A record 13 backcountry skiers, climbers, and hikers died over the past week along the Alpine crescent where the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off over the weekend. Italian rescuers said Monday that 10 of the victims were killed by avalanches triggered by an unusually unstable snowpack, as fresh snowfall and wind-swept snowcaps on weak internal layers created especially risky conditions. The deaths occurred on ungroomed slopes, away from the Olympic sites in the Italian regions of Lombardy and the Veneto, and in Trentino’s Val di Fiemme, said a spokesperson for the Alpine Rescue Corps. The same group carried out a helicopter rescue of U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn after she broke her leg Sunday during a brutal fall while competing in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Rescuers said there was no avalanche danger for people skiing at the region’s managed ski resorts. They advised anyone making backcountry excursions to heed avalanche bulletins and wait to go out until the snowpack has consolidated.
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