Man left his girlfriend to freeze to death

[Trevordidit]

Man left his girlfriend to freeze when she was struggling on a mountain hike.

He's been found guilty of manslaughter.

So many aspects of his account don't make sense - AIBU to wonder if he did it on purpose?

News article

No worries.

I personally think it's unlikely he'd have been prosecuted IF he'd done all or some of the right things once things started going wrong - even if the outcome for his girlfriend had still sadly been the same.

People climbing with friends make misjudgements about their technical skill, fitness, equipment and the weather conditions all the time and sometimes they pay for it with tragic outcomes. Unfortunately that is part of adventure sport and I'm not sure we should automatically prosecute people for lack of caution.

But there's enough "weird" detail about what happened once they were up the mountain to make me think it's probably the right verdict, given there's no suggestion he was hypothermic and judgement impaired. At the very least there will be enough of a cloud hanging over him that no women will want to climb with him again. That is probably the best result for women's safety

@GasperyJacquesRoberts If I'm stood at the top of a high waterfall and someone falls in to the river, should I be prosecuted if I don't jump in to try to save them? Does it make a difference if the person in the water is my girlfriend and I suggested we go there? I don't know. It's a difficult ethical question.

That isn't equivalent.

In this case, Plamberger suggested the climb, was far more experienced, didn't refuse to go when Kerstin had unsuitable equipment, apparently didn't know she had a bivy sack (so hadn't prepared for emergencies), went on the climb despite starting out late, continued on the climb despite the weather turning nasty, waved off a helicopter, told an alpine officer they were fine at a point when they urgently needed help, and then left her behind in an exposed, uncovered, vulnerable position, not calling for help until an hour and a half later.

There were many, many points that he, as the more experienced of the two, should have said, 'this is unsafe, I'm not going/I'm turning back', but he didn't. We don't know whether he pressured her to go on, or was angry with her and abandoned her like he did his ex-girlfriend, but whatever happened, he had multiple clear opportunities to prevent her death and didn't take any of them.

from The Guardian's article:
"Thomas P said he had himself been suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion at that time, suggesting an impairment in his ability to judge the situation.
He told the court he had secured his girlfriend to a rock with a sling. He had intended to lie down next to her, but said she had screamed at him: “Go now, go!” He said in doing so she had “saved my life”.
Hofer said he found this version of events “hard to believe”."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/austria-climber-convicted-manslaughter-girlfriend-kerstin-g-grossglockner-mountain

I don't know, with everything I've read so far from @placemats and @niwtdaaam and the news articles, extremely windy and chilly weather + injured climbing partner + falling behind the climbing plan = i would have called it off when the helicopter arrived. (I would like to think that most people would too) Hypothetically speaking, if Kerstin survived, how did Thomas expect her to snowboard down? Her hip was injured, she didn't have food aside from gummy bears and tea that froze solid.

I still don't think it's likely that he ascended the mountain with intent to murder her...but his behaviour, from preparations for the climb and the equipment and supplies they took, to the decisions he made on the mountain, are just so bizarrely irresponsible and negligent that it's hard to think he had even an ounce of concern for her life.

I've never climbed anything in my life save for trees, but I feel I would prepare better and ensure everyone's safety more thoroughly than he did, with all his knowledge. I mean, some gummy bears and tea?? Setting out so late? Not throwing in the towel and calling for help hours earlier? It's unbelievable.

Where they actually planning on snowboarding down in the dark and what time did they set off? It sounds like absolutely madness and I am inclined to think it sounds deliberately harmful.

They set off at circa 6:50 AM. IIRC according to @niwtdaaam Austrian news said they planned on snowboarding down (and had used their split boards to climb up). That's why she was in soft snowboarding boots. Possibly yes, they planned to snowboard down to the valley in the dark or most optimistically in late afternoon. A quick Google/Gemini search says it takes 1.5-2 days to climb Grossglockner but experienced climbers can do it in one long day. This tour company's itinerary has the ascent timed at 2-3 hours on day 1 and 5-6 hours on day two with an overnight at a hut so that may be an optimistic estimate since climbers will have been well rested and fed.
www.kofler-sport.si/en/mountain-guiding/guided-mountaineering-ascents-abroad/grossglockner-over-normal-route-or-studlgrat-ridge/

Interestingly, looking at the web cam photos of the mountain that night, it seems like they made very little progress between 7.30 pm and 10 pm, and didn't move at all between 9 pm and 10 pm - and then the lighting is such that I can't make out their lights until I see him over the summit at 2.30 am, and coming down the mountain further at 3 am.

So I'm not sure how them seemingly moving very little, and then not at all for an hour, fits in with him genuinely not believing they were in trouble at 10.50 pm when the helicopter flew over. I also find his claims about the phone call at 12.35 am to be suspicious - you would think he would've taken steps to hunker down with her in a sheltered spot with emergency blankets etc and called the emergency services back to impress upon them how urgent the situation was.

This post has important info to check back on

It’s the second girlfriend he ditched on the same peak.

This is also not all that accurate: She only started climbing mountains in 2020. She was well into adulthood before she partook in this "cultural norm." Her mother in her letter to the court said she was a mountain runner and conquered many more challenging mountains than this. Mountain running is very different than winter climbing. In the Guardian article, Thomas/his defence said he was on equal footing with her skill wise because he only learned climbing from watching [youtube? tiktok?] videos.

But OK, let's also blame her. She does seem responsible for some bit in this mess. She had pneumonia and yet went through with the climb. She didn't bring enough food or drink. She didn't turn back at Fruhstuckplatz when she knew they were running behind schedule, she was feeling poorly, the crampons he lent her didn't fit properly. and or try to call 140 emergency rescue again. Everything up til the helicopter rescue can be blamed on her too. But everything after the helicopter rescue are on him.

To be fair, because she's dead, we don't know that she didn't try to call mountain rescue, got the number wrong, and then he took her phone off her because he didn't want to turn back.

We don't know that he wasn't the one to text her mother reassurance instead of her.

We don't know that she didn't want to turn back - she may have wanted to but felt unable to without his help, and he refused, wanting to continue on, forcing her to do so too.

We also don't know that she felt poorly when they set off - that might have only hit during the climb, when it was too late.

We also don't know that she even had the strength or presence of mind to signal the helicopter at that point.

All we have is his word for what happened, as she's dead, and he's hardly going to paint himself in a bad light!!

I cannot believe he's only been given a 5 month suspended sentence and a fine.

In the BBC article it says prosecutors claimed they ran in to trouble at 20:50 Then it shows a photo of them both still on the move at 9.
Her parents said she was an experienced mountaineer who climbed more dangerous peaks.
The police who took the call said that “Thomas said they were fine or “words to that effect” doesn’t seem they had much evidence that he deliberately led her to her death. I’m surprised it even got to court.

Fuck the trolley problem @GasperyJacquesRoberts he had phone reception and battery the whole time, emergency services called and texted him asking if they needed help, he inexplicably ignored them all. He had ample opportunity (more than 3 hours) to save her life at no cost to his own, meanwhile the flask of tea froze solid as he left his girlfriend without the blanket or bivouac. She naturally froze to death, this was totally forseeable and preventable. Criminal. Not philosophical.

See this list of his failures to act as well:
https://www.justiz.gv.at/sta-innsbruck/staatsanwaltschaft-innsbruck/medienstelle/pressemitteilungen/tod-einer-bergsteigerin-am-grossglockner-am-19-1-2025.11a2.de.html www.justiz.gv.at/sta-innsbruck/staatsanwaltschaft-innsbruck/medienstelle/pressemitteilungen/tod-einer-bergsteigerin-am-grossglockner-am-19-1-2025.11a2.de.html]]]]
What a failure of a human being the is.

I’ve read a bbc news article on this and I’m confused. Yes if a person is in trouble the other person/people have a responsibility to seek help but is it manslaughter if the person dies? If they chose to to climb a mountain (or similar) wearing what they choose with the level of preparation/ experience they have are they not responsible for their own actions?
if he had died instead would she have been responsible? If they were friends not in a relationship would he have still been responsible?

We can never know, but I'd speculate that she undertook a climb she was too ill for, poorly equipped, to appease her angry boyfriend.

Or that sky diving one where he tampered with the kit.

Yes. You can be held liable for someone's death by things you do and things you don't do. Acts or Omissions can create criminal liability.

The fact that he did it to another girlfriend before and she's alive and well to testify against him in court now is all the more reason why he would think it was OK to do it again.

Thanks that's a great summary. I have shared screenshots for those who don't like clicking links

I've been looking up splitboard snowboarding boots.

They are designed to be walked in in snow and ice and with crampons and the highest rated are designed for mountaineering.

Hers weren't good enough but I can see why both might think they were.

I'm really curious at the people who apologists for his behaviour. Particularly those who claim some knowledge or experience in alpine sports.

If his version of events is right he didn't believe they were setting off with any kind of emergency shelter or food. That's staggering in itself.

He was also fully able to make an emergency call and yet didn't

Those two facts alone are deeply concerning and not what I would expect of someone who is taking reasonable care.

Just to make it clear, I agree with the verdict, just not the accusations of planned murder, coercion, control and "angry boyfriend" and her own total lack of responsibility that many posters are fantasising with no facts to back them up.