The father of ex-biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, who died in a mountain accident, can now find comfort in the failed recovery of her body. “I think Laura would have wanted to find peace in the mountains,” said Andreas Dahlmeier to “Sport Bild”. “Laura is buried where she was happy and felt free.”
The two-time Olympic biathlon champion and seven-time world champion died in July at the age of 31 in a climbing accident on Laila Peak in Pakistan. The trained mountain guide probably died immediately after being hit in the head by a falling rock.
Despite an extensive relief effort and a second search, which included the Bavarian extreme climber Thomas Huber, her body could not be recovered. She was presumably buried under fallen stones.
A grave in a cemetery would not have suited her
“Maybe she wanted it that way,” Dahlmeier told “Sport Bild” almost five months after the accident. “I imagine if Laura were lying in a grave in a cemetery and people came by all day long – she would look up and think: My goodness, someone is here again. Give me some peace!”
According to Dahlmeier, his daughter had decided exactly what her funeral service should look like during her lifetime. “She said only those she liked should come. Those she didn’t like shouldn’t come. She was straightforward there too.”
Laura also chose the pieces of music herself. At the celebration in August, a modified version of the Oberreintal song was sung with guitar and accordion accompaniment. The hearty lyric that appears in the chorus, “Hei mi suck your ass!” is a common exclamation of relief among local mountaineers when a difficult passage has been mastered or the summit has been climbed.
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