The three had become trapped while out with six others on Buachaille Etive Mor on Glencoe, near Fort Willliam.

Two were rescued by helicopter and transferred to an ambulance before being taken to hospital, but blizzards prevented a second Sea King reaching the others.

Mountain rescue teams then took over the search for the remaining members who were in at least two separate groups.

Five were found without injuries. One had a shoulder injury.

The area is popular with skiers as well as climbers.

Three killed in Scottish avalanche | International | Reuters

The bodies were found late Monday afternoon as searchers plowed through avalanche debris near Fernie in British Columbia’s Elk Valley, about 550 miles east of Vancouver, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Chris Faulkner.

Eleven snowmobilers were hit by back-to-back avalanches on Sunday. Eight were buried but three from the group clawed through the snow and reached safety.

Search efforts — which involved several dozen rescue officials and volunteers as well as search dogs — had been delayed until later Monday by the threat of more avalanches.

“The snowmobilers were well-outfitted, dressed warmly and many had the proper safety equipment,” said Faulkner.

The first avalanche buried a group of seven snowmobilers on Sunday afternoon, while they were resting at the foot of a hill, said David Wilks, mayor of Sparwood, home to all 11 men.

“It appears a cornice let loose — an overhang on the top of the mountain — and buried them,” he said.

Another group of four snowmobilers heard their shouts, hurried over and started digging when they were hit by a second avalanche.

Two men dug themselves out and then pulled a third man free. Rescuers found them by their emergency communication devices.

Wilks, who spoke to one of the survivors, said he was told they were buried twice and were fortunate enough to be able to dig themselves out after about 20 minutes after the second avalanche hit.

“They’re very distraught that they weren’t able to stay and try and find or help their buddies, but … one of them was injured and they felt there was an imminent risk of another avalanche coming down,” said Wilks. “They had lost their gloves, they had lost everything so they were starting to dig by hand.”

The three men sustained minor injuries.

Wilks said all 11 men knew each other in the small coal-mining town of 4,000, and some were related to one another.

“It’s pretty dramatic. In a town of this size, everybody knows everybody. It’s gonna cause everybody to think twice about conditions they thought were safe,” said Elkford Snowmobile Associate spokesman Peter Cunningham.

The Canadian Avalanche Centre had issued an advisory that day warning of dangerous conditions and the strong possibility of avalanches.

“The conditions that we’ve got in the last few days are so severe that it’s a shame they decided to go into the backcountry,” Fernie Mayor Cindy Corrigan said.

The Associated Press: Police: 7 bodies recovered in Canada avalanches

The men were trying on Wednesday to climb Mount Kulagangri, one of the peaks greatly revered in Tibet, when the avalanche hit at 6:50 p.m. (1050 GMT), said Dou Changshen, an official of the Tibet Mountaineering Association.

Other team members waiting at a camp 19,300 feet (5,900 meters) above sea level heard the avalanche and went to investigate, he said. They found the bodies 980 feet (300 meters) away from the camp.

Dou said his group received a report at 7:57 p.m. (1157 GMT) and organized a search and rescue team, which brought the bodies to base camp.

The weather at the start of the ascent had not been good and the climbers advanced slowly because there had been a lot of snow, Dou said.

They were among a team of seven Japanese who had left the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Sept. 20.

3 Japanese climbers killed in Tibet avalanche – International Herald Tribune

CHAMONIX, France (AP) — The bodies of eight climbers swept up in an avalanche near Mont Blanc were located Monday, buried beneath 20 to 50 meters (65-164 feet) of ice, police officials said.

Regis Lavergne, commander of the High Mountain Gendarmes based in Chamonix, said a helicopter picked up the signal of special homing devices the climbers were wearing. It appeared from the signals that the climbers — four Germans, three Swiss and one Austrian — had fallen into a deep crevasse.

Because the area is prone to avalanches, rescuers will not attempt to recover the bodies, which are expected to resurface in “a few weeks or several years” due to the movement or melting of the glaciers, Lavergne told reporters at a news conference.

Rescuers had initially said the missing climbers were Swiss and Austrian nationals, but officials later said they included four Germans, who were climbing with an Austrian guide.

The names of the victims have not been made public.

Seven people hospitalized following the avalanche were discharged on Monday, officials said.

The avalanche began around 3 a.m. Sunday after a block of ice as wide as two football fields cracked off a side of the Mont Blanc du Tacul, one of the peaks in the Mont Blanc range, at an altitude of some 3,600 meters (11,800 feet).

During a visit to the region Sunday, French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said there was no hope of finding any of the climbers alive.