Man charged with manslaughter after girlfriend freezes to death on Austrian mountain

Thomas Plamberger and his girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner, were attempting to scale Austria's tallest mountain in the middle of winter, despite her inexperience.

A man has been charged with grossly negligent manslaughter after allegedly leaving his girlfriend alone on Austria’s tallest mountain, where she later died.

Thomas Plamberger, 36, was attempting to scale the peak of Grossglockner with his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner, 33, on Jan. 19 when she began suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion, according to the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office.

“At approximately 2:00 a.m., the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 meters below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death,” the prosecutor’s office said in a press release.

Plamberger was “already very experienced with alpine high-altitude tours and had planned the hour” and he was “regarded as the responsible guide of the tour,” according to the press release.

The Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office accused Plamberger of “several errors,” including “the woman’s inexperience” and “challenging winter conditions.”

“Despite the woman’s inexperience, who 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,” the prosecutors said.

Plamberger is also accused of starting the climb “two hours too late as part of the tour planning” and of not carrying “sufficient emergency bivouac equipment.”

“The defendant allowed his girlfriend to use a splitboard and snowboard soft boots, thus using equipment unsuitable for a high-alpine tour in mixed terrain,” the office added.