A small mining town in the Canadian Rockies is in mourning after eight of its men were killed by avalanches over the weekend.

The victims and three other men had been enjoying an afternoon of snowmobiling near Fernie in British Columbia's Elk Valley, 550 miles east of Vancouver, when they were hit by back-to-back avalanches.

Seven of the men were buried as a snow cornice collapsed on top of them while they were resting at the foot of a hill. As their friends frantically tried to dig the men out, they were hit by a second avalanche.

Two men dug themselves out and pulled a third man free. Rescuers found them by their emergency communication devices.

The bodies of seven of the snowmobilers were recovered late on Monday, and an eighth man is still missing, but believed to be dead. Two had only recently become fathers.

Rescuers dug for hours through the avalanche debris before they found the bodies of the victims, spread out over about 400 feet, and buried deep under the hard packed surface.

The deepest was found under 11 feet of snow, said Chris Thomas, president of Fernie Search and Rescue.

David Wilks, the mayor of Sparwood, home to all the men, said the survivors were distraught that they had not been able to save their friends.

One of the survivors told him they were buried twice, he said.

"They're very distraught that they weren't able to stay and try and find or help their buddies, but ... one of them was injured and they felt there was an imminent risk of another avalanche coming down,"said Mr Wilks.

"They had lost their gloves, they had lost everything so they were starting to dig by hand," he said.

The men were popular members of the tiny community of 4000, said Mr Wilks, who described the victims as skilled outdoorsmen.

Chuck Meadows, 27, who worked with most of the men at the local coal mine described them as "fun guys to be around."

"It's pretty devastating," he said. "It's pretty sad to see, with newly started families"

The Canadian Avalanche Centre had issued an advisory on Sunday warning of dangerous conditions and the strong possibility of avalanches.

"The conditions that we've got in the last few days are so severe that it's a shame they decided to go into the backcountry," Cindy Corrigan, the Mayor of Fernie said.

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