An Austrian mountaineer has received a suspended five-month prison sentence for grossly negligent manslaughter after leaving his girlfriend to freeze to death near the summit of Grossglockner, the country's highest mountain.
The court in Innsbruck found the 39-year-old man, identified in reports as Thomas Plamberger or Thomas P., guilty over the January 2025 death of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner. He was given a five-month prison term, suspended, and ordered to pay a fine of 9,600 euros, equivalent to about 11,000 U.S. dollars.
Prosecutors said the couple had climbed Grossglockner in winter conditions when they became stuck close to the 3,798‑meter summit, and Gurtner grew exhausted and hypothermic. A mountain webcam allegedly captured images of the pair stranded about 50 meters below the peak before showing Plamberger descending alone, according to People.
Investigators said Plamberger, an experienced amateur mountaineer who planned the tour, left his girlfriend "unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented" on the exposed ridge around 2 a.m. while he went to seek help. They said he failed to properly shelter her or use emergency equipment, and allowed her to climb with unsuitable boots and a splitboard despite her limited high‑altitude experience.
Rescuers reached Gurtner on foot later that morning after poor weather kept helicopters away, but she had already died from the cold. Prosecutors argued that because Plamberger was far more experienced and had organized the climb, he had a higher duty of care and effectively acted as her guide, Global News reported.
During the trial, the court also heard about an earlier alleged incident involving a previous girlfriend. According to prosecutors, the woman testified that Plamberger once abandoned her during a difficult mountain hike after she complained about the strain of the tour, leading to a "heated argument." She survived the earlier hike, but the exact date of that event was not clear, and Plamberger denied her account.
Plamberger told the court he did not act with criminal intent and claimed Gurtner had urged him to go on alone to get help when her condition worsened. Gurtner's family, in a letter read out by his lawyer, said they did not blame him and believed their daughter accepted the risks of such climbs.
The suspended sentence means he will avoid jail time if he does not reoffend during the probation period, but the conviction will stay on his record and may influence future legal standards for mountaineering accidents in the Alps, as per RNZ.
