evidence: Argentinians to stake their claims to the border (still in dispute here with Chile) and to accommodate a growing clientele of climbers and trekkers. I did about 110 km. of hiking here in three and a half days just walking out of my hosteria. The main trails led to viewpoints at Laguna de los Tres (Monte Fitz Roy), Laguna Torre (Cerro Torre), and the Loma del Pliegue Tumbado (both). All my hikes began in the arid but sunny Patagonian steppe, ascended through rolling savannahs, passed through beech forests turning red, crossed glacial streams and peat bogs, then reached alpine fell fields and finally extended beyond the vegetation zone to glacial moraines or exposed summits. Most days winds were a constant 50 - 70 kph, with gusts at least double that at Laguna de los Tres, where I was almost blasted off the mountain. It was off-season, but there were a few other hikers about. The weather around the mountain peaks was its usual self, unlike the blue-sky calendar pictures you see of the area, so I always counted myself lucky when it cleared just a little bit. [...] Re: Argentina: Monte Fitz Roy and thereabouts heart pounding, especially Laguna Torre in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, i suppose the nominal sister of our Glacier National Park in Montana. Thank you for taking the time to post about life outside Oregon!