More than a year after a 33-year-old woman froze to death on Austria’s highest mountain, her boyfriend goes on trial on Thursday accused of gross negligent manslaughter.
Kerstin G died of hypothermia on a mountain climbing trip to the Grossglockner that went horribly wrong. Her boyfriend is accused of leaving her unprotected and exhausted close to the summit in stormy conditions in the early hours of 19 January 2025, while he went to get help.
The trial has sparked interest and debate, not just in Austria but in mountain climbing communities far beyond its borders.
What is weird is the phone in silent and him not trying to contact for help. Mobile coverage maps shows that this area is under coverage. From a personal experience, when It’s really cold I usually put on every piece of clothes I can once I stop moving. Even get in my sleeping bag if necessary.
I’d be curious to hear the other side of the story. The phone on silence is what “police allege”, and mobile coverage maps are often exaggerated for marketing, not to mention being in a big storm could affect service.
It’s possible his phone was not working, and he kept going until he got service.
Look, I don’t live in Austria, I live in Switzerland, but I’m pretty sure it’s similar in our neighbour. The coverage might be true, there aren’t actually a lot of places without basic coverage, keep in mind we are both much smaller counties than the US for example. Him not noticing calls seems to me the more likely (good-faith) reason.
Yeah in altitude I rarely had no coverage. I’m usually offline when you’re between mountains deep in a valley. Also even I that usually don’t go much more than 1400m altitude I have a garmin GPS with the inreach thing with the sos button. It’s because I usually go alone. So just in case
That’s a tough call. Sounds to me that it was reckless to climb the mountain under those conditions but both decided to go ahead. Nevertheless, the reaction of the accused to the emergency is bad. Calling the police and then putting his phone on silent makes little sense. Leaving her to “get help” is of course futile.
Arguably the extreme weather could have altered his mind and he made irrational decisions because of hypoxia. But you take responsibility of the actions you take after you chose to drink alcohol, so I presume atleast to some extent for known and consistent conditions that should have been accounted for you take responsibility for the potential altered mind state.
Yes, I think it’s important to consider how extreme the situation was. You mentioned the external conditions. It’s also fair to say that it’s difficult to do the right thing in an emergency of this magnitude. We know he handled it badly but we’re not freezing on a mountain at midnight with our exhausted girlfriend.
Ye olde question is : did he recently take out a life insurance policy on her?
Snowboard boots…for winter mountain climbing. Scarpa, Mammut, Lowa, etc…Prosecute the dumbfuck.
I misread it as Australia’s highest mountain. Was thinking it would be a bit awkward when you can still see her from the car park…
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