I was inspired to write this piece about the mountains because of their historic significance. They have been barriers that have stopped people cold, shocked them and almost shattered several nations with the surprise that comes with crossing them. Although people have crossed mountains, Hannibal the Alps, the Cimmerians and the Scythians the Caucasus mountains, they were difficult to cross and presented what appeared to some as insurmountable barriers. For example, by some accounts, Hannibal lost many men(some say most of his men) in his crossing of the Alps. In my riddle poem, I referred to the mountains as giants, as inspired by the giants throwing the rocks at each other in the Misty mountains in the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. I also called the Alps the greatest fortress in western Europe because they are the hardest barrier to cross in western Europe and because to many people throughout history, they were a fortress, as Hannibal could have stated.
I also hope that the readers will remember a time where mountains were not vacation places for skiing but when they were barriers, with the monstrous defenders of snow, ice, supplies and rocks.