An Austrian mountaineer is to appear in court accused of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend died of hypothermia when he left her close to the summit on a climb that went dramatically wrong.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old woman, identified only as Kerstin G, froze to death on 19 January 2025, about 50 metres below the summit of the Gro\u00dfglockner, Austria\u2019s tallest mountain, after an ascent of more than 17 hours with her boyfriend, Thomas P, 36.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors argue that Thomas P\u2019s alleged poor judgment and willingness as the more experienced climber to take risks make him criminally liable for her death, in a case that could have implications for mountain sports and which has prompted debate in Austria and beyond.<\/p>\n
If found guilty, Thomas P could spend three years in prison.<\/p>\n
The couple had set out on the morning of 18 January but conditions deteriorated, leaving them struggling in darkness against a temperature that fell to almost -9C, a wind chill of -20C, and gusts of up to 45mph, the court in Innsbruck will hear when the trial opens on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Webcam footage shows the couple still climbing at 21:00 on 18 January. Photograph: foto-webcam.eu<\/p>\n
Thomas P left Kerstin G at about 2am in a state of exhaustion and unprotected when he descended the mountain to fetch help.<\/p>\n
He denies manslaughter. His lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, called Kerstin G\u2019s death \u201ca tragic accident\u201d.<\/p>\n
The senior public prosecutor Hansj\u00f6rg Mayr and his team are citing the legal concept of the \u201ctour guide acting as a courtesy\u201d in the case, which designates the person with more experience and knowledge and the key decision-maker as having most responsibility.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors therefore accuse Thomas P of failing in his responsibility as the more experienced climber, listing nine major errors. These include forging ahead with the climb despite the fact Kirsten G had \u201cnever undertaken an Alpine tour of this length, difficulty and altitude and despite the challenging weather conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
The couple had started out two hours later than advised and had not been sufficiently equipped with emergency bivouac equipment, the prosecutors said. Neither had Thomas P advised Kerstin G that the snowboard boots she was wearing were inadequate for the terrain.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also allege Thomas P was negligent in failing to turn back and question why, despite his partner\u2019s exhaustion, he failed to make an emergency call before nightfall and did not send distress signals to a passing rescue helicopter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround 2am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented approximately 50 metres below the summit cross of the Gro\u00dfglockner,\u201d Mayr said.<\/p>\n
Jelinek disputes the prosecutor\u2019s version, saying the couple had organised the tour together, and were \u201csufficiently experienced, adequately prepared and well-equipped\u201d, with \u201crelevant Alpine experience\u201d and \u201cin very good physical condition\u201d.<\/p>\n
More than 7,000 people climb the 3,798-metre-high (12,461ft) Gro\u00dfglockner every year. About 200 deaths of mountaineers have been recorded there, but none has attracted as much attention as that of Kerstin G.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Gertraud G, who is due to give evidence, has said she does not hold Thomas P responsible for her daughter\u2019s death and has spoken of a \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d against him.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview with the German weekly Die Zeit, Gertraud G said she was upset at the way in which her daughter, who she said had discovered her passion for mountain climbing during the pandemic, had been depicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me angry that Kerstin is being portrayed as a stupid little thing,\u201d she said. \u201cKerstin was in top physical condition. And she had already mastered far more difficult climbing tours, both alone and with her boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Austrian mountaineer is to appear in court accused of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend died of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-432818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}