The Heat Is On

At this time of year, the Cabo de Hornos Hotel in Punta Arenas (pop. 100,000) is ordinarily filled with tourists who spend their days browsing in the local tax-free shops or mounting expeditions into the rugged, mountainous countryside just out of town. But the 120 mostly American scientists and technicians who converged on Chile's southernmost city for most of August and September ignored advertisements for hunting, hiking and ski tours. Instead, each day they scanned the bulletin board in the hotel lobby for the latest information on a different sort of venture.

Thirteen times during their eight-week stay, a specially outfitted...