Engine failure not a factor. The pilot doesn't quite come out and say it, but reading between the lines of what he did say, he lost visual contact with the ground in poor visibility, and climbed, he either saw the rocks at the last second and yanked back to lessen the crash, of they simply got lucky and hit the rocks at a favorable angle and low airspeed (He was climbing, that much is clear, so airspeed would be less than normal cruise)