The body of mountain climber Hilaree Nelson has been found on Nepal's Mount Manaslu, two days after the pioneering American fell while descending the peak with her partner.
Ms Nelson, 49, was one of the world's most successful climbers, having conducted more than 40 expeditions over a two-decade-plus career.
She successfully reached the summit of the 8,163-metre tall mountain about 11:30am on Monday (local time), before beginning a ski descent.
Eyewitness accounts differ on what happened next, with some skiers saying she slipped and fell into a large crevasse just below the summit, while expedition outfitters say she lost a ski blade and went off the side of the peak.
Her partner, James Morrison, was able to ski down to a camp below to seek help.
Poor weather prevented search operations from taking place that afternoon, while two helicopter missions were unable to find the climber on Tuesday.
An avalanche between climbing camps further down the mountain also occurred soon after her fall on Monday, killing one and injuring more than a dozen.
Ms Nelson's body was recovered by helicopter on Wednesday morning and flown to a hospital in Kathmandu, where doctors planned to perform an autopsy.
Previous summit attempt cut short
Ms Nelson and Mr Morrison were forced to abandon an earlier attempt to scale Mount Manaslu last week, skiing down from the mountain's Camp 3 after constant snow and rain made it impossible to progress further.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Ms Nelson wrote: "I haven't felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventure [sic] into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya.
"These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways."
A doctor working out of the mountain's base camp told the Kathmandu Post that it had "snowed unceasingly for 15 days" in the lead-up to Monday's incidents.
Pioneer pushed boundaries of sport
Based in Telluride, in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, Ms Nelson was one of the most prolific mountaineers of her generation.
She and Mr Morrison became the first people to successfully ski down the world's fourth-highest mountain, Mount Lhotse, in 2018, earning them the title of National Geographic Adventurers of the Year.
She was also the first woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse in a single 24-hour period, and served as captain of the North Face sponsored athletes team.
Her ultimately unsuccessful effort to scale Hkakabo Razi, an obscure peak in Myanmar's far north, was chronicled in the 2015 documentary Down to Nothing.
She leaves behind two children as well as her partner, Mr Morrison.
Mr Morrison previously lost his wife and two young children in a plane crash in 2011.
ABC/AP
