The man, 37, is accused of leaving the 33-year-old woman "unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented"
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NEED TO KNOW
- A climber is set to go on trial this week for allegedly leaving his girlfriend alone on Austria’s highest mountain during an ascent attempt
- The woman, identified by local Austrian outlet, Kronen Zeitung, as Kerstin G, subsequently froze to death
- The man, identified by Kronen Zeitung as Thomas P, has been accused of negligent homicide by the local prosecutor’s office after leaving her, “unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented”
A mountaineer is set to go on trial this week after allegedly leaving his girlfriend alone on Austria's highest peak, where she froze to death.
The man, 37, has been accused of negligent homicide by the local prosecutor's office after allegedly leaving the 33-year-old woman around 164 feet below the summit of Grossglockner mountain "unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented" on Jan. 18, 2025, Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported, citing news agency Austria Presse Agentur (APA).
He's set to stand trial on Thursday, Feb. 19, according to the paper.
Per local outlets, including the Kronen Zeitung, the couple has been identified as Thomas P and Kerstin G.
The man was considered the tour's guide due to his experience, per Die Presse and the APA. However, the public prosecutor's office has claimed that he failed to take into account that his girlfriend had not completed an alpine high-altitude tour of that length before.
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Authorities also claimed that the hike started approximately two hours too late, the outlets reported. The man is accused of not carrying adequate bivouac equipment [temporary, minimalist shelter], and authorities claimed he didn't put his girlfriend in a sheltered spot or use a bivouac sack or emergency blankets when he left her at around 2 a.m. local time to seek help.
The man's girlfriend was also not wearing "suitable equipment" for the trek, according to the agency and paper, as she did the ascent in snowboard boots while using a splitboard [a specialist snowboard that splits into two].
As previously reported by PEOPLE, the pair's fatal climb had been caught on a local webcam, with footage being publicly available online. The camera captured the couple's headlights as they trekked up the mountain, setting off for the 12,460-foot peak using the Studlgrat route. Grossglockner is located in the Hohe Tauern range of the Eastern Alps
During the hike, temperatures dropped to sub-freezing, and the winds picked up to 45 miles per hour, PEOPLE previously stated.
Given the conditions, prosecutors have said that the couple should have turned back, accusing the man of failing to make an emergency call when it got dark, APA stated, per Die Presse. He allegedly failed to make any distress signals when a helicopter flew over at around 10:50 p.m., and the mountain police reportedly tried to contact the man several times.
The man eventually called the mountain police at 12:35 a.m. on Jan. 19; however, the conversation was unclear. Police claim he then silenced his phone and put it away, per the BBC.
KERSTIN JOENSSON / AFP) (Photo by KERSTIN JOENSSON/AFP via Getty
The defendant's lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, insisted his client asked for help at that stage and denied telling police that everything was fine, according to the BBC.
Jelinek insisted the man pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, and the public prosecutor's office said he'd denied any wrongdoing amid the investigation, per Die Presse and APA.
Jelinek also said in a statement that the couple had planned the tour together, according to the BBC.
"Both considered themselves… to be sufficiently experienced, adequately prepared, and well equipped," he said, according to the outlet, adding that both had "relevant Alpine experience" and were "in very good physical condition."
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The lawyer claimed his client and his girlfriend had been feeling fine, so hadn't called for help as they were close to the summit. However, he said the situation then changed dramatically, and to his client's "complete surprise," his girlfriend "suddenly showed increased signs of exhaustion," the BBC reported. By then, it was too late to turn back.
The woman was discovered by mountain rescuers on Jan. 19 shortly after 10 a.m. But, by that time, she was already deceased, per Die Presse and APA.
PEOPLE has reached out to Kurt Jelinek for comment, but didn't immediately receive a response.
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