Austrian mountaineer charged with letting girlfriend freeze to death on mountain
An Austrian woman died of hypothermia on a mountainside in January while her boyfriend went for help. Now he has been charged with negligent manslaughter.
What should have been an adventurous climbing trip resulted in a true nightmare for an Austrian couple.
The trip ended with 33-year-old woman Kerstin Gurtner freezing to death 50 meters from the top of Austria’s highest mountain.
Now her boyfriend, an experienced mountaineer, has been charged with negligent manslaughter.
This is reported by several media outlets, including the Austrian media outlet Österreichischer Rundfunk.
The man denies any guilt and believes it was a tragic accident.
Due to the outcome of the accident, the case has made headlines in several media outlets, including both Austrian and international ones such as The Telegraph.
It was on January 18th of this year that Austrian Kerstin Gurtner and her 39-year-old boyfriend set out to climb the country’s highest mountain, Grossglockner.
According to Norwegian media outlet VG, the couple reportedly began their climb two hours later than planned. Despite harsh weather conditions, they continued towards the almost 3,800-meter peak.
The couple were only about 50 meters from the top when Kerstin Gurtner collapsed from exhaustion at around 8:50 p.m.
She said she couldn’t go any further, The Telegraph reports.
Her boyfriend decided to leave her to go down the mountain and seek help.
He ended up being gone for more than six hours.
Meanwhile, she died in the cold from hypothermia – a life-threatening condition in which the body’s temperature drops, which in severe cases can cause cardiac arrest.
According to several media outlets, the temperature on the mountain was well below freezing, and a strong wind made the already harsh weather conditions even harsher.
A local surveillance camera captured the drama as it unfolded.
In pictures, you can see the light from the couple’s flashlights in the distance. The flashlights are clearly visible as they first climb towards the summit around 6 p.m.
In the next photo, taken about six hours later, only a small glimmer of light is visible as the lights are about to go out.
A third surveillance image, according to The Telegraph and VG, shows the boyfriend’s flashlight as he crosses the top of the mountain in an attempt to get down to the other side and find help.
The next morning at around 7:00 a.m., a helicopter was deployed to try to find Kerstin Gurtner. However, the mission had to be canceled due to strong gusts of wind.
Three hours later, a rescue team was sent up the mountain, and when it arrived, the 33-year-old woman was dead.
Because the boyfriend is an experienced mountaineer, he is accused by the Austrian prosecutor’s office of a number of “gross errors” in connection with Kerstin Gurtner’s death.
The 39-year-old man is accused, among other things, of not having brought emergency equipment that could have kept his girlfriend warm, and of not having made an emergency call in time.
