This is the first picture of a mountaineer who froze to death on Austria’s highest peak after being allegedly ‘abandoned’ by her boyfriend during a night-time ascent in brutal sub-zero conditions.
Kerstin Gurtner, 33, died just 150ft below the summit of the 12,460ft Grossglockner in January last year as temperatures plunged to minus 20C.
Her climbing partner and boyfriend, Thomas Plamberger, 39, now faces a charge of negligent homicide after prosecutors concluded he left her ‘exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented’ in the dark while he descended alone.
Haunting mountain webcam images show the glow of two head torches edging towards the summit shortly after 6pm before, hours later, only one light is seen moving away.
Rescue teams were unable to reach Ms Gurtner until the following morning due to hurricane-force winds, when she was found dead beneath the summit cross.
Kerstin’s social media profile is illustrated with dozens of images of her and Plamberger climbing and hiking and she described herself as a ‘winter child’ and ‘mountain person’.
The tragedy happened on January 19, and officials have been investigating the circumstances of the last 11 months with prosecutors in Innsbruck deciding to charge him with manslaughter by gross negligence.
Plamberger is an experienced mountaineer and also posts regularly, but prosecutors say the couple were ‘ill equipped’ and ‘failed to call for help’ and that he ‘turned away’ and left her.
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Kerstin Gurtner, 33, died just 150ft below the summit of the 12,460ft Grossglockner last January as temperatures plunged to minus 20C
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Her climbing partner and boyfriend, Thomas Plamberger, 39, now faces a charge of negligent homicide after prosecutors concluded he left her ‘exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented’ in the dark while he descended alone
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Kerstin’s social media profile is illustrated with dozens of images of her and Plamberger climbing and hiking, and she described herself as a ‘winter child’ and ‘mountain person’
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Webcam images shared in local media clearly shows the emergency lights of the two alpinists during their ascent glowing at 6pm on January 18
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Just six hours later, the lights dimmed as Kerstin’s strength gave out
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An image captured at around 2.30am showed Plamberger allegedly pushing on alone to the other side of Grossglockner amid claims he left his partner in freezing conditions
As part of their probe investigators examined the couple’s mobile phones, sports watches and laptops for photographs the couple had taken as they made their way to the summit, and concluded Plamberger made several errors.
They highlighted how the couple were poorly equipped – Kerstin was wearing snowboard soft boots instead of proper hiking footwear – and officials say her boyfriend ‘turned away’ despite a helicopter flying low over the area.
Through his lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, Plamberger has denied the allegations and insisted he turned away to get help and it was simply a ‘tragic, fateful accident’.
In a statement Innsbruck prosecutor’s office said: ‘At approximately 2am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50m below the summit cross of the Grossglockner.
‘The woman froze to death. Since the defendant, unlike his girlfriend, was already very experienced with alpine high-altitude tours and had planned the tour, he was to be considered the responsible guide of the tour.’
They added he did not take into account that his girlfriend was highly inexperienced and had never undertaken an alpine high-altitude tour of this length.
He was also accused of starting the tour around two hours later than scheduled, while not carrying any sufficient emergency equipment.
Even when he had left his partner to get help, he apparently did not bring her to a wind-protected place and did not use a bivouac sack or aluminium rescue blankets.
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Kerstin’s boyfriend, Thomas Plamberger, 39, now faces a charge of negligent homicide
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At 7.10am webcam footage captured a helicopter soaring over the mountain, but the rescue mission had to be aborted due to strong winds
Given the harsh weather conditions with wind speeds of up to 46mph and temperatures of minus eight degrees – which felt like minus 20 degrees when combined – the defendant should have turned back earlier, according to the public prosecutor.
Despite the severity of his girlfriend’s situation, the man has also been accused of failing to make an emergency call before nightfall.
The defendant and his girlfriend were stranded from around 8.50pm. He allegedly did give any distress signals when a police helicopter flew over at 10.50pm.
After several attempts by the Alpine Police to contact the boyfriend, he finally spoke to an officer at around 00.35am.
Although the content of the conversation remained unclear, the defendant did not contact the rescue services again following the conversation.
He had put his phone on silent and put it away, and therefore did not receive any further calls from the Alpine police and at 3:30am he then decided to notify the rescue services, after having left the woman alone.
A helicopter rescue could not be carried out at dawn due to strong winds, but shortly after 10.00am, the mountain rescuers reached the victim where they found her already dead.
Webcam images have now emerged showing the lights of the two climbers glowing at around 6pm as they were climbing up on January 18.
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Just under three hours later, six rescuers were seen during their ascent, but Kerstin was tragically dead upon their arrival
The time stamp six hours later shows the intensity of the lights had faded as the batteries gave way and she is thought to have tragically died a short while later.
An image time stamped at 2.30am showed Plamberger pushing on alone to descend to the other side of the Grossglockner.
A funeral notice for Kerstin posted online last January read: ‘Our lives are in God’s hands; if it is His will, then do not grieve for me. But remember me with love.’
Plamberger’s trial is due to begin in February and if convicted he could be jailed for up to three years.
