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

According to Pinksalmon upthread a member of the rescue team testified in court that he had taken a new gf up there pretrial. Whether the claims online that he also posted pics of them on the mountain on socials before wising up and deleting them is true, I don’t know.

Yes, I've tried to look it up, but I can't find anything about it, annoyingly. My search efforts might be hampered by the fact that so many of the articles are in German, but I've come up empty.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this case comes up again in a couple of years when it happens again, though. Whether he intended to kill her or not, he's clearly very dangerous as a climbing partner.

"He took a new GF up there pretrial".

He took her up? She must have known his history by then, it's a famous case worldwide never mind in Austria where climbing is a national passtime.

She had a choice, they went up together.

Yes imdunfer you’re right - he went up the mountain with a new gf pretrial. Perhaps she’d been up it as many as 15 times like he had.

I don't think cosimarama meant he dragged an unwitting woman up the mountain against her will.

I imagine it's being used more along the lines of, 'her boyfriend took her out to dinner'.

You're probably right. I'm just fed up with women all over the place being constantly written about as poor weak creatures who are so easily coercible, falling apart because of the menopause, incapable of taking risky decisions themselves just for the thrill of it, incapable of realising when something that is obviously risky is risky, etc, etc, etc.

I know some people have been badly affected by some of these things, and I do feel for them, but it seems we jump to a "poor weak woman suffering under the patriarchy" explanation first these days.

I understand your frustration - women are absolutely capable of agency, in both positive ways, and negative ways.

To be fair, women are physically weaker and more vulnerable though, and that comes into play within romantic relationships, especially in an high-intensity, dangerous situations such as climbing a mountain.

And considering that from the beginning of human history, up until within my grandmother's lifetime, society has ensured that women were little more than the property of men! I think that the socially ingrained power that men can often wield over women as a result of that millennia-long oppression should be recognised as a potential factor.

Really though, Kerstin could've been the most risk-taking, determined, thrill-seeking woman out there, and Thomas - as the more experienced climber - should still have made different choices that day.

He's used this as a loophole for getting away with murder.

I'm even more convinced from the discussion and evidence that he intended for her to die, and this was entirely planned.

Horrific.

I can't but feel this is the plot for a book which has 'the perfect murder' before Columbo or Poirot turns up and ruins it.

Except it's real.

Already written! " Killing Me Softly" by Nicci French.

I'd forgotten that book - really good read, must dig it out for a reread.

I love Nicci French but can never remember which ones I've read. I don't recognise that plot though so think I will give it a go too.

Yes, can confirm I wasn’t suggesting ‘took new gf’ meant he dragged or took anyone against their will. As otterly suggested it was along the lines of took to dinner, a slip based on an assumption that because he’d scaled the mountain 15 times before (therefore he knows it very well) and two of his known previous gfs he climbed with being less experienced than him. Not on anyone being poor, weak creatures.

Same when you say “easily coercible” I don’t think anyone has suggested he persuaded her to do the climb when she wasn’t keen. I can easily imagine he told her how many times he’d done it and she said she’d love to try and he said let’s do it and she was game. That doesn’t change what he did once they were up there.

As I previously said, I believe he went for strong, capable, sporty women. I think he may have enjoyed leading and having power over them in his particular area of expertise. And in an isolated area he could punish transgressions (arguments, signs of slowing/illness) by leaving them if he wanted to, as if to say, go on then you’re so capable, do it yourself. As per the gf he left feeling ill with no headlight and Kerstin with injuries. Just my suspicion.

Yes, I have to say I got quite invested in this case after seeing this thread, and my admittedly amateur research into it makes me think that he might be the sort of man who gets off on leading confident women into situations where he 'strips' them of their power.

So, charming and lovely at first, but then feeling the need to cut them down - by sabotaging them, pushing them beyond their limits, getting angry at them and making them feel small and weak, before leaving them distraught and frightened and making him feel powerful.

If that's so, then I think in this case he pushed her too far (or perhaps her viral infection made her fail even faster than he expected) and he either left her there to die, not wanting to risk her telling authorities about the dangerous way he'd behaved that night, or she slipped and fell, and he was unable to pull her back up, and again, left her there to die.

It's all just idle speculation of course, but based on his inconsistencies around what happened that night, and how he claims to have left her versus how her body was found, it seems as though while I'd believe he didn't ascend the mountain intending to murder her, that is how he descended it. Having deliberately left her to die.

As I said above, I wouldn't be surprised if, in a year or so, this happens again.

If any accident with a female partner on a winter tour happens again within three years he'd be breaking his suspended sentence. As it's only 5 months in prison he might think it's worth it.

Can anyone else imagine wanting to climb that mountain again, after such a traumatic experience? I certainly can’t, let alone with another intimate partner if that is indeed true.

It’s important to remember we weren’t there, and most of us aren’t following the trial in our native language, and aren’t mountaineers so our speculation is quite flimsy.

But I wouldn’t go up a mountain with him!

Also it's not a given that all women would know who he was and what he did. He could meet someone be dating and they could agree to go on a trek together.

Different country, different laws obviously, but it is a shame that he still remains anonymous. His face is blurred out and his name hasn't been reported by some media. This means the chances of him doing something similar to another woman is high because there won't be awareness of who he is. He has been let off very, very lightly in my opinion.

What we know:

He pleaded not guilty so didn't think he was in any way culpable for the manslaughter by gross negligence.

I know I would be wrecked with guilt.

If he had no ill intent, if he genuinely cared for his partner and made all his catastrophic decisions in good faith, surely he'd be unable to sleep at night.

But no. He said it wasn't is fault, at all.

The fact he took zero responsibility says a lot about him.

If I was lead climber, who climbed it several times, I would have abandoned it. Risk assessment is crucial and it's certainly not tick boxing. Ensure safety at all times.

I have in my teens and 20s climbed difficult mountains. I have turned back on occasions. I wouldn't climb in winter because I'm not that experienced (or stupid). I always check weather conditions even with gentle gradient walks on hills, which at 65 is all I do now. I can run down hills, and I love doing that, plus sand dunes.

Sadly I agree. At the very, very least, he made bad decisions that cost her her life. I find it very difficult to believe there isn't intent here.

How many times have you heard of the rescue helicopter being sent out BEFORE it was called for?

Thinking about the dynamic of the decisions, and her agency…
She was with someone she trusted, and who had more experience and knowledge than her. Someone who’d done it before.

If she’d decided to turn back when he felt they should go on, it would have seemed like an expression of mistrust. It would have put pressure on the relationship.

I mean, yes, she’d be alive and she of course absolutely should have turned around. It would have been quite a hard call to make for a lot of women though. Particularly if their partner was the kind of guy this is- competitive, driven…

I imagine some of the climbers who did turn round wish they’d pushed her to join them.

I'm sorry, Thomas DID NOT climb up the same mountain a few months after the incident with a new girlfriend. He did climb up the same mountain, went to the same hut and talked to the manager who also rescued/retrieved Kerstin's frozen body. I'm sorry, I misread the Kronen Zeitung's livestream posts.

Whatever pushed Kerstin to carry on is her agency.

There's many a person who observes partners on a route and sees a discrepancy within the dynamic of partners, especially that the usually male lead, he's always ahead, is encouraging to carry on - as in are you okay? With ropes you can instinctively feel if someone is struggling or stressed. That's a time to pause and call it a day.

It's the lack of equipment checks and food before starting out, plus the check on weather conditions deteriorating that's alarming about this. Especially for the lead. Ignoring the rescue attempts is unforgivable.

He was rightly judged as being guilty of her manslaughter by gross negligence.