The body of a famed US extreme skier who went missing this week after falling from the world’s eighth-highest mountain has been recovered and transported to Nepal’s capital.

Hilaree Nelson, 49, was skiing down from the 8,163-metre (26,775ft) summit of Mount Manaslu with her partner Jim Morrison on Monday when she fell off the mountain.

Her body was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu where doctors planned to perform a post-mortem examination.

Rescuers searching by helicopter located Ms Nelson’s body on Wednesday after failing to find her on Monday and Tuesday, when bad weather hampered their search.

Hilaree Nelson of Telluride, Colorado, left and James Morrison of Tahoe, California, in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2018
Hilaree Nelson and James Morrison in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2018 (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

Also on Monday, an avalanche at a lower elevation on the same mountain killed a Nepalese man and injured several other climbers.

Hundreds of climbers and their local guides were attempting to reach the summit during Nepal’s autumn climbing season.

Ms Nelson, from Telluride, Colorado, and Mr Morrison, from Tahoe, California, are extreme skiers who reached the summit of Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth highest mountain, in 2018.

Nepal’s government has issued permits to 504 climbers during the autumn season.

Most are climbing Mount Manaslu.