Heather Morning brushes up her skills at Fords of Avon. Photo: Bob Kinnaird/Glenmore Lodge

A historic mountain shelter is now ship-shape again after a weekend of work by volunteers to restore the remote refuge.

The emergency shelter at Fords of Avon in the Cairngorms had fallen into disrepair, but a determined effort by members of the Mountain Bothies Association, Mountaineering Council of Scotland, Glenmore Lodge national outdoor centre and other enthusiasts saw it restored to its former condition.

MCofS mountain safety adviser Heather Morning, who spent the weekend working on the emergency shelter, said the work is now complete.

“There’s a bit of tidying up still to do outside, but the actual work on the shelter itself went really well and the main job is now complete,” she added.

The MCofS said it was grateful to the Mountain Bothies Association, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority and Glenmore Lodge for their involvement in the project.

The MBA will now take on responsibility for the shelter, which is located almost 700m (2,297ft) up in the Cairngorms, 1½km (1 mile) east of Loch Avon, in the shadow of Beinn Mheadhoin, Beinn a’Chaorainn and A’Chòinneach.

The association’s chairman John Arnott added: “It is important to emphasise, however, that we will not be installing facilities such as a stove, sleeping platform, etc that we provide in many of the 100 or so other bothies that we maintain.

“Rather, we will look after the fabric of the building so that it can continue to provide the function of an extremely basic shelter providing emergency accommodation to those requiring urgent protection from the elements.”