As I'm banging my head on my desk before leaving work this evening, I couldn't agree more with Bulldog's poetic waxing about California.

I did, however, have the opportunity to do dayhikes in the Alps for a month during the summer of 2001. Before having gone over there, I was thinking "Alps, Schmalps! Nothing holds a candle to the Sierra". However, after my month there, I was whistling a different more equitable tune. whistle The Sierra and Alps are both wonderful, each in their own way -- they are just ... different. So I do think the Alps holds a candle to the Sierra, just in its own special way. In the Alps, there are zero dangerous animals of any kind, and there is also its world-famous hut system. My recollection is that tree line in the Alps is quite a bit lower than in the Sierra -- a pro or con, depending on your personal preference (more scenic vistas sooner on the way up, I suppose; but less shade in the sun). As for the variety of hiking/climbing opportunities, both mountain ranges offer a ton of them.

But since I'm a displaced California boy, the Sierra will always hold a special place in my heart. On the other hand, if the USA ever implodes in a catastrophic way, I'm moving to Switzerland. smile

CaT

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)