Scottish ski slope
Reuters

The body of a skier who went missing after an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands has been found by emergency services.

Police named the man as Daniel Maddox, 41, from Clackmannanshire, after finding the body at midday on Sunday 31 March, in 18-20ft of snow.

Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team said they would like to extend their thoughts to the family of the dead man.

The man was skiing in an off-piste area behind the Glencoe Ski Centre in the Etive Glades when the avalanche struck at 1pm on Saturday, with snow travelling 1,000ft down the slope's rocky face.

The Northern Constabulary co-ordinated the search with the help of 30 people from Glencoe and Lochaber mountain rescue teams as well as the mountain resort's ski patrol.

A helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth was also scrambled.

John Grieve, leader of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, said, "The avalanche has actually gone into a gully, and in some places the snow is about 40ft deep."

Several people have been killed by avalanches in Scotland so far this year.

In January, four experienced climbers died on Bidean Nam Bian In Glencoe. One of the party survived, but with serious injuries.

Three people also died after an avalanche in the Cairngorms in February.

One of those who died was a student, while two were off-duty members of the RAF mountaineering association.

In the same week there was a second fatal avalanche involving a hillwalker.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland said that there were 52 fatalities in Scotland's mountains in 2011, with 21 being mountaineering-related.

This was a rise on the figures from 2010, when there were 45 deaths, of which 16 were mountaineering related.

Statistics show that the total number of deaths has declined since the 1990s.