The mountains were his life, which was also shown when he said goodbye to Benedikt Saller.
The mountain guide (28) from Oberau had a fatal accident while preparing a tour on the Glacier du Meitin in the Swiss Valais.
The rescue workers can only determine the death of the young Oberauer.
Benedikt Saller "never went to his limits, he was careful on the way," emphasizes his trainer.
Concern about the tragic accident is very great in the expedition team of the Alpine Club.
Oberau
- A special summit, a sunrise or simply climbing - that was what motivated Benedikt Saller.
From an early age, the man from Oberau was out on the mountain with his parents - on foot and on skis.
A passion was awakened that he made into a profession.
Only a fraction of a second - nobody knows exactly what happened - has now torn the 28-year-old from his life.
Tragic accident on a glacier in Valais: Young mountain guide plunges 300 meters into the depths
The accident happened on the Glacier du Meitin in Bourg-St-Pierre in Valais / Switzerland.
Saller, who was in charge of the preparation of the Big Triple project, slipped at the end of April at around 7.15 a.m. at an altitude of 3,400 meters and, according to the Valais cantonal police, fell around 300 meters.
The rescue workers could only determine his death.
The project - Dynafit manager Benedikt Böhm wanted to climb the three four-thousand-meter peaks Grand Combin, Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc on his own within 30 hours - was canceled after this tragic accident.
“My sympathy and my thoughts go to family and friends,” says Böhm.
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Benedikt Saller had a fatal accident in Valais.
© Silvan Metz / DAV
They said goodbye to their Beni on Monday with a big mountain fire on the Fricken.
“We know him as a passionate, enthusiastic, happy and incredibly warm person and, above all, a good friend,” emphasizes Matthias Baudrexl from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
“He has a place in our hearts forever and tears a big hole in our community.
But we believe that he will also accompany us in the air and on the mountain in the future and throw a mischievous laugh at us. "
Oberau: Big mountain fire to say goodbye to the Fricken - "Has a place in our hearts forever"
Words like these and the enormous encouragement from friends are good for Christine Saller and her family.
"We are grateful for that," says the mother of the victim.
"We were at peace with what her son did".
Of course there were concerns and worries, as Benedikt Saller once admitted.
But his parents were fully behind him.
In the family circle, they were open about the dangers that sport brings with it.
Farewell to Benedikt Saller: a cautious, highly competent mountain guide and climber
"He never went to his limits, he was careful on the way," emphasizes Patrick Jost. The owner of the mountain guide office Hindelang has known the Oberauer since the aptitude test for mountain guide training. That was in 2017. At that time, Saller was still part of the expedition team of the German Alpine Club (DAV). As a “careful, highly competent mountain guide and climber”, Dr. Wolfgang Wabel, Head of the Mountain Sports Division at DAV, remembered the casualties. "He was a mainstay in the team."
The master precision mechanic was a member of this from 2016 to 2018.
Years that Saller enjoyed.
"The summit and the time in Patagonia were a particularly good experience for me," he revealed on the homepage of the Alpine Club.
“We were just a great group of five friends and had an amazing time on the mountain and in the valley.
We invested a lot in advance and that we were so lucky with the weather was just amazing. ”The final tour on the 6543 meter high Shivling in the north Indian part of the Himalayas was one of the special moments for him.
After a fatal accident: Participants of the DAV expedition team deal with misfortune
Among the participants in the expedition squad, in which very good mountaineers gain experience and skills in order to then be active in various mountaineering disciplines, the sadness about Saller's death is great. "We are going to look into the whole thing further," emphasizes Wabel. Accidents like this are discussed, also to help alpinists with processing and to make them aware of the dangers on the mountain.
"Risk is part of mountain sports", Benedikt Saller once said.
“I always try to judge objectively and then make my decision, even if it's not always easy.” Jost confirms that he approached his undertakings - alone, with friends or with customers - extremely carefully.
“He was very enlightened for his age and has already reached a high level.” He was definitely not one who was looking for a kick or wanted to make a name for himself on social media.
“He didn't need that.” For Jost, who employed Saller as a mountain guide, the loss is “very bitter”.
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