The former leader of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team has penned a book about his experiences on the job.

John Allen MBE recently retired after over 30 years of rescuing climbers who found themselves in trouble on the hills.

'Cairngorm John', titled after his call sign when communicating with rescue helicopters, has been published by Sandstone Press.

Mr Allen told STV News: "We faced extremely high winds, often over 100 miles-an-hour, and low temperatures well below your domestic freezer that runs at minus-18 - we're often out at minus-25, minus-30 with the high winds.

"It's difficult to pass that on to the public. They often don't realise that that's the conditions that people get rescued in."

His book recounts one harrowing rescue which happened before Mr Allen joined the mountain rescue team. The Cairngorm Plateau Disaster in 1971 saw a teacher and five children die after being caught out in a blizzard.

He believes the accident can still teach lessons to contemporary mountaineers.

He said: "You should always have a long walk in. On that occasion they took the chairlift up to the top of the mountain and then set off into bad weather. That's never a good idea, especially with a party whom you don't know the strength of.

"Another item there was they left it too late in the day - you should always leave early in the winter."

Finally, with ‘Cairngorm John’, the everyday heroes of mountain rescue will have their bravery highlighted in print.