Skyrim Dev Tried To Make The Infamous 7,000 Steps Accurate

Skyrim Tried To Have 7,000 Steps, But It Would’ve Extended From Whiterun To Ivarstead Custom Image: TheGamer Published Nov 4, 2026, 7:00 AM EST James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account Nearly 15 years ago, an incredibly dedicated Skyrim fan decided to walk the 7,000 steps from Ivarstead to High Hrothgar and actually count them all. There were only around 748. It's become a bit of a joke with fans, but Bethesda did try to be accurate with the Throat of the World trek—the problem was that it started to engulf the region. To celebrate the studio's 40th anniversary, several developers shared memories of their time working on some of its most iconic games, including associate art director Dan Lee, who was responsible for the infamous High Hrothgar steps. And he explained that he earnestly wanted to stay lore accurate, but it just wasn't feasible. "I would look at the mountain from various viewpoints and tried to keep the shape interesting," Lee explained. "Now, I love trying to be as faithful to lore or real-life as possible and I did my darnedest to find a way to fit all 7,000 steps into the storied path. However, my best attempt to do so included extending far past Ivarstead, wrapping around the mountain and ending near Whiterun in the frozen tundra. It turns out, 7,000 is quite a lot!" Don't Blame Him For The Frost Troll In fairness to Lee, very little of Skyrim is lore accurate when it comes to scale anyway. Unless you believe Windhelm has a population of 61, and that three farms is enough to sustain what used to be the capital city. The steps are actually a pretty good way to imagine how big Skyrim should be, outside of video game logic. Just scale everything up by a factor of 10. Like with most video games, it's one of those things where you just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the spectacle of it. Scaling a mountain step-by-step until a group of old men shout at you. However, while Lee is happy to take credit for the infamous 700 steps, not the 7,000 it should be, he wants it known that his work did "NOT include enemy encounters." "I take no responsibility for the Frost Troll that was the woe of many players," he said. Released November 11, 2011 ESRB M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes Developer(s) Bethesda Publisher(s) Bethesda Engine Creation Expansions Skyrim: Dragonborn, Skyrim: Hearthfire, Skyrim: Dawnguard Franchise The Elder Scrolls Genre(s) RPG, Action, Adventure