Dan Fredinburg with his ex-girlfriend Sophia Bush. [Photo/Agencies]

Taplin had been on the mountain for nearly two weeks, his wife said. He was there with two friends who are cameramen, but both had left before the avalanche.

"He was such a well-loved individual," Freyer said of her husband. "Always up for adventure."

Taplin had a "great passion for the mountains and extreme landscapes," Freyer said.

The third American, Dan Fredinburg, was a veteran Google Inc executive, who served most recently as head of privacy at Google X, a research division at the Mountain View, California-based technology company. His death was announced on Saturday.

Fredinburg was climbing the world's tallest peak with three other Google employees when the avalanche struck. None of his colleagues were injured, a company official said.

The State Department on Sunday did not confirm the identities of the three Americans.