Mountaineer Jackson Marvell reports on the first unsuccessful rescue attempt of the deceased German.
A recovery of the fatally deceased Laura Dahlmeier still does not appear to be ruled out. “The recovery of Laura’s body will be possible, but it is associated with incredible risks both on foot and with a helicopter,” American mountaineer Jackson Marvell told the news agency AFP on location in Pakistan.
Marvell, along with German Thomas Huber, experienced mountaineer and expedition leader Alan Rousseau from France, and Tad McRea from the USA, had been involved in the first unsuccessful rescue attempt of the crashed Dahlmeier on Laila Peak.
The mountain, Marvell continued, has “changed considerably in the last 48 hours, there are significant rockfalls every day. And even with a long line on a helicopter, there are still many rocks falling down the wall.”
“She is no longer alive”
He and Rousseau had “flown around the mountain in a helicopter. I discovered her body. And I observed that there were no signs of life. She was no longer alive,” Marvell recounted.
Previously, he and Rousseau had received a call “that two women had had an accident on Laila Peak. When we then met Thomas and Tad, we found out who they were.”
Dahlmeier was hit by a rockfall on Laila Peak in Pakistan at around 5700 m. Her management confirmed her death on Wednesday. Her rope partner was able to save herself.
What makes a helicopter recovery so difficult
Previously, Swiss Kari Kobler, former expedition leader and mountaineering legend, explained from afar in an interview with Blick what makes a recovery so difficult, even with a helicopter.
“A helicopter landing is simply impossible there,” he said, pointing out that only military helicopters are used in Pakistan – these are specialized in transport and not intended for rescue purposes.
Therefore, a so-called long-line rescue, as is common in the Alps, is not feasible at all. “The pilots do not risk their lives and often cannot, because they do not have the necessary training,” Kobler explains: “The systems, the training – and also the infrastructure – are missing.”
A recovery has not been possible so far. Dahlmeier’s management announced on Wednesday that it had been Dahlmeier’s express and written will that in a case like this, “no one should risk their life to recover her. Her wish was to leave her body on the mountain in this case.”
The recovery is “associated with too high a risk for the rescue forces under the currently prevailing difficult conditions with rockfall and a change in the weather on Laila Peak and is not feasible,” the agency Nine&One had also announced.