Machu Picchu stands 2, 430 m above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Placing a seemingly incongruous space-age pod on a mountain top in the middle of the Alps is something Lovegrove has no qualms about doing.

CNN: Ross Lovegrove: Building an alpine dream

Today, we expect and demand such services whether we are on a mountain top or in the middle of an ocean.

FORBES: Cruise Ship Communications for Passengers Is About to Change

To experience the best leg of Via's cross-country service, take the Snow Train, which runs from Vancouver's grand beaux arts railroad station through a series of stunning snowbound mountain ranges to the hamlet of Jasper in the middle of 4, 200-square-mile Jasper National Park (home to some of the world's best, least-crowded skiing, at Marmot Basin).

FORBES: Through the Rockies In Style

But her true greatness lies in how, using a mountain of facts carefully gathered and presented, she could explain to a bewildered and anxious middle class the great economic question of her age.

FORBES: Dangers Lurking for the Future of News

The mountain farms themselves add to this aura, being run using farming techniques little-changed since the Middle Ages.

BBC: Snowbound Slovenia