Some of the worst avalanche conditions British Columbia has seen in 30 years was hampering efforts Monday to recover the body of a skier killed in an avalanche and rescue his companions.

The severe weather conditions, brought on by heavy snowfall, also forced the closure of several major highways.

There have been more than 35 avalanches in the past few days in some parts of the Interior region of the province.

The slide on Sunday killed an Alberta skier and forced 14 other skiers to take refuge at a remote lodge in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, north of Nelson.

RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said the body of the deceased Albertan had not yet been recovered because of the conditions near the Tanal Peak.

Searchers tried to recover the body Monday morning using two helicopters but had to retreat because of the weather conditions and poor visibility.

Moskaluk said a team of 20 search and rescue crew must work on levelling the area before they can get to the body.

"Once the slope stabilization occurs they will utilize a helicopter ... to remove the deceased," Moskaluk said.

The man was in a group of 15 skiers who were all stranded by an avalanche 30 kilometres north of Nelson, the remaining team are safe in Kokanee Glacier Cabin, 1.5 kilometres from the slide site.

Moskaluk said the group of 14, among them a doctor, were not able to save the skier. A rescue helicopter was forced to turn back because of weather conditions will make another attempt to retrieve the body Monday morning.

The weather last week was a perfect storm to create the dangerous conditions, Mike Boissonneault, an avalanche expert from the Ministry of Transport said Monday.

"The combination of wet heavy snow on top of a fragile snow pact, and you combine that with warm temperature, that has resulted in a high avalanche hazard and some unprecedented weather condition we are seeing," Boissonneault said.

There are controlled avalanches being set off to reduce the risk and there are still maintenance and road cleanup issues to be dealt with, he said.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old snowmobiler who went missing Sunday night in the Coquihalla Lakes area north of Hope was found, cold and wet but safe, after spending the night lost .

Two sections of the Trans-Canada Highway in eastern B.C. were closed because of the avalanche threat, including an area east of Golden, B.C., that wasn't expected to reopen until Wednesday. The highway was also closed near Yoho National Park.

Several other highways in southeast B.C. were closed due to the risk of a slide or for avalanche prevention work.

Canadian Avalanche Centre John Kelly said the worst of the avalanche has come and one its way down.

"We've crested the ridge, the height of avalanche danger," Kelly said.

"Generally from west to east it is going to proceed to lower avalanche danger ... and we are hoping for better conditions over the next couple of days," Kelly said.