Northwind Summit is a dragon lair located northwest of Shor's Stone and southwest of Cragslane Cavern in The Rift. It can be reached by going through Northwind Mine or by going northwest of Shor's Stone and climbing to the peak of the nearby mountain.
As the dragon perched upon the word wall may be asleep, it is possible to kill it instantly with a dagger sneak attack to its exposed tail, provided the Dragonborn has the appropriate gear and perks.
Another strategy is to simply use the second building (to the right of the word wall) as cover to conjure an atronach while repeatedly using a bow. The rocks across from the first building can be used as cover with the same tactic.
Another possibility is to fight the dragon using Firebolt or Ice Spike, while dualcasting, because with the perk Impact, it may stagger the dragon. This way, it is easy to defeat any dragon or dragon priest, as long as the spells are timed correctly.
Smelter – to the right (west) of the word wall, between the first and second buildings.
Trivia[]
If "Dragon Rising" has not been completed, the word wall will instead be guarded by skeletons.
Bugs[]
This section contains bugs related to Northwind Summit. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template 360 / XB1 , PS3 / PS4 , PC / MAC , NX / PS5 , XS , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
Click to see the list of bugs encountered
PC 360 PS3 The word wall can give the Dragonborn the shout twice. This will also lead to the word wall glitch in Valthume and/or Volunruud if the Greybeards still say there is a word there.
PC 360 PS3 The shack near the word wall may be sunk into the ground, which makes it impossible to enter. The chest is still accessible, but the skeleton inside is constantly moving and making a rattling sound.
It is possible to resolve this glitch by fast traveling away and then back to the location.
There have been reported occasions in which the dragon does not attack, but instead simply stares at the Dragonborn.
If the Dragonborn is in the shack with the adept-locked chest while the dragon is crash-landing, they can become trapped inside by the raised-up dirt. The only way to resolve this is to reload a save.
Sometimes, when the dragon crash-lands, it may land inside of the mountain. This will make it impossible to get its soul or any loot it may be carrying.
PC 360 PS3 Finding the word wall here is the only known way to resolve the bug reported for Arcwind Point (where the miscellaneous quest "Find the word of power at Arcwind Point" cannot be completed). If this word wall is found before the one at Arcwind Point, then once the location's miscellaneous quest is given, there may be no way to get any more such quests from Arngeir.
This can be avoided by discovering the Arcwind Point word wall before this one.
PC If the Dragonborn is killed, the dragon may be invisible once the Dragonborn respawns. Oddly, blood from the previous fight may still be visible.