A schoolboy says he thought he was going to die when he skiied into a bear's lair in northern Sweden.

Olle Frisk, 12, was skiing off piste with four other friends at a Härjedalen ski resort in Funäsdalsberget when he went over a sleeping brown bear's lair on Friday, The Local reported, quoting the Östersunds-Posten daily.

The bear woke up, poked its head out of the lair and as the young boy fell into it, jumped on top of him, Frisk said.

"I accepted death, that was the feeling, let it come," the boy said.

Frisk was bitten on his legs and clawed on his back.