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Hamfast Gamgee
Tol Eressea
Aug 18 2023, 7:47am
Post #1 of 4
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Well, i haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought that I would. When re-reading lotr, I did have some thoughts about the company journeying over Caradhras in the snow.
The thought occured what type of snow was been referred to and how bad where the conditions. Are we talking about himlayas? Which lead me thinking that it was a bit harsh on the poor hobbits thinking that they where on an admittedly long trip in the country and ended up trying to tackle everest. With a distinct lack of any climbing gear or anything. Or was it more like a snowy walk in a mountain range like the lake district in northern england or the highlands of scotland. Still not to be taken lightly nowadays climbing expeditions do not just strolll up unprepared in a few of these mountain ranges.
Which brings me to wondering if a modern day expedition could do this. Probably but they would need an awful lot of extra equiptment and training and planning perhaps. And if we are talking really modern a whole load of electronic communications devices as well. Actually it could be an army training exercise also. Still, it does looking at it seem a nasty surprise for some of the company even if elves, wizards, dwarves and the descendants of Numenor are a bit hardier than modern folk.
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Silvered-glass
Lorien
Aug 18 2023, 8:46am
Post #2 of 4
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I think the Alps are approximately the closest modern equivalent, but not like trying to scale Matterhorn, but more like just trying to get over the mountain range somehow from a reasonably easy spot that allows for walking rather than climbing.
Under normal circumstances the hobbits would have just faced walks uphill and downhill, and it wouldn't have been that difficult as long as they knew which route to take. The problem was that they went in winter. It really would have been much smarter to leave from Rivendell quickly rather than delay for a month. That month made a huge difference in the weather conditions.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Aug 18 2023, 1:18pm
Post #3 of 4
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Under normal circumstances the hobbits would have just faced walks uphill and downhill, and it wouldn't have been that difficult as long as they knew which route to take. The problem was that they went in winter. It really would have been much smarter to leave from Rivendell quickly rather than delay for a month. That month made a huge difference in the weather conditions.
It was two months before the Fellowhip departed Rivendell. The Council of Elrond took place on October 25. The Fellowship set out on December 25. They attempted the Redhorn Gate on January 11. Still, the pass of Caradhras was far enough south that it usually remained open even through the winter, not that it wasn't dangerous just the same.
An interesting contrast between the book and the films: In the novel it is Gandalf who argues for taking the path through Moria and Aragorn who objects. It's only in Peter Jackson's adaptation that Gandalf fears entering Moria.
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Tony Isabella
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squire
Half-elven
Aug 18 2023, 6:39pm
Post #4 of 4
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It was a well-known path over a mountain pass, not an attempt to summit the peak.
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The company was not mountain climbing. No need for gear, training, equipment, the army, etc.
It was walking up a path or route that crossed the mountain range at the lowest feasible point - which was still quite high enough to be snowed in by a heavy winter storm.
As others have said, the Alps are the most likely equivalent, neither the Himalaya nor the hills of northern England. And as others have said, even though it was winter the Redhorn Pass usually remained open through the winter, giving Gandalf and Aragorn reason to make the attempt without seeming completely foolish.
That also allows the introduction of Caradhras as a malign force of Nature that could summon a storm to frustrate or destroy the Ring-bearer, which it wouldn't bother to do for a more typical company of winter travelers.
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