I don't believe its close enough at all. If a Maia (possibly a Balrog) became one with the Mountain, then why it is that it was only able to effect the company while they were on the Mountain rather than in the mountain. Surely while within they would have been far more under the effect of this 'melded with the mountain maia'. They could have suffered from rock falls, cracks opening under their feet, etc, etc. Did they? In fact until the orcs (under the direction of the proper Balrog) pounced on them, they had a pretty easy time of it.

And anyhow, how much more of a fight would Gandalf have had, had he had to combat two Maia instead of just the one. If a Maia *had* inhabited Caradhas, then it could obviously effect the weather around the mountain, because the weather *was* effected by something. Therefore, surely in an act of solidarity, it would have helped out it's pal The Balrog and thrown a few thunder bolts at Gandalf. Yes, yes, yes its all getting a bit silly now.

The point is Gandalf encountered no other power, other than that of the Balrog itself. Despite the idea appealing to some, there is nothing to suggest Caradhas is anything other than a mountain with a bad attitude, just like the Matterhorn in the Alps, which has claimed numerous lives and has a habit of having very, very changable weather conditions.

: But if he could stretch his power that far, and knew the company was there, he WOULD HAVE SENSED THE RING. That's why I don't think it was Sauron. Had he known the company was there, he would have spotted them, and even if he couldn't sense the Ring, he would have know Gandalf was there, so something was up.

Nonsense. If Sauron was not able to 'sense' the ring once it had entered his own land, once it had been *used* in his own mountains, once many of his servants (orcs) had been so close to it, once it had come very close to, under the gaze of one could say, forces he controlled (the Watchers) and once it had passed close to a being dwelling in his mountains (Shelob) who then mysteriously got beaten up......if he was unable to sense it when it was this close and after it was used so close to him, then he sure as hell would not have been able to sense it however many leagues away it was, over on the west side of the Misty Mountains. Sauron didn't even notice the One's proximity to Orodruin until Frodo put it on and tried to master it himself, taking it for his own. I think you place too much emphasis on Sauron's ability too know where the Ring is, far too much. Sauron's ability to sense the Ring was restricted, possibly to the degree that he would not know it's location until someone tried to master it, just like Frodo tried, at which point he would feel the conflict and be able to locate it.

Cheers

Padster