Climber convicted of manslaughter after leaving girlfriend on Austria’s highest peak to get help | Austria
An Austrian court found a 37-year-old amateur mountaineer guilty of manslaughter after his girlfriend died near Austria’s highest peak after he left her alone to call for help when she was unable to continue.
This situation is unusual because although climbing accidents are common, investigations into them are rare.
The court in the western city of Innsbruck gave the Austrian man a five-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 9,400 euros ($11,100) for causing his death through gross negligence in January 2025; This crime was a crime punishable by a maximum of three years in prison.
The trial raised questions about the scope of legal liability in the high mountains, an inherently dangerous environment that climbers often explore at their own risk.
The court heard the 33-year-old woman was exhausted and unable to continue after reaching nearly 50 meters below the summit of the Grossglockner mountain on a freezing winter night, after a day’s climb that was far behind schedule.
The defendant, identified as Thomas P, exposed his girlfriend, Kerstin G, to high winds to call for help from a mountain shelter, without wrapping her in an emergency blanket or camping bag for reasons he could not fully explain. The equipment remained in the backpack.
When asked why, he told the court the situation was particularly stressful.
A quick call to the mountain police did not trigger the call as the police did not make it clear that they needed rescuing and did not respond to callbacks or WhatsApp messages asking if they needed help. The defendant said his phone was put on airplane mode to save battery.
Prosecutors called his ex-girlfriend as a witness, who testified that they climbed Grossglockner together in 2023 and that he left her alone at night crying when his headlamp battery died after an argument about the route.
The presiding judge, Norbert Hofer, himself an experienced climber, decided that the defendant should have realized that Kerstin G could not adequately complete the climb without encountering difficulties.
“I don’t see you as a murderer. I don’t see you as a hard-hearted person,” Hofer said to Thomas P, who read the verdict, and acknowledged that he had indeed gone to get help.
But he added that the defendant was a better climber than his girlfriend in terms of “galaxies” and that he had given himself over to her care.
“What I want to say is that I’m very sorry,” the defendant, who pleaded not guilty, said early Thursday.
