The experienced climber who allegedly abandoned his girlfriend to freeze at the top of Austria’s highest peak posted—and later deleted—a tribute to her just days after her body was recovered.
Thomas Plamberger was charged last week with grossly negligent manslaughter following a months-long investigation into the tragedy that claimed the life of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner.
Highlights
- Experienced climber Thomas Plamberger was charged with grossly negligent manslaughter after leaving his girlfriend to freeze near Austria’s highest peak.
- Plamberger is accused of leaving Kerstin Gurtner about 160 feet from the Grossglockner summit in -17°F temperatures.
- Plamberger posted and then deleted a heartfelt tribute to Gurtner shortly after her body was recovered on the mountain.
Plamberger, an experienced mountaineer, is accused of leaving Kerstin behind approximately 160 feet (50 m) from the summit of Grossglockner mountain when she struggled to continue on January 19.
The experienced climber accused of abandoning his girlfriend on the Grossglockner posted a tribute after her body was recovered
He reportedly called Alpine police officers at 1:35 a.m. and left about 30 minutes later in search of help.
At 2:30 a.m., he was captured on a mountain trail camera descending from the peak alone, while his girlfriend remained stranded with -17°F (-27 °C) temperatures and winds of up to 45 mph.
The following day, rescuers found Gurtner’s frozen body.
According to German newspaper Bild, Plamberger posted a tribute for Gurtner on Instagram that he later deleted.
“I miss you so much. It hurts so incredibly much,” he wrote shortly after the tragedy. “Forever in my heart. Without you, time is meaningless.”
The 36-year-old also co-signed the obituary written by Gurtner’s parents.
Investigators say Thomas Plamberger left Kerstin Gurtner roughly 160 feet below the peak before descending the mountain alone
The couple became stranded before 9 p.m, but Plamberger did not make an emergency call or give off any distress signals when they spotted a police helicopter flying nearby two hours later, as per local outlet Heute. Instead, he waited hours before calling Alpine police officers and eventually left on his own.
“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 d*ath,” read a statement from the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office.
