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Home > Video Games > PC > RuneScape > Crossing White Wolf Mountain for the First Time
I started playing RuneScape around October 2004, and to the best of my memory, I think I became a member sometime during the first few months of 2005. When I first subscribed to the game, I logged on to the P2P worlds, tried out the members-only skills, started getting and using members-only items, etc. However, soon after subscribing, one thing which I could do only in a limited capacity was explore the members-only areas of the game; initially I only explored Taverley and Burthorpe, because when I looked at the world map, I saw that the path to the western half of the game world was blocked by White Wolf Mountain.
At the time, my combat level was probably in the 30s, or just maybe in the low 40s. At one point, I had walked into the Taverley entrance of White Wolf Mountain and saw a white wolf, which scared me off, because I thought that if I was seeing a monster that high level (to me at the time, at least) at the entrance, who knows what I would encounter when I went deeper in?
For a while, I was so scared of White Wolf Mountain that I did not cross it, and so I could not explore the members-only half of the game world (besides Taverley and Burthorpe), despite wanting to very badly at the time. I searched the world map for an alternative way to get to the P2P areas; hell, in my desire to avoid White Wolf Mountain I even went so far as to try crossing the Death Plateau (which is much more dangerous), but ran away at the sight of level 69 mountain trolls. (I didn't take the East Ardougne–Brimhaven ferry route because I didn't know about it back then.) Because I saw it as the thing blocking me from the entire western half of RuneScape, I even felt anger and contempt towards White Wolf Mountain.
Eventually, though, I decided to try to cross it. I brought along many pieces of food (I can vaguely remember them being low/mid-level fish, like cod and salmon), and although I cannot remember definitively, I most likely deposited all other items I was carrying or wearing in the bank. I waited until my run energy was at 100%, then ventured into the Taverley entrance of the mountain. I traveled along the outermost path of the mountain (I didn't dare go in any deeper), and had the world map open in another window so I knew exactly where to go next; every time I saw a yellow dot on my mini-map, I started running. I was very careful and attentive during this first crossing, as in my mind White Wolf Mountain was still some great terror. The entire time, I was hearing the song Ice Melody
, which plays throughout the mountain. When I reached the exit at Catherby, I felt incredibly relieved: I had done it, I had finally crossed that damn mountain and could now explore pretty much the entire P2P area! I didn't even need to eat a single piece of food, and I took very little, if any, damage.
After this first crossing, I can recall still being quite careful for the next few crossings I made: I still took a lot of food, walked only along the outermost path, ran only when I saw a monster but otherwise walked in order to save run energy, and deposited anything valuable in the bank. But as I continued to cross White Wolf Mountain, eventually I didn't bother to deposit my non-food items in the bank anymore, I didn't bother to wait for my run energy to recharge to 100%, and I brought fewer and fewer pieces of food, until at last I stopped bringing any food at all. I realized that the horror
of White Wolf Mountain was all in my head (which it was—even a level 3 fresh off of Tutorial Island could cross it easily with no food or armor), and crossing it became a routine chore rather than a dangerous undertaking. Afterwards, I remember there being many times when I would go into the very center of the mountain without food and without hesitation, either to cut down on my crossing time, to kill the high-level wolves there, or to hang out with a friend. I had conquered White Wolf Mountain.
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This page last modified on 2 May 2021.