Mountain of Money
Three mountain walkers struggled through hail, snow showers and poor visibility to scale all four 4,000 foot Cairngorm peaks in one day.
Now the British Heart Foundation and a fund to build a new community church in Westhill will benefit from the trio's endeavours.
Dr Arthur Stewart, Sports Studies Degree Co-ordinator with the University of Aberdeen, Sports Studies student Andrew West and one of their friends, Dr Glenn Corr embarked on the 28-mile hike to raise money for both causes.
The three had expected to take between nine and ten hours to climb the Big Four - Cairngorm, Ben MacDui, Braeriach and Cairn Toul - but the weather hampered proceedings, turning mid-summer into mid-winter.
Dr Stewart said: "It took us 11 and a half hours as it was wet and wintry with cloud down to 700 metres and intermittent snow above about 800 metres with a fresh northerly wind. At times we could see no more than five metres in front of us."
"Navigating with a map and compass all the way was hard work, and slowed our progress. Aside from a few summit photographs, we never actually stopped walking the entire day - if we had it would have been very hard to get going again, so we ate while on the move."
"A few aches and pains are a small price to pay for an ordeal which has cemented friendships and raised money for two very deserving causes."
The three have raised around £2,000 for the British Heart Foundation and Westhill Episcopal Church.