Woman Left By Boyfriend To Freeze On Austrian Mountain Identified

A woman who froze to death after being abandoned by her boyfriend on Austria’s 12,640ft Grossglockner Mountain has been identified as 33-year-old Kerstin Gurtner.

Thomas Plamberger, 39, faces a manslaughter charge after leaving Kerstin alone for nearly 7 hours in -20C temperatures, as he went to get help.

A manslaughter charge might sound a bit harsh, but when you look at the list of f-ck-ups that her ‘experienced’ mountaineer boyfriend made, things start to get a little bit suspicious. Here’s a rundown:

– Undertook the challenging, high-altitude winter climb with his novice girlfriend, who had never done a tour of that length and difficulty before.

– Started the ascent two hours later than originally planned.

– Allowed his girlfriend to wear soft snowboard boots, which are considered unsuitable for the mixed terrain of the high-alpine tour.

– Ignored weather warnings; including wind speeds up to 46 mph and temperatures that felt like minus 20°C with wind chill.

– Did not carry sufficient emergency bivouac equipment, such as a bivvy bag, and failed to use the emergency blankets he did have.

– Failed to move his girlfriend to a sheltered spot or wrap her in the emergency blankets, leaving her unprotected and exposed to the wind.

– The couple became stranded around 8:50 p.m., but he did not call emergency services until 12:35 a.m. (some sources say 3:30 a.m.)

The next three points are where is gets really suspicious though…

– Did not give a distress signal when a police helicopter flew over their location at 10:50 p.m.

– After finally speaking to an officer around 12:35 a.m., Plamberger put his phone on silent and stowed it away, missing several subsequent calls from the Alpine Police.

– He left his girlfriend alone for nearly seven hours to descend the mountain for help, an action that prosecutors say contributed to her death from exposure.

And so, manslaughter by gross negligence does begin to make sense when you look at all the factors that led to Kerstin Gurtner freezing to death. As prosecutors said, Plamberger was an experienced climber and thus ‘the responsible guide of the tour’, but still managed to leave his girlfriend ‘unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented’. Why on Earth wouldn’t you cover her in a blanket? Why would you put your phone on silent when expecting calls from the Alpine Police?

In a statement Innsbruck prosecutor’s office said: ‘At approximately 2am, 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.’