A CHURCH of Scotland minister described yesterday how he called on
Tina Turner for inspiration when he was trapped overnight in plunging
temperatures close to the summit of a mountain near Glencoe.
The Rev. Robert Anderson had been ski-ing alone on the White Corries
on Saturday afternoon when he met a whiteout.
Mr Anderson, 36, from Doune, Perthshire, dug out a snow hole using his
skis and poles. He then fashioned a cross from his skis, a standard
distress signal, and placed it in front of the hole.
He sang songs by Leonard Cohen and Tina Turner to keep his spirits up.
He said he realised he had made two mistakes -- going ski-ing alone
and then not staying put until he regained his bearings.
But he also said: ''I don't believe God would pick out ministers for
special favours, above anybody else.''
His ordeal lasted for more than 16 hours before the cross was spotted
by his friend, Dr Ian McLaren, a consultant at Monklands District
Hospital, Airdrie, who had been assisting in the search.
Rescuers carried him down the mountain where an RAF helicopter took Mr
Anderson, who works for the World Exchange ecumenical volunteer
programme in Edinburgh, to Belford Hospital at Fort William.
As he recovered last night in hospital, where he has been detained
suffering from hypothermia and mild frostbite, the minister admitted
that he feared he would not make it out of his snow hole alive.
''I was beginning to think that my time had come,'' he said. ''As I
was digging out the snow hole I thought to myself it was a bit like
digging your own grave.''
Mr Anderson, who has been ski-ing for several years, had just left the
top tow near to the summit when the weather closed in. Unable to see
anything in front of him, he started to make his way down the slope.
However, after almost two hours trekking in deep snow, conditions
improved momentarily to allow him to see that he was heading down the
wrong side.
He continued: ''When I realised my mistake I decided it was better to
head back up towards the summit where I felt there was a better chance
of being found.
''I literally crawled up on my hands and knees, digging in with my
boots and ice axe until I couldn't physically go on.''
The alarm was not raised until 11pm when Mr Anderson's wife, Jennifer,
returned home from an evening out and discovered that her husband had
not arrived home. She called the police who alerted Glencoe Mountain
Rescue Team.
Meanwhile, snow storms forced back hundreds of skiers as they
attempted to make their way to the Cairngorm ski centre yesterday. Roads
were blocked with drifts several feet high.
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