“You should continue to discuss it”
Messner questions Dahlmeier’s last wish
Updated on August 15th, 2025 – 6:13 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Mountaineer legend Reinhold Messner questioned the last wish of the fatally crashed Laura Dahlmeier. He demands a new discussion.
The fatally crashed biathlete Laura Dahlmeier († 31) had stipulated in a written document before her last downhill agency that she did not want rescue measures in an emergency – out of consideration for other lives. For Reinhold Messner, this wish is understandable, but not final.
video | Laura Dahlmeier is dead – recordings show her risky climbing parts
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In the program “Phoenix Personal” (broadcast: Sunday, August 17, 2025, 11.30 a.m.), the 80-year-old extreme mountaineer expresses himself understanding about Dahlmeier’s attitude: “The decision to leave a document in which she says that in the event of an emergency I do not want to be saved because others could be in danger, I find that understandable.”
At the same time, Messner makes it clear that such decisions can mean a great burden for survivors. In particular, the thought that a loved one lives back on the mountain is hard to bear for many: “The idea that the body remains on the mountain is a difficult tolerable moment for the relatives.”
Messner draws a clear conclusion from this area of tension between personal desire and family responsibility: “That is why I think that you should continue to discuss it.” In an emergency, in an emergency, not only the wishes of the accident person, but also the perspectives of the relatives should be taken into account. In particular, parents should have a say in such exceptional situations.
Messner also talks about the risks that go hand in accordance with the style of mountaineering chosen by Dahlmeier. He describes this form of alpinism as particularly demanding: “Mountaineering means: It is the immediate argument between man and nature. And this discussion has the potential to fatal.” If you do not accept this, you should choose secure forms of climbing.
Messner also addresses that mountaineers often pay a high price for their passion – not least in their social environment: “After we follow our passion quite openly, we egoists, our relatives, are towards our relatives. And if we do not see it, we don’t know what we do. I stand by it.”
In another interview, Messner at RTL also spoke about the rope partner Dahlmeier. For them, according to his assessment, the experienced would represent a “lifelong burden”.