Sir Hugh Munro is played by David McKinnon, NTS corporate development manager, Edinburgh. Photo: Callum Bennets/Maverick Photo Agency

A mountaineering pioneer is in the running to top a poll of most important Scots.

Sir Hugh Munro is up against big names such as Robert Burns and Flora MacDonald for the title of Great Scot in a vote set up by the National Trust for Scotland.

Other renowned Caledonian figures in the poll are architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Mary, Queen of Scots.

Sir Hugh Munro is being championed by Bob Brown of the National Trust for Scotland’s mountain footpath team. Mr Brown said: “Hugh’s intrepid spirit inspires everyone who looks after and enjoys Scotland’s spectacular landscapes.”

Sir Hugh charted Scotland’s mountains over 3,000 feet, which were named in his honour. His Munro Tables, first published in 1891, have been revised repeatedly since first compiled, and there are currently 282 munros and 227 subsidiary tops.

The trust picked five Scots from history, all with a connection to NTS places, whose stories and achievements have had a profound impact on Scotland’s history, architecture and landscape, and asked the public to select their Great Scot.

The poll is part of a fundraising campaign to secure the final £100,000 needed to repair the Burns Monument in Alloway. The Victorian structure needs vital conservation work. £50,000 has been raised so far and funds have already come from the NTS USA Foundation, grants and individual donors.

Votes can be cast online until 29 April or at Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre, Falkland Palace, Glencoe Visitor Centre, Hill House, Pollok House and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum until 25 April.