03 · The land

The fur­ther one goes north from the confines of Mirk­wood the colder it becomes, par­ti­cu­larly as you ascend into the moun­tains of the Ered Mithrin. Here the sum­mers are short, a flee­ting respite from the long dark win­ters.

Not eve­ryw­here is this bleak, though. The Nar­rows, the thin strip of land bet­ween the moun­tains and the forest, is bles­sed with a more hos­pi­table cli­mate. The Nar­rows is a shel­te­red region, see­min­gly out of place with its sur­roun­dings.

On the other side of the moun­tains the story is much dif­ferent ; the nor­thern foo­thills face the full force of bliz­zards and storms that howl down from the wastes beyond. Howe­ver, in a few shel­te­red hol­lows in the hills, small woods of resi­lient pines or deep gla­cial lakes can be found.

There is more to the Grey Moun­tains and its envi­rons than just snow and ice.

3.1 The Grey Mountains

Although they are less in height than the nearby Misty Moun­tains, the Grey Moun­tains are still an impo­sing sight. Most peaks reach 5000 feet, but many are higher. Mount Gond­mae­glom, in the center of the range, is the tal­lest at 10,720 feet. While the mountain’s height in its present com­pany is impres­sive, more so is its girth — it is esti­ma­ted by Dwar­ven wor­kers, who have long mined there, to be more than 50 miles in dia­me­ter, making it one of the broa­dest moun­tains in this part of the world.

The sou­thern side of the chain rises abruptly from the sur­roun­ding land ; a vir­tually sheer face looks down upon the rest of the Wil­der­land. This sou­thern face is not impos­sible to cross, howe­ver, for there are four win­ding passes that tra­verse the moun­tains : Cirith Mith­lin, Cirith Him­ni­nond, Cirith Gond­mae­glom, and Cirith Auris. The passes scar­cely make any jour­ney much easier — rock slides are pre­valent, espe­cially during the summer months, or after heavy snowfalls—but there is no fea­sible alter­na­tive ; an attempt to find ano­ther way over the moun­tains is sheer folly.

The nor­thern aspect is more accom­mo­da­ting to any would-be moun­tai­neer, for here the moun­tains rise gra­dually from the broken plain, known as the Talath Oio­helka (S. Plain of Ever-ice). Gla­cial lakes abound, their chilly blue waters contras­ting with the grey and white sur­roun­dings. Small woods of sil­very firs and pines are dotted about the coun­try­side, shel­te­red in hol­lows bet­ween the hills.

Gla­cial action is very much in evi­dence in the Ered Mithrin. This has resul­ted in the unique U-shaped val­leys that look almost like inland fjords. Some of this gla­cia­tion is more recent ; indeed, it is an ongoing pro­cess as there are four major gla­ciers in the Ered Mithrin. The lar­gest of the these, the so-called ​“Dying” Gla­cier, flows east­ward from Mount Gond­mae­glom, down onto the Withe­red Heath.

Seve­ral major rivers also have their source in the Grey Moun­tains. A veri­table host of lesser rivers flow nor­th­wards to the Encir­cling Sea. Issuing from under the moun­tains, the begin­nings of the Forest river flows swiftly through the moun­tains, for­ming a deep rift. At one point it drops seve­ral hun­dred feet in a beau­ti­ful cas­ca­ding water­fall. Known as Steel Fall, it is a most spec­ta­cu­lar sight. The other major rivers are the two forks of the river Mith­lin. The Mith­lin then flows fur­ther downs­tream to a point where it joins with the river Lang­well, for­ming the mighty river Anduin, the grea­test water­way in Middle-earth.

There is a kind of serene beauty about the Grey Moun­tains, but danger is never far away.

3.2 The Narrows

The thin strip of land that sepa­rates Mirk­wood from the Ered Mithrin, which got its name from the sec­tions where the forest draws within a few miles of the moun­tains, is known throu­ghout the Wil­der­land as the Nar­rows (Q. Arka). The Nar­rows proper are held to be the wide, flat-bot­to­med valley which stretches either side of the young Taur­duin (S. Forest river), where it emerges from the Ered Mithrin. Its boun­da­ries are two areas where the moun­tains and the forest almost meet — the west gap and the east gap.

Lar­gely pro­tec­ted from the worst of the arctic wea­ther by the bul­wark of the Ered Mithrin, it is a fairly hos­pi­table land, and wild­life is plen­ti­ful. Away from the imme­diate vici­nity of the river the land is mostly arable, although the gro­wing season is short due to the cold winter.

A major fea­ture of the Nar­rows is the Men-i-Mithrin, win­ding its way through the hills and val­leys. During the middle years of the Third Age this road was much used for goods tra­ve­ling from Dale to Fram­sburg (Wraec­burg), and it was kept in good repair ; a ser­vi­ceable bridge was built across the Taur­duin for hea­vier traf­fic.

3.3 The Northern Waste

Beyond the Grey Moun­tains and its nor­thern foo­thills is the vast­ness of the Forod­waith (S. Nor­thern Waste). The region nea­rest the moun­tains is called the Talath Oio­helka (S. Plain of Ever-ice). It is a broken plain, dotted with tor­tu­red hills, rem­nants of the Iron Moun­tains, Morgoth’s mighty chain which was broken by the Valar over four thou­sand years ago. Also present are deep fis­sures and cre­vices in the ice, some of these par­tially cove­red by fresh snow or weak ice, making travel extre­mely pre­ca­rious.

The inter­me­diate region bet­ween the nor­thern foo­thills of the Ered Mithrin and Talath Oio­helka is com­po­sed mostly of barren rocky tundra. The rocks are cove­red with mosses and lichens, and over the sparse soil grow a few hardy spe­cies of grasses. At various places in this tundra region are some unique and dis­tinc­tive land­forms. These look like large concen­tric circles, the inner circles being higher in ele­va­tion than each of the pre­vious ones. This is caused by the mel­ting and free­zing of per­ma­frost during the warmer months. The ground thaws in the day­light hours only to freeze again at night, crea­ting many inter­es­ting pat­terns.

One should not over­look the perils in this trea­che­rous and ever-chan­ging land ; mild summer days change in the space of a few hours to raging bliz­zards, brin­ging with them all the fury of the dark winter. To be caught out on the tundra or the plains beyond at a time like this spells almost cer­tain death. There is no shel­ter here. unless it be the few ancient ruins of Mor­go­thic Orc holds — which are seldom as deser­ted as they look.

3.4 The Withered Heath

The Withe­red Heath is almost as deso­late as the regions fur­ther north. It is just as inhos­pi­table. The Heath is a vast basin which lies bet­ween the two eas­tern forks of the Grey Moun­tains. The bleak land­scape is marked and pitted by the Dra­gons in their end­less bat­tles for supre­macy. The land is trea­che­rous in many places ; soft earth and mud, hidden beneath a thin crust of ice, pro­vide common hazards in this see­min­gly dry waste, the remains of a huge swamp which once cove­red most of the Heath. During the short summer, when the snows of the moun­tains melt, the Heath becomes even worse to look upon, and cer­tainly much more hazar­dous to cross ; the slush of melted ice and snow flows down onto the Heath, par­tially rever­ting the land back to swamp, making it unna­vi­gable.

Vege­ta­tion is limi­ted to stun­ted trees, which grow on the edges of the Heath, and a few spe­cies of hardy grasses which seem to revel in the cli­mate, flou­ri­shing during the gro­wing season only to die off in the colder months.

3.5 Climate and weather patterns

The cli­mate at best could be des­cri­bed as being mild arctic. In the col­dest months of the year (i.e., the middle of winter) there is little day­light, indeed, none at all in the Nor­thern Waste. The spring/​summer period, such as it is, lasts less than four months and is but a respite — the harsh North wind loses only some of its strength. The tem­pe­ra­ture rarely passes 75° F, and then only in the Nar­rows, but often — too often — drops to –50° F.

Pre­ci­pi­ta­tion is plen­ti­ful throu­ghout most of the year, although it usually falls as snow ; rain falls with regu­la­rity only during the warmer months. Rain, snow, hail and sleet are likely to cause pro­blems for any tra­ve­ler, but even worse are the blin­ding bliz­zards : violent wind­storms accom­pa­nied by dri­ving snow and intense cold. In the depths of winter, the awe­some power of nature is relea­sed in these storms.

Climatic weather chart

Pre­ci­pi­ta­tion Codes:

Very Dry = less than one inch pre­ci­pi­ta­tion

Dry = one to two inches

Mode­rate = two to three inches

Heavy = four to five inches

Very Heavy = over five inches

3.6 Location map

The insert map you find in this pro­duct shows the entire Grey Moun­tain range and much of nor­thern Rho­va­nion. One side is a color ver­sion for your players, while the other side is in black and white. The black and white side shows the loca­tion of most of this product’s sites.

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