Body of missing skier found in Canada

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LAKE LOUISE, Alberta, March 20 (UPI) -- A rescue team has recovered the body of a skier from a glacier chasm near Lake Louise in Alberta, park officials said.

Mark Taylor, director of the parks department in Abbotsford, British Columbia, fell into the crevasse March 12 in Yoho National Park while on a back-country ski trip with friends, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Taylor's two companions were rescued Friday after they activated emergency beacons, but park officials said efforts to reach Taylor were delayed by weather and threat of an avalanche.

The team reached the site Tuesday after a helicopter dropped seven rescuers with skis and equipment.

Taylor's body was found 65 feet below the surface of the glacier, CBC said.

"By all counts and by the estimation of the visitor safety team, these were experienced people. They knew what they were doing and sometimes it can happen to anyone, even the most experienced people," Omar McDadi, spokesman for the park, said. "Unfortunately, it is part of the mountain experience and it's definitely a sad day when something like this happens."