A MAN is recovering after surviving nearly three days stuck in his pickup truck in an Alaskan snowdrift by eating frozen cans of light beer.

Clifton Vial was unable to dig out his Toyota Tacoma after it plunged into the snowdrift some 70km north of the town of Nome, in western Alaska, last night, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

He had no food and no water - and was out of cell phone coverage.

"I felt really pissed at myself," Vial said. "I shouldn't have been out there by myself unprepared for what I knew was possible."

After getting into a sleeping bag and wrapping a bath towel around his feet, he could only occasionally start the truck to run the heater - and wait for rescuers to arrive.

The operator mechanic's employer reported him missing to police Wednesday and it wasn't until Thursday afternoon that authorities managed to locate the vehicle.

Vial said he found the freezing temperatures worse than the hunger during his 60-hour ordeal but got desperate enough to "eat" a few cans of Coors Light that had frozen solid.

"I cut the lids off and dug it out with a knife," he said.

The 52-year-old said he had no visible signs of frostbite but had lost about 7kg.