• Thomas Plamberger faces up to three years in prison after his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner froze to death 50 meters below Austria's highest summit in January 2025
• Prosecutors say nine specific failures — from a late start to silencing his phone during rescue attempts — amount to grossly negligent homicide
• The defense and the victim's mother both call the death a tragic accident, arguing the couple made decisions together as equals

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA (TDR) — An Austrian court opened what legal experts are calling a potentially landmark Grossglockner death trial on Thursday, with experienced mountaineer Thomas Plamberger facing grossly negligent manslaughter charges after his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner froze to death alone near the summit of Austria's highest peak. The 33-year-old died of hypothermia in the early hours of Jan. 19, 2025, after Plamberger left her roughly 50 meters below the 3,798-meter summit cross to descend and seek help. She was found dead six and a half hours later.

The case at Innsbruck Regional Court has ignited fierce debate across the international mountaineering community over a deceptively simple question: when does a bad decision on a mountain become a crime?

The Prosecution's Nine Errors

The Innsbruck Public Prosecutor's Office built its case over an 11-month investigation that analyzed mobile phone data, fitness trackers, summit photographs and an alpine-technical assessment. Prosecutors designated Plamberger — who they describe as considerably more experienced than Gurtner — the "responsible guide for the tour" and allege a cascade of nine critical failures that directly caused her death.

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"At approximately 2am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50m below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death." — Innsbruck Public Prosecutor's Office statement

Among the alleged errors: the couple departed two hours too late for a realistic winter summit-and-return on the technically demanding Stüdlgrat Ridge route. Plamberger allowed Gurtner to use a splitboard and soft snowboard boots — equipment prosecutors called "unsuitable for a high-alpine tour in mixed terrain." He carried no emergency bivouac gear. And critically, despite the pair becoming effectively stranded by 8:50 p.m., Plamberger allegedly made no emergency call and failed to signal a police helicopter that flew directly overhead at approximately 10:50 p.m.

"Despite the woman's inexperience — she 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." — Innsbruck Public Prosecutor's Office

The timeline prosecutors present is particularly damning. After the helicopter passed, Alpine Police attempted to reach Plamberger multiple times. He finally returned a call at 12:35 a.m., but the conversation was described as "unclear." Prosecutors allege he then placed his phone on silent and made no further contact until 3:30 a.m., when he reported from lower on the mountain that he had left Gurtner behind. Rescuers could not reach her through the storm. When they arrived the following morning, she was dead.

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Gurtner had been left in temperatures of -8°C with windchill driving conditions to -20°C, wearing inadequate footwear, without her bivouac sack or emergency blankets deployed, and with her heavy backpack and splitboard still strapped to her body. If convicted of grossly negligent homicide, Plamberger faces up to three years in prison.

The Defense: A Tragic Accident, Not a Crime

Plamberger's attorney Kurt Jelinek has mounted a vigorous challenge to the prosecution's narrative, calling Gurtner's death a "tragic accident" and disputing key elements of the timeline.

"My client is deeply saddened by the death of his partner. He wishes to express his profound condolences, especially to the family of the deceased." — Kurt Jelinek, defense attorney

The defense argues the couple planned the expedition together as equals, that Gurtner was properly equipped and capable, and that difficulties only materialized suddenly near the summit. Jelinek maintains that Plamberger did contact police and did not ignore subsequent calls from officers, directly contradicting the prosecution's account of the critical phone exchanges. According to the defense, Plamberger left Gurtner "by mutual agreement" after the pair concluded together that his descending alone to the Erzherzog Johann Hut to find other climbers represented their best chance of survival.

Perhaps the most striking voice defending Plamberger belongs not to his legal team but to the victim's own mother. Gertraud Gurtner told German outlet Die Zeit that the prosecution fundamentally mischaracterizes her daughter.

"It makes me angry that Kerstin is being portrayed as a naïve little thing who let herself be dragged up the mountain. I think it's unfair how Kerstin's boyfriend is being treated. There's a witch hunt against him in the media and online. The two of them always made their decisions together." — Gertraud Gurtner, Kerstin Gurtner's mother, speaking to Die Zeit

Her intervention complicates the prosecution's framing. If the victim's own family rejects the characterization of Gurtner as an inexperienced follower led into danger, the court must weigh whether the state's duty-of-care framework reflects reality — or imposes a legal fiction on two adults who chose risk together.

Why Mountaineers Are Watching

Veteran alpine guides have weighed in with perspectives that land on both sides. Damian Benegas, an IFMGA-certified guide with more than 30 years of expedition experience, told Climbing magazine that leaving a partner to retrieve help is not uncommon — carrying the full weight of an unresponsive person down technical terrain is often physically impossible.

"The real mistakes began the day before. The mistakes began when he decided to take her to climb this mountain, in winter, on this technical route." — Damian Benegas, IFMGA guide, speaking to Climbing magazine

That distinction — between the decision to attempt the climb at all and the decisions made during the crisis — sits at the heart of the legal question. Austrian law requires proof that Plamberger's conduct deviated significantly from what a reasonably prudent mountaineer would have done in similar conditions. The prosecution argues the deviation was extreme. The defense argues the mountain made every option dangerous.

Austria's Der Standard newspaper has noted that a guilty verdict could represent a "paradigm shift for mountain sports" — potentially establishing that experienced climbers bear criminal liability for companions when skill levels differ, even outside professional guide-client relationships. That prospect has drawn attention from alpine clubs and outdoor recreation organizations across Europe who fear the ruling could chill informal climbing partnerships.

Webcam footage from the Grossglockner captured two headlamps ascending together on the evening of Jan. 18, 2025. Hours later, a single light descended alone. The court must now determine whether that descent was the act of a man trying to save his partner — or the final error in a chain that killed her.

If an experienced climber faces prison for a partner's death on a voluntary expedition, where does shared risk end and criminal negligence begin — and who decides that line, the courts or the mountains?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from ITV News' coverage of the trial opening, Global News' reporting on the charges, Climbing magazine's detailed investigation, ExplorersWeb's analysis of the indictment, LADbible's reporting on the nine alleged errors, Yahoo News' trial preview, The Telegraph's interview with the victim's mother via Yahoo, The English Chronicle's legal analysis, Kursiv Media's reporting on conditions, and Lawyer Monthly's legal assessment.

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