In the dead of a January night, somewhere near the frozen roof of Austria, a young woman screamed into the darkness for her boyfriend to save himself and leave her behind. Those words — “Go, now go!” — would be the last she ever spoke to him. And now, more than a year later, they sit at the center of one of the most emotionally charged criminal trials in recent Austrian memory.
Thomas Plamberger, 39, is standing before a court in Innsbruck, charged with gross negligent manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner, 33. The charge stems from the events of January 19, 2025, when Gurtner died approximately 150 feet below the 12,460-foot summit of the Grossglockner — Austria’s highest peak and one of the most demanding climbs in the Alps.
A Night on the Mountain
According to prosecutors, the couple had been climbing through the night when Gurtner began to struggle. At around 2am, Plamberger says he stayed with her for roughly an hour and a half before she urged him to leave and get help. He says he then descended alone — and did not return for six and a half hours.
The temperatures that night were brutal. The mercury had fallen to -8°C, and windchill drove the effective temperature to a bone-stripping -20°C. Gurtner, prosecutors allege, was left without a bivouac sleeping bag, without aluminum foil emergency blankets, and without being moved to a more sheltered position away from the wind.
Senior Public Prosecutor Hansjörg Mayr laid it out plainly for the court: Plamberger left his girlfriend “defenceless, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented” just 50 meters below Grossglockner’s summit cross. “The woman froze to death,” Mayr stated. “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.”
Rescue teams reached Gurtner the following morning. It was too late.
A Trial of Contradictions
Plamberger has pleaded not guilty. His legal team, led by attorney Kurt Jelinek, maintains that he and Kerstin reached a mutual agreement for him to descend and seek help — and that her death was a “tragic, fateful accident” rather than the result of negligence.
But the inconsistencies in his account have drawn scrutiny. Judge Norbert Hofer noted that Plamberger’s version of events was “inconsistent.” Prosecutors allege that an alpine police helicopter flew directly over the pair — and Plamberger made no effort to signal it. They also claim that when emergency services attempted to reach him by phone, he did not answer.
Plamberger’s lawyers counter that the couple were managing the climb reasonably well when the helicopter passed, and that he simply didn’t feel his phone vibrate.
Police also noted that Gurtner had been wearing soft snow boots — footwear considered inadequate for a climb of that difficulty and altitude. Plamberger described his own mountaineering skills as “self-taught.”
A Mother’s Defense
In one of the most unexpected twists of the case, Kerstin Gurtner’s own mother has spoken out — not against Plamberger, but in defense of him.
Speaking to German newspaper Die Zeit, she pushed back forcefully against the narrative that has taken shape in the media. “It makes me angry that Kerstin is being portrayed as a stupid little thing,” she said. “Kerstin was in top physical condition. And she had already mastered far more difficult climbing tours, both alone and with her boyfriend.”
She added: “I think it’s unfair how Kerstin’s boyfriend is being treated. There’s a witch hunt against him in the media and online.”
Her words have done little to slow the public debate that has erupted around this case — a debate that touches on the responsibilities of more experienced climbers toward their partners, the limits of “mutual agreement” in life-or-death situations, and what it truly means to abandon someone on a mountain.
What the Court Must Decide
At the heart of the case is a question with no easy answer: when does leaving someone behind in a survival situation cross the line from a tragic decision into criminal negligence?
Plamberger says he and Kerstin had been happy together and were even planning to move in together. He says she told him to go. He says he did the only thing he could.
Prosecutors say that as the more experienced climber who planned the expedition, he bore a duty of care — and that he failed it catastrophically.
The trial is ongoing. The Grossglockner, indifferent as ever to human affairs, continues to stand watch over the Austrian Alps.