Wintry weather at Cairn Gorm in the Cairngorms

Colder weather has brought snow and ice to the Cairngorms.

Hillwalkers trudged through the white stuff at Cairn Gorm, a Munro in the mountain range near Aviemore on Sunday.

While snow in October is far from unusual, this year's autumn snow came too late to save the UK's longest last patch of snow.

Known as the Sphinx, the snow at Garbh Choire Mor on Braeriach is historically the longest-lasting in Scotland's mountains.

The most recent patch, which had been there for 11 years, melted away completely earlier this month.

However, the weekend's snowfall did allow Inverness-based skier Helen Rennie to record her 96th consecutive month skiing on Scottish snow.

Following the demise of The Sphinx, it was looking like Ms Rennie's 95th month on a melting snow patch at Aonach Beag was the last of her venture.

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