Col de Bonhomme

Today's group brief was to be out early ahead of the bad weather that was coming in.
There was no real way of sugar coating the three hour climb to the refuge - the group could see the path snaking up the hill from the Auberge's windows. Despite having been very clear over the preceding days that this was a stage where we were all very committed - we woke to find two of the group voicing concerns and making vague enquiries about just how expensive a taxi might be...the answer is 2-300Euro's...
We set a slow steady pace (I think its worth mentioning here that our group of 11 contained 2x  75 year old's, 1 x 73 year old and 2 x 69 year olds - and they weren't the ones complaining!). By half way we'd comfortably overtaken the younger Exodus group who'd tried to tackle the hill head on, and our two 'concerned' clients had gotten into the swing of things. Just over three hours later we were at the refuge enjoying a bizarre nut cake and some very nice fruit tea. The weather was building - but by now we knew we'd be across the tricky section to the col proper before anything came in - so a leisurely lunch and we pressed on - heading for Les Contamines and what turned out to be some really nice accommodation - made all the sweeter as the weather finally broke with some truly torrential rain just as we sat down with a welcoming beer.