Where It All Goes Down
Mount Eskel
The lowlanders may not think much of Mount Eskel, but it's a beautiful place with its own special culture. The mountain is a place where people are very in touch with nature and can speak to each other through working with the stone and growing up in the area. As Peder explains it:
When everything's going right, it feels like the songs we sing on holidays, the men talking one part, the women another. You know how harmony sounds? That's how working linder feels. It may seem silly, but I imagine that linder is always singing, and when I get my wedge in just the right crack and bring down my mallet just so, I feel like I'm singing back. (7.4)
Mount Eskel is a place where people are very in touch with nature; in fact, all the kids are able to run up and down treacherous mountain paths without falling because they know it so well. And it's not just a place where nature reigns supreme—it's also home to a village of people who very much value community. Besides being able to communicate through the mountain's linder rock, the people of Mount Eskel also have rich traditions that they share, like the spring holiday:
Frid's pa announced the ribbon dances with a strum of his three-stringed yipper, and Doter handed out the tattered red strips of cloth that were older than any grandparent. (11.9)
Through their traditions, they're able to pay homage to the mountain and share stories and legends with their neighbors and families. Mount Eskel isn't just some remote place off in the middle of nowhere; it's a mountain with a rich heritage that connects all the people who live on it.