Cirith Ungol

Cirith Ungol is a pass through the Ephel Dúath, the western mountain-wall of Mordor, lying above the valley of Minas Morgul. An older name for it is Cirith Dúath. The way up is hard: several flights of steep stairs cut into the north cliff of the valley, stretches of bare climb between them, and then a long tunnel driven through the rock high in the mountains, with side-passages branching off it. A tower stands at the head of the pass, raised by the Men of Gondor in the years after the War of the Last Alliance to keep watch on the land beyond. Gondor held it for centuries before it passed out of their keeping.