Mountain rescue service: Dahlmeier remains at the top

Andreas Dahlmeier remains on duty at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue service.

The members elected him by a large majority.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Eight years.

He's definitely not going to do it any longer.

That's what Andreas Dahlmeier thought when he started.

Now the eight years are over - and it will probably be twelve.

Because at the annual meeting of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue service, the members re-elected him as the standby leader.

62 had come to the Bayernhalle, 59 voted for the 54-year-old, 3 against.

Dahlmeier did not really hesitate or doubt whether he should stay at the top.

He has been trained, has experience, and no one has offered to take on the position instead - so he continues to work and is happy to do it.

But he is already making it clear: This period should be used to build a successor.

Because after that, he says, it's definitely over.

After all, this task demands a lot.

Take responsibility, for example.

With 114 active members, around 1000 working hours in a normal year, numerous buildings, a sizeable fleet of vehicles and full-time employees, “you run a small, medium-sized company”.

Peter Anzenberger new vice

In addition, the office demands time, lots of free time. This also applies to the other positions on the board - and is one reason why two members no longer stood for election: Thomas Müller is leaving after eight years as deputy on-call manager, Axel Miller as treasurer. Christina Huber succeeds him and Peter Anzenberger was elected as the new vice-president.

There was no friction, no stress. Dahlmeier expressly emphasizes this. For private reasons, the two decided to quit. Müller takes care of his mother in need of care, his son has just started school. He just doesn't have the time to fill out the office the way he wants to: 100 percent. “It was an intense and wonderful eight years,” says the 53-year-old, who once again emphasizes the camaraderie and this “super bunch” with whom he also worked at the World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He worked there as a mountain rescue coordinator for ten years, and in February he also retired there (we reported). Miller takes over his job at the ski races. In terms of time, he can no longer shoulder a further commitment on the Board of Readiness.But both of the mountain rescue teams remain as operations leaders. As such, like the other members, they will continue to be challenged. Especially when things return to normal.

Corona leaves its mark on the statistics - but different from what some outsiders expected. Some had feared an enormous burden for the mountain rescuers after significantly more "alpine tourists", as they like to be called, poured into the region. In summer the hikers, in winter the ski tourers. But the people of Garmisch-Partenkirchen can look back on a quiet year. Which is mainly due to the winter.

The mountain or ski guard performs hundreds of missions while the ski is in operation.

However, due to the pandemic, this ended prematurely in March 2020 and did not even start in the 2020/21 season. The total number of missions fell from 994 in 2019 to 744 in 2020 - a decrease of 25 percent, as Managing Director Anton Gehringer explained.

The focus remained on the winter: 509 injured skiers, snowboarders and tobogganers were cared for (see box for more figures).

Over 20 new mountain rescue service candidates

The pandemic posed challenges for the mountain rescue service. Be it in the handling of the assignments with the FFP2 mask or in the training and further education. These continued to run, says Dahlmeier. But "clearly shrunk" and increasingly outdoors. Last but not least, a matter of course suddenly became a real task: to promote and maintain camaraderie without personal meetings. This point also affects the junior staff, who should experience from the start what distinguishes the mountain rescue service. But Dahlmeier doesn't have to worry about this area: More than 20 new applicants have registered who want to get involved with the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue service.

Miller described according to the press release - the media had not been invited to the meeting - of a stable situation.

Investments were made in important areas.

The willingness to build a garage for a tank trailer for around 15,000 euros, which the district subsidized.

Because everyone can use it as soon as a helicopter needs emergency refueling.

In addition, a new electronic locking system was installed for all buildings and service huts for around 13,000 euros.

Even if there is always something to be done, there is always something to be done: Larger projects, says Dahlmeier on-call manager, are currently not planned for the next four years.

Except, possibly, to find a successor for his post.