Orodruin.

Orodruin.JPG (56516 bytes)

 

On the last day they struggled up the steep slopes. The base of the cone that topped the Mountain was some 3,000 feet above the plain and the cone another 1,500 feet up, but 5,000 feet above sea level in all. It was lower than the Pass through the Ephel Duath through which they had come. (Mount Doom; Bk 3).

Judging by the Tolkien sketch of the Mountain the diameter of the base was about the same as the height above the plain, i.e. about a mile.

The Hobbits, climbed up the north-western side of the Mountain until they hit on the road which circled it. This led up to the Sammath Naur one way, and down the Barad-dur causeway the other, with a road branching off it to the south-west leading to the Orc camps in the south. They entered the dark cave of the Sammath Naur, reached the chasm and finally found their way down again to the point where they were rescued by Gandalf and the eagles. (Mount Doom; The Field of Cormallen; Bk 3).

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