Most Beautiful Place on Earth - Torres del Paine

The Paine Massif was once an underground magma chamber beneath a layer of softer darker sedimentary rock. Solidified, up-thrusted, sliced up by glaciers and then shaped and sharpened by Patagonia's legendary wind, it is now an array of barbed peaks and granite spikes. The three spikes are The Towers of the Paine (Las Torres del Paine), after which the national park is named. They are Torre d'Agonsti (2850 metres), also called Torre Sur, Torre Central (2800m) and Torre Norte (2600m), also known as Torre Monzino.

To the south and east of them are The Horns (Los Cuernos), great ribs of pale granite tipped with "horns" of darker softer rock. They separate deep valleys through which pass some of Torres del Paine's famous trails.

The Patagonian Ice Field is the third largest ice cap on the planet. At nearly 17,000 square km, it's about the same size as Hawaii. All of the region's glaciers and quite a lot of the weather starts here.

Straddling the much debated Chile-Argentina border, it can be reached via three national parks, two in Chile - Torres del Paine and Bernardo o'Higgins - and one in Argentina - Los Glaciares. The best views are from The John Gardner Pass in Torres del Paine.

Strange clouds form when wind speeds reach 200mph or more, which is quite a lot of the time. Of course, wind speeds at ground level are much lower.