Saving happiness in Pakistan: Mourning for Dahlmeier: Give everything to save them

After the accident death of ex-biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, grief and bewilderness continue to exist. A memorial was set up in a church in Dahlmeier’s hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Meanwhile, the unfortunate mountain in Pakistan remains open to climbers.

As the spokesman for the responsible provincial government Gilgit-Baltistan, Faizullah Faraq, the German press agency announced, the Laila Peak can be climbed around the tragedy for the two-time Olympic champion. According to her explicit request, the body of the 31-year-old is unobstructed in the area after she died as a result of a rockfall on Monday.

“If Laura had still been alive, we would have given everything with the commitment of our lives. It changes the moment the accident is dead, then every risk is one too much,” said mountaineer Thomas Huber of dpa. The 58-year-old was part of a rescue team for Dahlmeier.

But after a flight with the helicopter to the scene of the accident, Huber wrote on Instagram, it was clear that Dahlmeier no longer lived. After repeated boards at the Laila Peak “we knew that Laura had risen to her last summit”. Dahlmeier had himself had that nobody could risk his life in order to recover it in the event of such an accident.

Such orders make sense, emphasized Huber. “It should be like that, because all the bereaved can deal with the tragic reality better,” he said.

Unpredictable slump in heat probably to blame for misfortune

Dahlmeier crashed in the Karakorum Mountains at 5,700 meters. The seven-time biathlon world champion was hit by a rockfall while abseiling. Real attempts failed due to adverse weather conditions. According to government spokesman Faraq, three climbers have already died in the region this year alone with Dahlmeier. The closure of mountains according to accidents is not a common practice. The region, in which the K2 is also the second highest mountain in the world, attract hundreds of climbers from abroad every year.

According to Dahlmeier’s good friend Huber, an unpredictable slump in heat probably led to the tragedy. “It had a dry winter, so little snow in the northwest wall, but the conditions during their ascent were good and safe,” said Huber of the dpa. “The mountain was different the following day than the girls started and they would never have gone under these conditions.”

Dahlmeier’s partner was “just lucky”

According to experts, the stones could have loosened due to the high temperatures of snow and ice. When abseiling, the mountaineers had to commute to the side in order to achieve a safe stand, as Huber says. Dahlmeier’s rope partner Marina Krauss, who roped to the first, was therefore not directly in the fall line when the stone chill came. Nevertheless: “Marina was also in the danger zone, in the end she was very lucky,” said Huber.

Krauss had been able to descend independently. “As tragic as everything is, Laura lived her dream until the end, every second and she was and is still a role model that life is an incredible gift that should be fulfilled with love, passion and fire, everything else would be tragic,” Huber wrote on Instagram.

“Should we have cry?”

Huber also asked for respect for reporting and in comments, which referred to the improvised press conference the day before. The rescue team was occasionally accused of missing emotionality at the media round. “Many of your subsequent comments were disrespectful and you have no idea what is going on in all of us when we tell this story in front of the camera,” wrote Huber: “Should we have cry? I hardly had time to really process it.”

But that happens slowly. Huber also announced that it can now start a mountain tour himself to do what he likes to do. “Now I am happy to be able to be in the mountains for a long time from tomorrow, to decouple me from this world and finally cry,” wrote Huber.

New memorial in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

It is mourned in Dahlmeier’s hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a church. “Friends, neighbors, colleagues and former classmates” should be able to keep prayer there, wrote the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising on Facebook. According to the Archdiocese, Dahlmeier had gone to school in the Archbishop’s St. Idfargard-Gymnasium.

The memorial was therefore set up in the parish church of St. Martin. A photo of Dahlmeier, a candle and flowers were seen on the picture divided by the archbishopric. Upon request, the Garmischer Town Hall said that it has so far been reserved with plans for a memory of Dahlmeier – and would be “only contributed to the family at the request of the family,” said a spokeswoman.