A man charged with manslaughter has been accused of making ‘nine errors’ in the lead up to his girlfriend ‘freezing to death’ on Austria’s highest mountain.
Kerstin Gurtner went up the 12,460ft mountain with her boyfriend Thomas Plamberger on 18 January 2024 in freezing -20C conditions.
The 33-year-old from Salzburg – who called herself a ‘winter child’ and a ‘mountain person’ on social media – was just 150ft from the summit when her legs gave out from exhaustion at 9:50pm.
By 2.00am, Plamberger decided to go and ask for help by making his way back down the mountain.
It took five hours for a helicopter to be deployed before it was called back due to bad weather.
Hours later, a rescue team was sent up the Grossglockner and found that she had died from extreme cold in the six and a half hours since Plamberger left her.
Kerstin Gurtner’s boyfriend Thomas Plamberger has been charged with manslaughter (Kerstin Gurtner)
The mountaineer, who’s been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, has denied the allegations and said he left his girlfriend ‘by mutual agreement’ and that her death was a ‘tragic, fateful accident’.
“I miss you so much. It hurts so incredibly much,” he wrote on his now-deleted social media page, according to Bild.
“Forever in my heart. Without you, time is meaningless.”
Prosecutors have since alleged that Plamberger made nine mistakes in the lead-up to Gurtner’s death, including:
• Starting the hike two hours late
• Not carrying enough emergency equipment
• Letting his girlfriend wear non-adequate footwear ‘unsuitable for a high-alpine tour in mixed terrain’
Prosecutors say Kerstin Gurtner was left on the mountain ‘defenceless, exhausted, hypothermic and disorientated’ (Kerstin Gurtner)
• Waiting too long to turn back
• Not making an emergency call before midnight
• Making no attempt to flag down a police helicopter, which flew across the mountain at 10:50pm
• Not answering his phone
• Not sheltering his girlfriend when her legs gave way
The prosecution claim Kerstin’s boyfriend took too long to head down to ask for help (foto-webcam.eu)
If found guilty, he faces up to three years in prison, as prosecutors argued: “At approximately 2.00am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 metres below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death.
“Since the defendant, unlike his girlfriend, was already very experienced with alpine high-altitude tours and had planned the tour, he was to be considered the responsible guide of the tour.
“Despite the woman’s inexperience – she had never undertaken an alpine high-altitude tour of this length, difficulty, and altitude.
“And despite the challenging winter conditions, the defendant undertook the alpine high-altitude tour to the Grossglockner via the Stüdlgrat with her in winter.”
Plamberger’s trial will take place inside a courtroom in Innsbruck next February.
