# Height of Mountains



## Great Khan (Feb 10, 2003)

Im a bit of a mountain buff and i was just wondering if tolkien ever specified how high the mountains really were, like whether some of the misty mountains could be compared to a mountain like Everest and so on. I think the mountains in the undying lands are the tallest but im not sure how each of the other ranges caomnpare to it? 

any thoughts would be cool


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## Ithrynluin (Feb 10, 2003)

From Karyn Wynn Fonstad's _The Atlas of Middle Earth_ has this info on *Thangorodrim*:

..."the greatest of the hills of the [hither] world. (This is from HOME4: The Shaping of Middle Earth I think)

..."the mightiest towers of Middle-Earth." (From The Silmarillion)

The central tower [of Thangorodrim] would...have to have been at least five miles in diameter at the base and some 35,000 feet high! (footnote: Mount Everest is 29,028 ft)

35,000 feet!!!!Imagine that eh? 
Still I think that Taniquetil and the Pelori were the highest mountains _in Arda_.

Regarding other mountain chains:

*The Misty Mountains*: ...."as high as 12,000 feet."

*The White Mountains*: "There were probably some of the highest peaks in the known lands of Middle Earth (after the destruction of Thangorodrim and the Iron Mountains) - possibly even higher than those of the Alps."
..."for to have been snowcapped they must have been at least 9500 feet in elevation."

So the White Mountains are most likely higher than the Misty mts, therefore higher than 12,500 feet.

*The Lonely Mountain*: "The summit was high enough to be snowcapped at least as late as spring, and so was possibly 3500 feet in elevation."

*Mountains of Mordor*: "Around them the peaks rose high above, but were apparently lower than those of the White and Misty Mountains. No mention was made of snow, although 'forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless stone.' Still the peaks were probably quite high, for the top of the pass of Cirith Ungol was more than 3000 feet above the Cross-roads."
"Mt.Doom....stood 4500 feet."

*Ered Luin* (in the First Age, at any rate...probably this same info applies for the later ages as well):
"The mountains were not snowcapped, and the Elves had far less difficulty crossing them than, for example, they did the Misty Mountains."

Hope this helps. If I find any other info, I'll add it.


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## Turin (Feb 10, 2003)

I forgot what Thangorodrim is I know I have heard of it before.


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## Aulë (Feb 11, 2003)

They were the three mighty peaks that Morgoth raised from the Iron Mountains above the gates of Angband when he returned there at the beginning of the First Age. They were destroyed in the fall of Ancalagon during the War of Wrath.


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## Turin (Feb 12, 2003)

Oh ok thanx


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## gate7ole (Feb 12, 2003)

Really ithrynluin, I always wondered about the Atlas of Mrs. Fonstad. How did she find all this info that is nowhere found in the books? Did she have access in unplublished maps? Is she considered accurate, or are those numbers just speculations?


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## Ithrynluin (Feb 13, 2003)

Logical deduction, I think, supported by information from ALL the published works and some works by other authors (presumably Tolkien scholars). She supports all these numbers with the sources where information on this can be found, though I didn't include them in my post.
Anyway, I think her Atlas is quite accurate, since she is an expert in geography and a fan of Tolkien's works.


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## morello13 (Feb 14, 2003)

im not to familar with mountain height but the mountain in ME seem kind of wimpy, the highest mountain in the third age is only 12,500, bah!


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## Ithrynluin (Feb 14, 2003)

Well, the White Mountains are higher than that.


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## Walter (Mar 3, 2003)

> _Originally posted by gate7ole _
> *Really ithrynluin, I always wondered about the Atlas of Mrs. Fonstad. How did she find all this info that is nowhere found in the books? Did she have access in unplublished maps? Is she considered accurate, or are those numbers just speculations? *


 Well in case of Thangorodrim her "deduction" seems to be based on a drawing by Tolkien (Pictures 36; unfortunately I have only an earlier pencilled version of this drawing) and what few textual information we have (Mrs. Fonstad had had access up to HoMe I - VIII and a typescript version of HoMe IX). From the early version of the drawing I have, her assumption appears rather "far-fetched" to me. 

I would think it more likely that Tolkien had had the Swiss Alps in mind, he seemed rather impressed after he had visited the Grindelwald region 1911 (with Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau, etc. which are rather impressive mountains especially for someone not used to the alpine region). The mountains there are in the range of 12.000 ft.

I think the Atlas of ME is a great thing for getting an overall impression about the geography of ME, however I do not share the view, that it is a rather accurate source when it comes to details.


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## Celebithil (Mar 8, 2003)

Isn't it mentioned somewhere that Mount Doom is a mile high.


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