The conviction of an amateur climber for gross negligent manslaughter after he left his girlfriend on Austria’s highest peak, where she froze to death, has divided the international climbing community over personal responsibility in risky activities.
Thomas Plamberger, 39, was given a five-month suspended sentence and fined after Kerstin Gurtner died of hypothermia on the Grossglockner mountain in January 2025.
The verdict sparked a debate over the point at which personal judgment and risk-taking become a criminal matter and whether experienced climbers have a legal duty of care for their less experienced partners.
Plamberger, a professional chef, was accused of a series of errors, including setting off too late, not turning back when Gurtner, 33, became exhausted near the summit and not making an emergency call earlier. He pleaded not guilty, but was unable to explain why he left Gurtner to seek help without wrapping her in her emergency blanket or bivouac bag. Rescuers discovered her frozen body several hours later.
The judge, Norbert Hofer, an experienced mountaineer who serves with emergency rescue teams, decided Plamberger had not “wilfully” left his girlfriend behind, but his verdict hinged on the comparative experience of both climbers.
He said Plamberger’s skills were “galaxies” away from Gurtner’s and he could have almost certainly saved her had he taken “appropriate measures”.
“If you had acted differently, I strongly assume that your partner would have survived,” Hofer told him.
The Innsbruck court also heard shocking testimony from one of Plamberger’s previous girlfriends, Andrea Bergener, who claimed he abandoned her at night after an argument on the same mountain in 2023.
“Suddenly, he was gone,” she said. “My headlamp had gone out. I was alone, crying and screaming. He just left me there.”
Gurtner’s mother, Gertraud, said her daughter was an experienced climber and she did not blame Plamberger for her death.
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However, in a message to Plamberger before the climb, Gurtner admitted that it would be a challenge. “I completely lack experience when it comes to winter tours,” she wrote.
In the climbing community, opinions were divided about the wider consequences of the judgment.
“What is concerning is the suggestion that the most experienced person is deemed to carry the legal responsibility. That doesn’t reflect how most climbing partnerships work,” wrote one contributor to the UKClimbing website.
Another wrote: “Experience is not a universal layer that covers all aspects equally. I may consider myself experienced, but there are many things that I have not encountered.”
Victor Saunders, a British mountain guide in the French Alpine town of Chamonix for more than 25 years, said Plamberger was “obviously irresponsible, an idiot”.
“People tend to be insanely optimistic and don’t work out what could go wrong and what they will do if it does,” said Saunders. “In extreme situations, people often don’t make good decisions.”
He added: “A guiding principle is to consider these things before you go up the mountain, and if you have doubts about making a decision, to ask yourself if you’ll be able to explain it to friends, family, close ones, afterwards.”
Dominic Oughton, president of the British Mountaineering Council, told BBC Radio 4 the judgment should encourage people to “think more clearly” before setting out, but added: “It would be very sad if it led to people not passing on skills and not passing on adventures.”
“People with more experience do take others out to learn the ropes and this is one of the more magical things about our activities.”
Plamberger’s lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, said it was a “tragic accident” and his client would consider an appeal.
Photograph taken from Instagram