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.