Col des Montets

To say the weather remains mixed would be an understatement - torrential rain, blazing sun, some very very heavy looking clouds - I'm glad I'm not heading high just yet.
A great breakfast meeting with the owner of the bespoke tours company (Mont Blanc Treks) that I'm leading the Haute Route for this sumer - both my groups are full - I've age ranges from 20-74, mostly American, some UK & Australian and a couple from Israel - much more uniform than last seasons United Nations (for newer followers I had clients from 15 different countries last year).

I had a quick mooch around Chamonix - but much as I love maps (not as much as one outdoors person I was recently told about who refused to fold her maps to keep them open!) buying 9 maps left me somewhat shell shocked, I get a huge discount off OS maps but I've never managed to get anything off an ING or Swisstopo map, and they're not cheap.
When I emerged from the central book store it looked like we were in for a sunny period so I decided I'd reward myself with a drive up to the Col des Montets and a walk back along La Remuaz and see what I could see - relatively early in the season I've seen chamois here before - but today it was awash with colour - that is - until the first clap of thunder - at which point I turned tail and headed off to read my maps with a coffee.