“It was determined that a helicopter rescue is not possible,” Areeb Ahmed Mukhtar, a senior local official in Ghanche district, where the more than 6000m mountain is located, told AFP earlier on Wednesday.
“The conditions at the altitude where she was injured are extremely challenging,” he added.
Shipton Trek & Tours Pakistan, which organised the expedition, confirmed the ground rescue by a team of four that includes three Americans and a German mountaineer.
Dahlmeier was “hit by falling rocks,” her team said on Tuesday, adding no one had yet been able to reach her because of the danger of further rockfalls and the site’s “remoteness”.
Muhammad Ali, a local disaster management official, told AFP that weather conditions have been “extremely harsh” in the region for the past week, with rain, strong winds and thick clouds.
Dahlmeier, an experienced mountaineer, had been in the region since the end of June and had already ascended the Great Trango Tower.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued a statement on Wednesday calling Dahlmeier “an ambassador for our country around the world (and) a role model for peaceful, joyful, and fair co-existence across borders”.
She won seven world championship gold medals, and at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang she became the first female biathlete to win both the sprint and the pursuit at the same Games.
Dahlmeier retired from professional competition in 2019 at the age of 25.
She went on to become a commentator on biathlon events for German broadcaster ZDF, and also took up mountaineering.
She was a certified mountain and ski guide and an active member of the mountain rescue, according to her team.
