FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. -- A teenage pilot survived a night in the wild after crashing his plane in Montana. But his story could have turned out very differently if not for his own effort to lead rescuers to his location.

Andrew Scheffer, 18, of Friday Harbor, Wash., is an experienced pilot working toward his commercial license. The Rocky Mountain College freshman was on a solo training flight to Powell, Wyo., when his small plane crashed into a forested slope on Big Pryor Mountain after taking off from Billings late Tuesday.

He apparently veered off course and hit near the top of the mountain about 40 miles south of Billings, authorities said.

When Scheffer didn't arrive in Powell as scheduled on Tuesday night, rescuers were put on alert. While crews searched the rocky terrain of the Pryor Mountains, Scheffer camped out where his plane had crashed.

"The plane must have been buried in the trees, you know, the white aircraft and buried in a snow field somewhere," said Brad Hague with Carbon County Search and Rescue.

Scheffer had stayed with the 2006 Piper aircraft through the night. With overnight temperatures dropping close to zero, Scheffer wrapped himself in an orange tarp to keep warm and also wore a jacket and wool cap.

The next morning, he climbed to the top of a nearby ridge and used a cell phone to contact his flight instructor to report he had survived the crash, authorities said. That call was made at about 8:30 a.m., almost 12 hours after Scheffer left Billings.

Scheffer's flight instructors at Rocky Mountain College didn't learn where he was until they received a simple text message from the missing pilot.

"I have crashed and I am alive," the message read.

With cell phone service in the area spotty, Scheffer made several other calls and sent text messages before his phone went dead. Rescuers on the ground had searched for him through the night in an area about 8 miles from the crash site.

Brad Hauge was among several took part in the search for Scheffer with no luck.

"I'm an ex-Rocky guy, so coming to find out we're searching for a Rocky pilot really hit home for me," he said.

But finally something caught a rescue pilot's eye.

"He had a big yellow tarp that he was dragging behind part of their emergency gear I imagine that ultimately is probably what helped us find him," said Hague.

Scheffer had hiked a mile through waist-deep snow wearing shorts and tennis shoes.

Ground searchers moved in and found Scheffer suffering from frost bite, a minor concussion as well as cuts and bruises. But the teen was alive and ready to go home.

"Just seeing him for the first time and even when we heard over the radio that he was alive, was just really an awesome feeling," said Hague.

Dan Hargrove, director of aviation for Rocky Mountain College, described Scheffer as an experienced pilot with 150 hours of flying time. He said the solo flight - attempted as part of the flying program's syllabus - was not Scheffer's first.

"He's a private pilot and an instrument pilot - he's a real pilot," Hargrove said.

Scheffer's family lives in Friday Harbor and flew out to Montana to be with him. The rescued teen spent a day in the hospital before he was released.

"He's an extremely fortunate young man to survive," emergency physician Michael Bush said. "He kept his wits about him. He was smart and didn't try to get out in the middle of the night."

Despite the crash, his grandmother, Carolyn Scheffer, said the teen is eager to return to his aviation studies.

"His dad asked him, and he said, 'I want to fly,"' she said. "He has a gift for it and a heart for it."