Cirith-i-Nudevyn

In the far northern reaches of the Fire Tundra, at the feet of the Ered Rhívamar and near the Stairs to Hell, stretch the Cirithi-Nudevyn. They can be seen from a great distance, even from the flat plain, as two snow-filled ravines—long, wide and deep, running northwest to southeast like scars across the landscape. The rifts are testimony to a cataclysmic collapse in the Underdeeps in ages past. The Jäämiehet give them a berth of many miles when passing by, speaking in hushed whispers of dreadful beasts that are wont to issue forth from the rifts to stalk the lands of Men.

At the head of the twin ravines stand the ruins of Mornost, an ancient stronghold of Morgoth's realm. It is believed that the destruction of that citadel in the War of Wrath was responsible for the collapse of the Underdeeps in this part of Forodwaith. In truth, the sunken clefts encompass but two branches of the same great subterranean way, separated by a mile-wide wall of uncollapsed ground. Some say that this intervening bridge of earth is upheld by mammoth arches and supports in the Underdeeps below. As no one has ever been willing to descend into the depths, this guess remains unchallenged.

The ice and debris that now fill the ravines belie their actual depth. The northern rift (the one nearest the Stairs to Hell) is the less difficult to explore. Its roof fell cleanly and did not topple the walls with it. Descending to a depth of nearly a thousand feet, its connection to the Underdeeps lies buried beneath another five hundred feet of snow and frozen rubble. The southern ravine, of equal depth, is choked with rock and boulders, and poses greater difficulty to penetration, as the fallen stones are unsteady and may shift unexpectedly under the weight of an explorer. The floor of this rift is also filled with snow and ice, and both ends are heavily clogged with rubble and debris. It would require a major excavation of several months to open either end of this ravine.