villages.
Until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary
after World War I, the region was part of the Duchy of Carniola, one of
the hereditary territories of the Habsburgs. Kranjska Gora has had town
status since 1848.
Since the 1870s, the municipality has had a
railway station located on the line from Ljubljana to Tarvisio - since
1966, trains no longer run on this axis and the sleepers have been
dismantled.
Kranjska Gora lies on the uppermost Wurzener Sava
(Slovenian: Sava Dolinka), the main headwaters of the Sava, between the
western foothills of the Karawanks in the north and the central Julian
Alps in the south. It is about two and a half kilometers to the
Austrian-Slovenian border area with the Wurzen Pass and five kilometers
to the Italian border at the Rateče (Ratschacher or Weißenfelser
saddle). South of Kranjska Gora are the Werschetz Pass and the
municipality of Bovec.
The municipal area includes the whole
upstream Sava Valley up to the Dreiländereck mountain. Rateče
(Ratschach) and Planica (Ratschach-Matten), known from ski flying, are
among them. In the south of the municipal area, the mountains rise to
well over 2000 meters; the most famous peaks there are Prisojnik (2574
m) and Škrlatica (2740 m).
Kranjska Gora had a railway station on
the Ljubljana-Tarvisio railway line since the 1870s. The train has not
been running since March 31, 1966; the route was dismantled from Rateče
(Ratschach) to Jesenice (Aßling). In its place was a paved bike path.
Until the end of the Habsburg Empire, the town belonged to the Kronland
Carniola, with Kranjska Gora forming an independent municipality in the
then judicial district of Kronau (political district of Radmannsdorf)
and the seat of the district court.
Kranjska Gora is twinned with the Belgian
municipality of Waasmunster.
Kranjska Gora hosted the Alpine Ski
Junior European Championships in 1977, Planica hosted the Ski Flying
World Championships in 1972, 2004, 2010 and 2020, and almost every year
since 1980 (except 1999–2012) the Ski Jumping World Cup, mostly the
final, since 2014 also for women.
Since 1961, the municipality
has organized the Vitranc Cup for ski racers with giant slaloms and
slaloms. Between 1961 and 2006 the ice hockey club HK Kranjska Gora
played in the top division of Yugoslavia and Slovenia.