A 45-year-old man from Rycroft, Alberta was killed in an avalanche in the B.C. interior on Sunday.
RCMP said Harold Waldner was buried by an avalanche in a remote mountainous area south of Chetwynd, B.C.
Waldner was married and a father of three. He owned Peace Country Memorials in town and loved the outdoors and snowmobiling.
"Just another Sunday outing, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said friend Derril Skaley. "He was a great friend, great teammate and will be sadly missed by all."
During the winter, snowmobiling has become a popular outdoor activity for many.
"Everyone I've talked to, snowmobiling in the mountains for a motorized hobby is probably the most fun that you can do," said Brad Theissen with Argyll Sports.
The appeal of the sport, Thiessen said, is the lack of paths in the mountains.
"You can go wherever you want, (but) you can get into areas where you maybe shouldn't be," he said.
There are things snowmobilers can do to be better prepared, such as checking the snow conditions online prior to venturing out and always making sure you have all the essentials.
"A good quality shovel, and then if you hit something in the snow you know you're in the right place to dig," added Thiessen.
Sunday's avalanche swept into a group of 14 snowmobilers, five of whom were caught in the snow and Waldner was the only fatality.
The surviving snowmobilers were able to dig each other out, but they had to leave Waldner behind to get out of the woods before nightfall.
And because of the high avalanche risk in the area, Waldner's body was not recovered by search and rescue crews until late Monday.
Police estimate the avalanche was up to three metres deep and two-thirds of a kilometre long.
There have now been 13 people confirmed killed in avalanches in the B.C. backcountry in the past several weeks, including eight snowmobilers buried in late December near Fernie.
To know more about avalanche risk conditions click here.
With files from CTV's Joel Gotlib and the Canadian Press
