A record 13 people died in the Italian mountains over the past week, including 10 in avalanches, as the Winter Olympics begin.

A record 13 skiers, climbers and backcountry hikers have died in the Italian mountains over the past week, rescuers said Monday, including 10 in avalanches triggered by an exceptionally unstable snowpack, as Winter Olympic competitions it got going.

Recent snowfall during recent storms and wind-blown snow caps in weak inner layers have created especially risky conditions along the entire Alpine crescent bordering France, Switzerland and Austria, alpine rescuers in Italy said.

“In such conditions, the passage of a single skier, or the natural overload by the weight of the snow, can be enough to trigger an avalanche,” said Federico Catania, spokesman for Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps.

The avalanche deaths occurred on ungroomed slopes, far from well-maintained and monitored Olympic sites in Lombardy, on the Swiss border, and Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Veneto, as well as cross-country skiing in Val di Fiemme, in the autonomous province of Trentino.

“There is no danger to people skiing within managed ski resorts and, in particular, no risk to Olympic sites,” Catania said. “All of these areas are constantly monitored and are generally safe regardless of the Olympic events.”

With a series of recent snowstorms, people have rushed to the mountains during brief periods of good weather, “and as a result the number of accidents, and therefore deaths, has increased proportionately,” Catania said.

Rescuers advise people on excursions out of the country to pay attention to avalanche bulletins and delay departures until the snow cover has consolidated.

Over the weekend alone, two skiers died in avalanches in Lombardy, three in Trentino and one in neighboring South Tyrol. Among them were two who died in separate avalanches in the Marmolada glacier area.

The deaths also included two hikers on Monte Grappa in Veneto and in the Marche region along the Apennines, as well as an ice climber in the Aosta Valley.

The same Alpine Rescue Corps also carried out the helicopter rescue of the American alpine skier. Lindsey Vonnafter he crashed during a competition in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday.

The Italian hospital where she is being treated issued a statement Sunday saying Vonn suffered a broken leg in “a nasty fall” during her women’s downhill race. On Monday, Vonn posted a note on social media, the star’s first direct message since the accident.

Last month, three separate avalanches in neighboring Austria killed eight skiers.