Two more bodies from a group of four skiers who died in a recent avalanche in northern Norway were found Thursday, police said.

The four - a Swedish woman and three Finnish men - were reported missing by another skier on January 2. They were en route to Blabaerfjellet, a 1,442-metre high peak in the Tamok valley.

The first body was retrieved Wednesday.

The search was ongoing for the fourth body, police said on Twitter.

‘It is very challenging, and there is a lot of snow,’ police spokesman John-Kare Granheim told public broadcaster NRK.

The bodies were located with the help of signals from so-called avalanche beacons, used to help rescue workers track people under the snow.

Strong winds, heavy snowfall and the fear of new avalanches have hampered previous efforts to retrieve them.

Police said 21 rescue workers, including members of the military and Red Cross, had been deployed in the effort.

Two of the group were from central Finland and had been taking part in an ice-climbing and mountaineering course run by an association of nature guides.