The body of a missing hiker was recovered on Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the Lower 48, by a helicopter rescue team, the Inyo County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Officials said rescuers battled snow and ice to recover the body from a remote area Sunday after storms delayed initial rescue attempts over a week from when the body was first located on Oct. 20.

The sheriff's office said the hiker was reported as overdue by motel staff in Lone Pine, California, on Oct. 19 and were unable to reach him through the department's Rapid Deploy messaging system, a 911 dispatch service that can help locate lost hikers when they have a cellphone.