A man was accused of gross negligence homicide after he allegedly left his girlfriend alone on Austria’s highest mountain, where she later died.
Thomas Plamberger, 36, tried to climb the summit of the Großglockner with his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner, 33, on January 19th when she suffered from hypothermia and exhaustion, according to the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office.
“Around 2 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 public prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
Plamberger is “already very experienced with alpine high-altitude tours and has planned the hour” and he is considered “the responsible guide for the tour,” according to the press release.
The Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office accused Plamberger of “several mistakes”, including “the woman’s inexperience” and “challenging winter conditions”.
“Despite the inexperience of the woman, who had never undertaken an alpine high tour of this length, difficulty and altitude, and despite the challenging winter conditions, the defendant undertook the alpine high tour with her to the Großglockner over the Stüdlgrat in winter,” according to the prosecution.
Plamberger is also accused of starting the climb “two hours 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, using equipment unsuitable for a high alpine tour in mixed terrain,” the office added.
Another mistake that the public prosecutor’s office accuses Plamberger of is not going back in time.
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“In view of the strong to stormy winds with wind speeds of up to 74 km/h and the temperature of around minus 8 degrees, which, taking the ‘wind chill’ effect into account, leads to a feeling of cold of around minus 20 degrees, the defendant should have turned back at the so-called ‘breakfast place’ at the latest,” the prosecutors added.
Plamberger failed to make an emergency call in time before nightfall and did not send distress signals to the helicopter, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
“Although the defendant and his girlfriend were effectively unable to continue their journey from around 8:50 p.m., he did not make an emergency call and did not emit any emergency signals when a police helicopter flew over at around 10:50 p.m.,” the press release continues.
After several attempts by Alpine police to contact Plamberger, he finally called an officer at 12:35 a.m., prosecutors said.
“Although the content of the conversation remained unclear, the defendant did not contact the emergency services again. He had put his phone on silent and put it away and therefore received no further calls from the Alpine Police,” they added.
Plamberger is also accused of “failure to provide care for his girlfriend” after he “failed to move his girlfriend to a sheltered location to protect her from heat loss.”
“Before leaving his girlfriend at approximately 2 a.m., he did not use her bivvy bag or the available emergency blankets to protect her from further hypothermia, nor did he remove her heavy backpack and splitboard,” prosecutors said.
The Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office announced that as part of the investigation, a forensic medical report was obtained and cell phones, the sports watch recordings of Gurtner and Plamberger, photos, videos and an alpine technical report were evaluated.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the offense of grossly negligent manslaughter is punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years.
Plamberger issued a written statement during the investigation in which he denied any wrongdoing.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, he also paid tribute to his late friend Gurtner, claiming that her death “hurts so incredibly.”
“I miss you so much. It hurts so much. Forever in my heart. Without you, time is meaningless,” he wrote. according to the Independent.
Plamberger is scheduled to go on trial in February at the Innsbruck regional court.
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