An Austrian court has found a 37-year-old aspiring mountaineer guilty of manslaughter over the death of his girlfriend near Austria’s highest peak, leaving her to fend for help when she couldn’t go.
The case is unusual because climbing accidents are so common that investigations into them are rare.
A court in the western city of Innsbruck handed the Austrian man a five-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €9,400 ($11,100) for causing her death by gross negligence in January 2025, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
The trial raises questions about the scope of legal liability in the high mountains, an inherently dangerous environment that mountaineers typically explore at their own risk.
After a day of climbing in which they were far behind schedule, the 33-year-old woman was exhausted and unable to go, after they reached the summit of the Grossglockner mountain 50 meters below the freezing winter night, the court heard.
The defendant, identified as Thomas P, exposed his girlfriend Kerstin G to strong winds without wrapping her in her emergency blanket or makeshift bag for reasons he could not fully explain while seeking help at a shelter on the mountain. The equipment was in her rucksack.
When asked why, he told the court that the situation was particularly stressful.
A short call to the mountain police did not initiate a search, as the police did not make it clear that they needed rescue and he failed to answer calls or WhatsApp messages asking for help. The suspect said his phone was on airplane mode to save battery.
Prosecutors called his ex-girlfriend as a witness, who said they also climbed the Grossglockner together in 2023 and that he left her alone at night after an argument on the route, crying as her headlamp battery ran out.
The presiding judge, Norbert Hofer, himself an experienced mountaineer, ruled that the defendant should have realized that Kerstin G would not be able to complete the climb well before he got into trouble.
“I don’t see you as a murderer. I don’t see you at heart,” Hofer told Thomas P as he read his verdict, admitting he had indeed gone for help.
However, he said the defendant was a better climber than his girlfriend by “galaxies” and she put herself under his care.
“All I want to say is, I’m terribly sorry,” the defendant, who pleaded guilty, said earlier Thursday.
