Laura Dahlmeier: Many comments after her death “disrespectful”

The German mountaineer and extreme climber Thomas Huber belonged to the team of the rescue campaign after Laura Dahlmeier’s salvage. The former world-class biathlete died on Monday at a height of 5700 meters in the Pakistani Karakorum Mountains when she was hit by a rockfall. This was confirmed by her management on Wednesday. “I think my first tears will only flow back in the mountains at the top, where Laura was so happy,” said Huber. “Only then can I really understand what happened.”

The mountaineer continued that he had already lost many friends on the mountain. “Of course you ask yourself the question: Is it worth it? Is it worth taking this risk? But when I came back from the mountain, I suddenly had a thought that felt like a quiet smile from Laura. She consciously lived every single second of her life.” The athlete is a role model for “living life with all my heart – with everything that is in you”.

The 58-year-old will also search for healing in the mountains and go back there, he told the newspaper. For Laura Dahlmeier’s rope partner Marina Krauss, who survived the accident, it will be more difficult, “because she then has to go back to home, stand up to everyday life. But I hope that slowly will come to rest, that everyone can understand what happened.”

Thomas Huber also let the people share his feelings and also expressed critical words there on Friday after the team “after a long consideration” held a press conference. “We tried to clearly formulate everything experienced, to find words, to describe everything and to leave the emotional thunderstorm out in us,” he said. “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. Should we have crying? I hardly had time to really process it.”

When trying to rescue and finding Dahlmeier, the team rationally weighed what the next steps could be. “These are the moments when every emotion must become aside and the clear mind can be the only maxim,” wrote Huber. Only when he went out of the mountains did he have been able to think about a lot. He didn’t believe it “that all of this is true”.

“But then the second wave came in Skardu and the press knew no boundaries. Now I am glad to be able to be in the mountains for a long time from tomorrow, to decouple me from this world and finally cry.” He hoped that everyone will now get the time to process it well. “And I knew Laura so well that it would be his meaning that it finally stops. Please be respectful.”

From Saturday Huber emphasized again: “Everything is now said and I’m happy to finally find the time to work up everything. Tad and I are now making my way back to the base camp, I’m offline and get in touch at the latest in September at the latest.”

After the tragic death of the former world-class biathlete, compassion from all sides is great. The people also mourn Dahlmeier’s hometown in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and a memorial was set up in the Sankt Martin church. The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising said on Thursday that “friends, neighbors, colleagues and former classmates can keep prayer.

It is not clear whether there will be a public funeral service in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Dahlmeier, since the family should still be given space and time. There may not be a burial in your home country. According to her management, it was Dahlmeier’s express and written will to leave her body behind on the mountain if others had to risk their lives through the rescue. This is also in the sense of the relatives, who also expressly ask to respect Laura’s last wish. Pakistani authorities, however, had announced that the body was recovered if the weather enables safe access to the scene of the accident.