GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- An 18-year-old from Eugene is recovering from injuries after surviving an avalanche near the summit of Mt. Hood over the weekend.

Ian Metcalf was descending from the top of Mt. Hood Saturday around 11:30 a.m. with Dan Purkey, 67, and Doyle Allies, 51, in the area known as the "Pearly Gates" when the avalanche started.

"I had a couple of those experiences that you kind of just hear about where time just sort of slows down a little bit and I remember asking God if this is the way this is supposed to end and why on a mountain," Metcalf told KGW.

The climbers were swept an estimated 350 feet down the mountain by the avalance, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

It was a short avalanche but it was brutal and punishing.

Clackamas County Sheriff

Ian Metcalf, in black, climbs down from Mt. Hood with a member of the American Medical Response Team.

The slide stopped ten feet before dumping Metcalf into a crevasse. He was stuck, twisted like a pretzel under the ice chunks, until friends were able to help dig him out.

Metcalf was buried waist deep in the snow but was upright and his head was uncovered. He sustained minor scrapes, cuts and bruises to his face, arms and abdomen but was not seriously injuried. Purkey and Allies were uninjured.

Deputies said Metcalf was able to walk down the mountain without assistance from the Sheriff's office or emergency rescue teams.

The high school junior made it to class Moday despite bruised ribs amnd other aches and pains.

The combination of warm weather and a heavy winter snow pack made for dangerous avalanche conditions on Mt. Hood over the weekend.