A record 13 skiers, climbers and mountaineers have died in Italy’s mountains over the past week, rescuers said Monday, including 10 in avalanches triggered by extremely unstable snowpack, as Winter Olympic competitions started.

Fresh snowfall during recent storms and wind-blown snow caps on weak inland layers have created particularly risky conditions along the entire Alpine crescent bordering France, Switzerland and Austria, Italian alpine rescuers said.

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

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

“There is no danger to people skiing inside the managed ski areas, and especially no risk to the Olympic venues,” Catania said. “All of these areas are under constant surveillance and are generally safe regardless of the Olympic events.”

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

Rescuers are advising people going on trips to the country to follow avalanche warnings and to postpone trips until the snowpack has solidified.

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

The deaths also included two climbers on Monte Grappa in Veneto and in the Marche region along the Apennine chain, as well as an ice climber in Valle d’Aosta.

The same Alpine Rescue Corps also performed a helicopter rescue of an American downhill skier Lindsey Vonnafter collapsing during a competition in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday.

The Italian hospital where she is being treated released 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 networks, the first message directly from the star after the accident.

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