The Rank Amateur Podcast
Rank Amateur MiniPod: Field Notes from the French Alps - Part 2
This is a Rank Amateur Minipod Field Notes from the French Alps Episode 2. My name is John as always joined by Ben Wyatt. And this time again, joined by special guest, Jesse Kearns. Fellas filled notes from more zine and the French Alps part two. Let's talk about side trips this time. As a group, we've had a couple of opportunities to travel and go full on tourist. Why don't we start with Chamonix famous ski town, famous sporting town. Let's start with Ben overall impression of. Chamonix.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:You can't really begin to, appreciate it unless you start with the drive from Morzine to Chamonix, right? So that's where the scenery for the first time, at least for Jesse and I, we saw some different mountain ranges. It was majestic. You got to crest and go Up and over mountain passes and villages would just appear. So that was really the first cool thing about Chamonix. You it came out of nowhere and boom, you've got this awesome little village in the middle of a valley. From there, I would say the town it was charming, right? It was walkable. It was set up for, Uh, tourism, shopping but there were some attractions there were some gondolas that took you to the top and towards, Mont Blanc and we were fortunate enough to, to hop on a train and I'll let I won't steal all the thunder, but we were fortunate enough to do a little bit of shopping, a little bit of sightseeing and Mont Blanc, or I'm sorry Chamonix was was pretty cool to see.
Track 1:Yeah it's a neat town. Again, the major feature here for this trip has been the fact that in the valleys that we visited, there's been no snow. So easy traveling. We haven't had to overdress too much. It's been real. That's been an easy aspect of this, if maybe even a little regretful. But you're right. The drive from where we stay over to Chamonix is magnificent. You take a mountain pass over and drop into the Haute Savoie valley and then take that on up into Chamonix. And it is just absolutely remarkable. There's so many parts of this trip that just look like a car ad. But I can tell you as one of the only Drivers allowed behind the wheel of these rental cars. It can wear you out after a while But yeah back to chamonix a famous winter sports town. It impressed me how many Installations there are in the mountains around chamonix. So we visited one of those Cause we were time restrained, but there were any number of different gondolas and and towers and needles we could have visited on the mountains surrounding Chamonix. Frankly, we didn't even get into reading up on all of them. We basically had to choose one due to the time of day. Jesse thoughts on the train to Mer de Glace.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:That train ride was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The scenic vistas that it viewed, that it. Yielded off to our left as we headed up the mountain were truly breathtaking. Just being able to almost go back in time a little bit and being on a more, rudimentary mode of travel. And and being able to apply that to such a steep slope was a little spooky. At times one of the interesting details of the trip was there's, or can be at times there can be more than one train on the track. So the one that's going up the mountain can get off on a little side track and wait for several minutes and allow people to take. Pictures to get in position for pictures, but also allow the train that is coming down the tracks to pass and then continue on up the mountain up to that observatory and really quite hotel at the top of the mountain
Track 1:Look we've probably seen attractions like that before. Certainly not on that scale. I mean we grew up in East Tennessee that you have things like over Gatlinburg and taking the ski lifts up to an overlook kind of town that doesn't, that's not even an apt comparison to what's going on in the Alps. But once we arrive at the top, neat little outpost up there, historic hotel a. A viewing facility that overlooks the glacier there that was under construction. So I had to mind that a little bit, however the planners had been very accommodating. We were able to do anything we wanted to do, just maybe had to follow the rope and tape a little bit and be herded around that facility, but it was pretty neat. You, you took a let's see, I guess from the top of the train, we took a gondola. Down into the down to the glacier, right? And from there, we went down a series of steps and catwalks down to the the ice tunnel that had been carved there. Ben, what do you think about the the catwalk leading down to the glacier?
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:It's a, it was a little frightening. There were a lot of people. It was literally bolted essentially mezzanine structure bolted to the side of Rockface. But I got to say it held up. It wasn't wobbly. It it made for some great photo opportunities. Of the valley and the glacier, it was a neat experience and what was also interesting is that if you really knew what you were doing, there was access to the glacier and to do mountaineering and in different types of ice activities. Which was pretty cool to see coming from East Tennessee.
Track 1:Yeah it's interesting guys. So as of today, the new, I noticed I've sent this to both of you. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but as of today, the New York times has posted an article saying it just got easier to visit a vanishing glacier. Is that a good thing? And it is an article about these installations that are under construction and the ice cave that, that we went through so that you can visit, Merida glass. not without some controversy, it looks like I have not been able to dig into the article. Article, but let's just say, I think we can be thankful that we got to see it with our own eyes while it's still there because every other glacier in the world or at least a lot of the other glaciers in the world it's vanishing. So that's sad and tragic in its own right, but it's still there and magnificent. And I think we can be thankful that we got to see it. How long were you up there guys? A couple of hours just milling about between the glacier and the the hotel and the gift shops and everything.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:Yeah, a few hours. I will say it is a special opportunity when you can apply all five senses to a natural formation of that magnitude where the tunnel cuts in the first really view that you get and the first thing that, of course, you want to do is touch and feel what that cold piece of frozen rock feels like and the slipperiness of it, but you also, first thing you also notice are these Veins of sand or soil and in eroded rock and pieces of lumber, of wood, of limbs that are halfway sticking out of this piece of ice too, that you can run your hands over and feel the splinter of of the fir tree that, that's intermingled so many years ago and moved from a place much much further up the mountain down to where it is now. And I thought that was really neat
Track 1:And the. The ice cave is it's an educational tour, right? It, there's a lot of geology and a glacial science that's on display there in that tunnel. So it's an educational opportunity as much as it is a tourist trap. It's absolutely a tourist attraction, but it's one that I gleefully got to experience. Ben any final thoughts on Myrtogloss?
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:I would First start by asking Jesse to elaborate on the taste of the glacier. He had alluded to five senses. how did it taste, Jesse? Let's start there.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:well, there was no chlorine taste. I can guarantee that. It's smell and taste are very closely associated and there was definitely a mist in the air.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:I'll give you that. There was a missed
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:There was a mist in the air. So I think I got, I mean, I didn't. I didn't run my tongue on the glacier,
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:this
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:they say.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay. No. So to your point, John, I think the coolest part was some of the science and they had made sculptures in there. It was it wasn't an A very long tour through the glacier. But I think it was nice, neat. They they showed you some different formations and different age and distances that the glacier travels. And I think it's something to see, right? I think it's a highlight. If you're in that area, you definitely got to check it out.
Track 1:My wife suffers from some claustrophobia. So when she got to the mouth of that thing, she was like Chevy chase at the Grand Canyon in vacation, right? So about four seconds, she had seen it and she was out. But I've got to applaud her. She, I mean she went in as far as she could, but she was not long for that attraction, that's for sure.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:Yeah, I think everybody had their a couple of qualms and fear scratch during that whole ascent and descent, whether it was on the train tracks the scaffolding leading down to the glacier or that there was definitely a lot of challenges within the, within your two ears going on right there to make sure you can overcome those Objections, your brain so desperately trying to call to your attention. And, uh, and that was really fun. And another aspect I really felt fortunate to encompass the whole shamany experience is we really shot from the hip. I mean, we went there, walked around, had some lunch and tried to figure out our next move and that train ride just ended up being what we all agreed on. That between or taking the huge tram to another area of Mont Blanc that offered none of that so the fact that we picked the train and went up to that one observatory and Discovered you could take another gondola into a glacier was I think very serendipitous
Track 1:It's worth mentioning that it's not just the three of us and maybe our significant others on this trip. There, there are others that we're a total of what, seven, eight of us. we're all a bunch of cats trying to hurt ourselves. So got off to a late start. Then it's a couple hours over to Chamonix and we're having a late lunch and trying to squeeze in what we can in addition to just taking our time with it because it's so beautiful. Let's move on from Chamonix. Let's talk about Annecy. So this is, I think they call it like the Venice of the French Alps. It's known for its canals, a beautiful old historic town, but Jesse, once you kick it off, did you have any did that town leave you with any?
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:yeah, it left me with a sense of A mini Geneva, and mainly because that was the first town I experienced in Europe, and it had that huge lake next to it as so did as they had a very large lake and very scenic, rugged mountain view right behind that lake in Annecy. The lake then did. Tributary into smaller canals that did go through the town. Like a lot of these towns that are in the valleys, there are some hills throughout the towns. And the very old construction has been utilized on the side of these hills for hundreds of years. And the highlight to me was ascending 1 of those hills to, to the high ground of the city and seeing the. The beautiful church up there. It's
Track 1:Yeah, I'm not going to try and recall the name of that Basilica off the top of my head, but it was stunning, interesting to find out toward the, I had just assumed it was a couple or a few hundred years old. No, our construction was completed, I think in the 1930s. So in the grand scheme of things, a baby among those needle. Grand old churches, but it was a good, it was a good exercise. A good hike through town. Ben any lastings lasting impressions of Annacy?
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Yeah, I think it was a hillier version of Geneva to, to Jesse's point. What I also, I think it was, it's a combination of Geneva and Puerto Rico in terms of the buildings, how close they are together the foot traffic obviously I prefer Annecy and the French Alps but you know, you should put Puerto Rico on your radar. One of the takeaways I had is we we really didn't get enough time. We were always time constraint when we made these day trips and there was clearly more to see. There were more events to check out. I think one of the museums we tried to go to was was not available. It was definitely a walkable town. I'd love to see more of it. Um, when you hit on the lake, when you hit on the canals and you've got historic buildings in an area, it's just fun to be in.
Track 1:Yeah. Neat old town. It was interesting. I'm going to be honest. I don't think I'd go back if I'm for in that part of the world. Again, I'm not going to take a day for Annacy again. I'm not going to go so far to not to recommend it. It may be just exactly up someone's alley. I enjoyed being there. I did not find it particularly compelling for going back. Here's another thing. It's a larger city than I was expecting. So we made these choices for these side trips based on internet research and all of the photos made it look like this quaint little village. It is very much not that. It's a large city. And then there's an old, there's an historic portion that is beautiful. It's neat. It's good to see, but this is a sizable city. It was just, I think the issue is a little too far away. We really had to work to get there full two hours over there. It seemed like at least going out because we were avoiding tolls. But yeah, I don't know. I don't, I'm not sure the juice was worth the squeeze on Anisee for me personally. Again, glad I saw it. I'll just do something else next time. Any final thoughts on Anisee?
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:Yeah, I can echo that sentiment. The highlight was the Basilica of the Visitation in Hennessy. That was great. But yeah, I probably wouldn't go back. It was a great place to spend half a day and get a good lunch.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay, so with that being said, John, we, the first couple of days, we got the chance to go skiing, but you had a couple of day trips of your own. Do you want to tell us where you went and a little bit of those details?
Track 1:I think two of them are worth noting on one of those days that you fellows were skiing, I stayed close and just be bopped around more zine and met you guys for the april ski event, which we can talk about later, but on the first we'll talk about Mijev. So Sarah and I drove over to Mijev. We picked a destination and this is very much a pinkies up sort of place. Definitely very much up market in that way. It almost wasn't really all that compelling. I think I said last time, it's like you've seen one, you've seen them all, but let's say that this is like the Aspen of the part of the Alps that we were in and very nice. I'm not complaining about it, I just, I typically don't spend my time shopping basically. But we had a great, I mean, a great lunch. It's one of those, it was one of those great two hour French lunches and got some sightseeing and just some walking around in just some couples time and had a really great. Great day of it. And so Mijave is, I wouldn't not recommend it as your destination. If you're going skiing in that part of the world but it's probably just really wasn't all that compelling for us personally, as nice as it is. I could not have more fun in Mijave than I could have in Morzine. That's just the way that left me. However, more interestingly would be the first side trip I took, and I did this one alone. So this would be when you, the first day that you fellows were skiing, I got up early, took the car over into Altceboa Valley, over to a tiny little town called Sixte Ferraz Chaval. And so
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:you have for lunch?
Track 1:Sausage and pasta. It was great by myself a glass of wine, sausage and pasta and and an espresso it was fantastic. again, this destination was just chosen almost at random from internet research. And. In much the opposite way of the way that Anna C left me, this was a smaller place than I was expecting. There may have been four restaurants there. It didn't seem to me that any of them had any customers to speak of. This was it is a village that does host a ski mountain. I did see people in ski gear, hauling skis around the sum total of the amount of people I saw. that look like they were skiing or snowboarding would not be more than 10 or 12 people, period. Now, I think much of that is owed to the fact that there wasn't much snow, but I couldn't get a sense of where the ski mountain was from this tiny little village, other than I could see where the lift was, but I saw where the slopes were supposed to be, and presumably they were skiing somewhere up above there. But I couldn't see it from my vantage point, but this was a lovely little town. And I just had the nicest time sort of driving the 10, 15 minute radius around there, both before and after lunch, got some nice photography that I was fairly proud of. The real feature of this little village is it is. It plays host to a trail system called Cirque du Ferrocheval. And so basically this is a, I think it's a national park, with a trail system that amounts to a loop that encompasses that whole part of the valley. So I drove up to a certain trailhead, And luckily my knee was feeling healthy enough. I did about a two mile mini loop in this system. Got some nice photography. was really interesting because there was. This was a spot where there were a couple hundred people, but they were just mill. There wasn't much snow, so they were just milling about. There were a couple of these huts where you get a drink or hot chocolate or a snack. There was a hut where they were selling pony rides
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:And this is on the trail? This is on the trail system.
Track 1:right at the trailhead. That's
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:Be a time during heavier snow and winter conditions where cross country skiing and ski shoes and. That kind of traversing would be happening.
Track 1:Absolutely. And my guess is that is the primary activity in that little area. So I'm talking about an area I walked through an area that was a couple hundred acres.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:So instead of the snow, you are in the slop.
Track 1:Pretty much. Yeah, but it wasn't that sloppy. they were like wide, developed gravel trails, right? Which it had there been a base of snow there. Of course, you would be snowshoeing or potentially, Cross country skiing. So I just enjoyed my time, took my time walking. I probably just walked around that area for an hour and a half playing with my camera, trying to get some good shots. I, if you check our Instagram feed, I was proud of a few of the shots that came out of that little Adventure. So those are posted on the rank amateur pod feed. But nice little afternoon. But I needed to get back over to Morzine. This is where things get interesting for me in that day, because I think at that point that I have a sense of how to get back to where I'm going. And I did, I knew how to get. Get back on the highway. I programmed my destination into Google Maps. Google Maps decides to take me a slightly different way. And this, so this would be taking me to a smaller road, a secondary road, instead of over the larger highway that takes you over that. Pass into the Moorzine Valley. So I take this little right hand turn. I start, it starts taking me through this tiny little neighborhood and it gets a little bit windy. And I think this is interesting. I'm going to take the path less travel. Great. Then it starts taking me through these farm communities. The path gets windier and windier. And I start thinking Google's done me a real favor here. This is great. It was compelling from a driving point of view. At one point, I may be able to post this picture, but the road literally just does a little chicane between two barns, right? And so then the road gets a little steeper and really enjoying myself. And I think, man, I I found this alternative way to get into Morzine. And this is going to be great. The whole time I'm watching that Google Maps and it says Morzine, 28 minutes away. More zine, 25 minutes away. More zine, 23 minutes away. So I'm on the right path. Things are fine. Gets a little steeper. Great. I'm really getting up this mountain now. Keep in mind, I'm talking about an Alp here, right? This is no small hill. This is a full on piste in the French Alps.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Are we talking pavement or have we hit gravel or are we on dirt yet?
Track 1:Haven't come to that part of the story yet.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay.
Track 1:So yeah, for now we're talking about pavement. It's getting steeper. It's getting narrower. Fine. This is great. I'm really enjoying this. However, it does continue to narrow, but I do come to a place where a Land Rover is coming down the mountain opposite me. We have to figure out how we're going to negotiate who's going first. So I pull over off into the ditch a bit, let the Land Rover go by. And I go on about my merry way. About a mile later, I run out of pavement. Fine. Still, nevertheless, no big deal. I probably should have picked up on the cues at that point, but I didn't because I was really enjoying myself. So I just keep going, come across another. This time a Toyota Hilux. This time he gets in the ditch. I go around him. No problem. This is great. Then, the road starts getting a little bumpier. Nevertheless, I'm in a SUV ish kind of vehicle. I've got some clearance. I'm fine.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:All will drive.
Track 1:yeah, Hadn't really reduced my speed very much. I'm still just going. Going along and all of a sudden Morzine is 21 minutes away. This is fine. This is all going great. Then I noticed there are less trees than there had been before. And the trees are smaller and they're all conifers. So I'm inching my way up above the tree line. Still, this is fine. Views start to become magnificent. Then the ruts begin. And then the snow starts. All right, that's fine. I've got I've got a worthy vehicle. And every once in a while, when I say every once in a while, every mile or so, I pass someone. Not necessarily on the road, but like at one of these tiny chalets Then the instances of crossing over snow in the shadows become more frequent. Alright? Then I think wait a minute. Maybe this isn't the best way to get to Morazine. But I'm still having a good time, and it's fine. So every time I would go around a curve, I would think, surely I'm going to top out on this road and it's going to start going downhill at some point. It must, again, I consult Google maps. Everything's fine. Stay on this road. You'll be in more than 20 minutes. Great. This some point I couldn't avoid how often I was traveling over snow. Instead of gravel and ruts and not only that, but the gravel and ruts were getting significant. At this point, thank God I've already turned this rental car in, but I did bottom it out a couple of times. Finally, I come around one curve and I passed the chalet on my right. And I think this has got to be the top. And I'm going to start going down now. And if that's the case, everything's okay. I'll be able to get down. If it's like It was coming up to this point. Getting down. We'll be fine. I'll be in Moore's in a no time. I'll meet the group. We'll have a glass of wine. Everything's going to be great. I'm going to have a good story. But I pass this chalet, come around this curve, and I see about, let's call it 300 yards in front of me of straightaway, and it's just snow. And I finally just have to stop and admit to myself, I've made a huge mistake. The problem is that, at this point, the road is so narrow, I can see no way to negotiate a turnaround without putting it in reverse and going down a steep, snowy, less than one lane road or powering through and getting to the top of that snowy pass. And hoping I can find a turnaround, not knowing what's up there. And then I've got to come down. If I successfully turn around, come down the whole thing. And most troublingly is that to my left, it's fine. I there's a pasture there and basically there's mountain to the right is a magnificent view and absolutely certain death, I'm not kidding. We're talking about the steepest mountain you've ever seen. And it is 12, 18 inches from my right side tires.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Yeesh,
Track 1:So I've got to figure this out 10 or 20 feet in front of me. There's this, when I say wide spot in the road, I'm being incredibly generous. But basically there was a spot where there was some water runoff that it did come through and created this divot on the bank to my left. So I creeped up there and then began negotiating about an 18 to 20 point turn to turn this vehicle around. And sometimes I would lurch forward a foot and a half, and then the wheel all the way to the left, reverse the vehicle all the way into the mountain, right? So at this point, I'm not trying to put on the brakes before I make contact. I'm just backing it up into the bank.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:this would be a good time to tell everybody about making sure their credit card and or they choose the rental car insurance at the counter remote for moments like this
Track 1:yeah, I know a guy who says always get the insurance.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Or the card.
Track 1:funny thing happened when I was backing up one at one point during one of these, one of these 18 turns I was doing, the brakes went soft and I'll be honest, scared the absolute shit out of me. Luckily I was backing up. I figured out later what that was after I was safe. I figured out what that was. It was anti lock brakes, right? But nevertheless, it was terrifying. I was able to, obviously I was able to successfully get all the way turned around with literally the, my front left tire again, two feet from. It's all over. I did think to myself, like there are certain versions of the multiverse where I don't make it off this mountain today. I'm donezo, but nevertheless, that's not what happened. Was able to turn the damn car around and get off the mountain. And both curse myself and thank my lucky stars the whole time. Flew off that mountain as fast as I could. Got back on the highway and got to more zine and sat down on the table where you two were already having a glass of wine and act like I didn't have a story to tell,
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:I mean, John, did you, at any point in time, did you message anybody? Did you, I mean, you held back until now. So you were just up there by yourself and.
Track 1:There was nothing that could be done. And here is the worst part of the story and the ironic part. As you know from a couple of episodes back, I bought a Garmin inReach Mini.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:That's right.
Track 1:However, I made a determination that my wife on that day was going to be engaged in the most dangerous activity, so she took it on the slopes with her. So I didn't even have the dumb thing. But look, all's well that ends well. I got off the mountain, but there was, I would say, about 10 minutes of my evening Where I was thinking real hard about how this was going to end. But like I said, all's it ends well. And, I was having a glass of wine with you two fellas about 45 minutes later.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay, so you never really got stuck, you never gotten to a point where wheels are churning, progress is zero, you're having to steer the steering wheel back and forth to gain the little inches of traction, I mean, you were not like stuck, you were just On the side of the hill and you were about to slide off and you had to turn around. Right.
Track 1:Yeah, that it was a calculation not to go any farther, but I might actually get myself in trouble, but then the question was, I'm not hanging. Off of this precipice at the moment, if I keep going, I might find myself in that situation, but how do I extract myself from what I've already gotten myself into, which I was hoping was a pretty minor pinch. Like I said, it took me 10, 15 minutes to Get turned around and feel like I was in a safe spot again.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:It did sound dicey at times and I'm glad you took the yielded on the side of caution and took the path more traveled instead of less traveled.
Track 1:Like I said, there was a moment where I was like Google's done me a real favor here. This is great. I'm going to get some great photos here. I'm going to, I'm going to tell the guys about it and maybe we'll do it. I'll do it with them. I really thought. This was neat. It's funny when you're over there in that part of the mountains, you see these chalets perched on these really steep slopes and you think, how do they even get there? I found one of the ways that they get there, which is this tiny little non road that's probably more suited for snowmobiles.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:You mentioned two very capable vehicles that you passed on the way up there, the first one was a Land Rover and a Toyota Hilux that have are very capable.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:yeah, and John, you mentioned passing a handful of cars, so I mean, are we talking about rigs coming by that are like built, or is that kind of what you were seeing?
Track 1:No, I mean, this was After a certain point, after I'd left a certain population density, I passed two cars, right? I did pass a few chalets where folks were parked,
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Okay.
Track 1:so this is where they were staying. Again, that number, that total number, after I basically leave town, isn't more than 10. Total. Cars are human beings I encounter and on the road passing me coming down It was to the Rover and the Hilux.
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:You're a better man than I am.
Track 1:Not really. No. All right, fellas side any final thoughts on side trips It's been magnificent. This has been a magnificent trip And we're gonna do field notes one more time to talk about how you guys really found the honey hole skiing But final thoughts on side trips
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:More of them. More research, more time.
jesse_1_03-05-2024_194939:It's a good opportunity to explore some menu items you might not get in the States, but also you might find the best fish and chips you've ever experienced.
Track 1:It's funny if you can say i'm committed I'm doing french cuisine the whole time and jesse both of you's first time you guys it's experienced authentic french cuisine But then you know, you get the good old fish and chips. It's oh they do that better, too
ben_1_03-05-2024_194939:Unbelievable.
Track 1:All right, fellas a quick. Thank you first to our sponsor We'll talk more about them in future episodes, but for Jesse Kearns and Ben Wyatt, my name is John Kearns. This has been the Rank Amateur Podcast. Until next time, from the French Alps.