Mountain rescue team members were forced to spend the night in a Cairngorms refuge after coming to the aid of an exhausted and ill-equipped hillwalker who under-estimated the testing conditions on Scotland’s mountains.
The Aberdeen man, believed to be in his mid-30s, failed to return home on Sunday, prompting his wife to alert the emergency services.
He had been attempting to climb Beinn Mheadhoin, in one of the more remote parts of the Cairngorms, when he began to struggle due to the soft underfoot snow.
The walker eventually sought refuge in a rescue shelter known as the Fords of Avon to wait until he was found by an advance party from Braemar Mountain Rescue.
Realising cloud cover was too low for a helicopter, the team settled in for the night, alongside the hillwalker, before the rescue was completed on Monday.
The rescuers had been sent ahead as an advance party to look for the man, while a larger team mobilised.
Malcolm Macintyre, support manager for the team, was one of those who pushed on ahead and subsequently found the walker about two-and-a-half hours later.
He said: “We found him there in the shelter at about 1.30am.
“There was no way we were going to be able to walk back down as he was absolutely knackered.
“The clouds were also too low for a helicopter to come so we stayed overnight.
“It came for us the next morning, at about 6.30am, and took us back to the rescue centre in Braemar.
“He was knackered and his clothes weren’t very good. They were only cotton. He didn’t have a proper waterproof.
“He knew he was well out of his depth and was very apologetic when we found him.”
Though tired after his ordeal, Mr Macintyre said the hillwalker was otherwise uninjured.
On a busy weekend, the team were also alerted to a group of overdue walkers after they failed to return to Linn of Dee.
The party eventually returned to the car park, safe and well, about 90 minutes later than anticipated and team members were stood down.
It was the third call out for Braemar Mountain Rescue in just two days, having had to escort three exhausted hillwalkers from the Corrour Bothy, on the southern side of the Lairig Ghru, on Saturday.
The trio – all thought to be in their mid-to-late-30s – had parked their car in Aviemore and made the trip round to the bothy.
They had to be rescued, however, after underestimating how gruelling their hike would be.