Soil organic carbon (SOC) pools were studied in altitude range 450–1400 m a.s.l. SOC pools increase to altitude 1000 m a.s.l. and then decrease in the subalpine zone. SOC pools are related to vegetation: arable < grasses = beech < mountain pine < Norway spruce. Expected climate warming and land use changes lead to similar changes in SOC pools. Expected SOC pools changes are contradictory in the lower and upper mountain forest zones.