It is always difficult to face such a definitive truth as the death of a person. But it does not help to close one’s eyes to it. According to human judgment, German mountaineer Laura Dahlmeier cannot have survived Monday’s mountain accident on the 6,096-meter-high Laila Peak in the Karakoram.
Two days later, the 31-year-old was declared dead and the rescue operation on the extremely steep and dangerous mountain was called off.
“Recovering the body is too risky and not feasible for the rescue team under the current difficult conditions with rockfalls and a change in weather on Laila Peak,” Laura Dahlmeier’s management informed. In the meantime, further details of the accident have also become known.
Hit by rockfall while abseiling
Laura’s German rope partner Marina Krauss told the German TV station Bayerischer Rundfunk that they had set off during the night to reach the summit. As conditions had deteriorated during the day, they turned back below the highest point. Then the accident happened at around 5,700 meters while Dahlmeier was rappelling.
“I saw a huge rock hit Laura and then she was thrown against the wall,” said Krauss, who was standing below her. Laura was hit on the head. “From that moment on, she didn’t move anymore. It was impossible for me to get there safely.” That’s why she made an emergency call, Krauss said: “She showed no signs of life. I called out to her, and there was no response.”
During the night, Krauss descended and reached base camp unharmed. She was also assisted by mountaineers who had rushed to her aid. Among them was German top climber Thomas Huber, the older of the well-know Huber brothers. He had been picked up by helicopter from the almost 7,000-meter-high Latok III to help with the rescue operation on Laila Peak.
Provision in the will
The following day, a military helicopter flew over the mountain. The pilots spotted Laura Dahlmeier but could not detect any signs of life, according to the management of the former world-class biathlete: “It was Laura Dahlmeier’s express and written wish that in a case like this, no one should risk their life to rescue her.” This is also in line with the wishes of her relatives, “who also expressly ask that Laura’s last wish be respected,” it said.
Whether the Pakistani authorities will do so remains to be seen. Some media report that they wanted to retrieve Dahlmeier’s body from the mountain as soon as conditions on Laila Peak allowed.
This would be in line with how such cases are now handled in Nepal. There, expedition teams are obliged to ensure that dead team members are brought down from the mountain. This is not only to enable families to bury their deceased loved ones. Images of corpses on the mountain, for example on the edge of the normal route up Everest, also damage the image of mountain tourism in Nepal.
Climate change also affects Laila Peak
The initially extremely dry and very warm summer had led to an increased risk of rockfall throughout the Karakoram. As a result, only a few commercial teams have successfully summited Pakistan’s five eight-thousanders so far, with none yet reaching the highest points of K2 and neighboring Broad Peak. Conditions were also problematic on Laila Peak.
German mountaineer Stefan Köhler hiked through the valley a few days before Dahlmeier’s accident. It had rained for many days even at altitudes above 5,500 meters, and at night it hardly froze, Stefan tells me.
“The wall on Laila Peak is largely free of snow. There was constant rockfall.” Comparing his photo of the mountain with the one I took a good 20 years ago, you can see how climate change has affected the mountain in the meantime.
Moments of maximum happiness
In the six years since the end of her great biathlon career, Laura Dahlmeier had developed into a top mountaineer. As a trained mountain guide, she was aware of the sometimes unpredictable risks involved in climbing extremely challenging mountains such as Laila Peak. She also knew this from her own experience: in 2022, her former partner Robert Grasegger died in an accident in Patagonia.
“I think it’s very important to think seriously about this; too much has already happened,” said Dahlmeier in a documentary of the German TV station ZDF. “When there’s another serious accident and it happens in your immediate surroundings, you ask yourself again: ‘Phew, how do I go on now?’”
Laura continued, living her passion for the mountains: “I accept everything if I can experience that moment of maximum happiness of being at the top. It just feels perfect.”
On Laila Peak, she was not granted this moment of happiness. Instead, fate struck mercilessly. “If we had been half an hour earlier, we would certainly have made it down,” said her rope partner Marina Krauss. Laura Dahlmeier was only 31 years old.
