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

I think it is really offensive to her memory to blame her death on her poor choices.

Do I think he deliberately took her up there knowing she’d struggle and maybe die - no, there is nothing to suggest that at all.
I agree - it is a stretch to believe he intended for her to die from the outset.
It is possible, but we don't have the evidence.

But you cannot ignore the testimony of the former girlfriend - this is a selfish, cruel man who is happy to walk away in anger from a distressed girlfriend, leaving her in a dangerous situation.

If he deliberate ignored the police calls and waited until 3.30am to call for help, then yes he is at fault.

Wr don’t know all the facts around why she was wearing soft shoes, but the article makes clear ths he was the more experienced climber. So they may know more than what has been released.

I don't find those jokes funny but when 2 women a week are murdered by male partners and the numbers of men killed by female partners are so low that official statistics don't exist, the 'jokes' are not equivalent. Men do kill their female partners, in huge numbers, so a man 'joking' about a new way to do it is not actually a joke.

That makes a lot of sense if he didn’t want to pay for rescue. That would have been a powerful motivation not to get help for her even when he must have known she needed it

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/austria-climber-convicted-manslaughter-girlfriend-kerstin-g-grossglockner-mountain

"The presiding judge, Norbert Hofer, an experienced mountaineer, ruled that the defendant had been negligent in failing to recognise that Kerstin G would be unable to complete the climb well before the two ran into difficulty.

“I do not see you as a murderer. I do not see you as cold-hearted,” he told Thomas P while delivering the verdict, accepting that he had gone to fetch help.

However, he said that because the defendant was “galaxies” more proficient as a mountaineer than his girlfriend, and because she had placed herself in his care, he was bore responsibility for her death."

His negligence was failing to seek help when she was taken ill and failing to ensure she was as safe as possible before he left her. He didn't alert emergency services for 3 hours an after he left her. You seem to be missing key details from the case. Have you read the thread or articles?

I've tried to find it via search engine to no avail. Could you tell me the title?

I completely agree.

I think that’s why they’ve given him a suspended sentence as they feel there is no proof he did anything wrong and so prison is too much but there’s something a bit off and he probably should be held accountable in some way.

It does seem odd. The judge stated he does not believe it was a cold blooded act and the mother says she doesn't hold him responsible and that Kirsten was actually very experienced and had completed much more challenging climbs - said she condemns the 'witch hunt' and the way her daughter is being portrayed as a helpless little thing.

But even if he underestimated how cold she was (he was probably warmer as a man) it doesn't make sense that he didn't put the blanket around her and put her in her bivouac, both of which she had in her backpack.

This sort of adventure relies entirely on team work. One person's incompetence or poor decisions puts the other in danger; it works both ways.

Not just climbed it before, climbed it AND ABANDONED A WOMAN on it before.

Once is unlucky. Twice? Negligent homicide. Let’s hope no one gives him a third opportunity.

I’m not missing key details but some posters are overlooking the fact that he too was in the same conditions and likely suffering from similar effects as she was.

She couldn’t even get a blanket out of her bag to cover herself because the elements were that harsh.
Yet people are judging him for not doing enough when he was the one who managed to ring the mountain rescue and go and get help.

There is nothing to suggest that he felt he wasn’t doing the right thing.
He told her to stay put (with the blanket etc) whilst he went and got help - surely this is what most people would do considering she was suffering from exhaustion.

Should he have done things better - absolutely. I am not denying that.

But he was also suffering from the elements and tried to get help which is why the judge only gave him a 5 month suspended sentence.

He is not responsible for her shoes etc though.

I mean, tackling an ascent of that kind without insurance seems reckless- though I know nothing about it.

I wonder if the fine he had to pay for her death (£8,200) was less than he'd have had to pay for the emergency helicopter to rescue them both? It would be a horrible irony if it was. And might explain why he made the decisions he did.

I originally assumed he had left her to get help and had no choice but if he was in fact able to communicate to emergency services via telephone which it appears he clearly was then he ought to have made as best a shelter as he could and stayed with her. People often survive for days in such conditions if they do that.

He was well enough to carry on climbing so he was well enough to have got her blanket and bivvy bag out for her. But he didn't. He must have known if he was leaving her for three hours before alerting emergency services she'd die.

I think hes just a terrible person. I dont think it was premeditated murder. I think hes just up his own arse and they had a fight and he stropped off. I reckon he thought shes just a moaning idiot and he'd teach her a lesson or something. Because hes a narcissist.
I dont think he thought about that she might actually die or just that he didn't care in his anger.
I can really see that happening.
I've had many exes who just stormed off and left me in dangerous situations. I've had many exes who'd walk well in front of me not giving a shit I couldn't keep up.
I think sadly its a common thing.

There is no way that two Austrians who regularly go mountaineering aren't either members of the ÖAV (the Austrian Alpine Association) or the Bergrettung (Mountain Rescue) both of which offer rescue insurance for helicopter rescue.
Absolutely no way.
I'm a member of the Bergrettung - insurance costs €36 a year. ÖAV costs ca. €72 a year including a reduction in price when staying at alpine huts. Members of the ski club are also insured.

There's absolutely no way they weren't both members of one or the other of these organizations. Everyone who goes out in the mountains in Austria is because everyone knows that if you have to be rescued without insurance you will end up paying an absolute fortune for the rescue.

I think if they hadn't been insured this would have come out in the court case or the press anyway as yet another aspect of one or both of them being negligent and there would have been talk about the costs of the rescue and who was going to have to pay for it.

It's very unlikely he waved the helicopter away because neither of them were insured.

Did he say he didn’t know she had those items?

Also there was no comment on the state of him when he finally reached the valley during the initial interviews with him.
If he'd been hypothermic at that point or very unwell it would have been mentioned in court, especially by his defence, as to why he acted as he did.
The defence mentioned that it was not correct of the police to interview him after he had been awake for 30 hours but there was no mention of him being in a physically unfit state or hypothermic. You can be absolutely sure his lawyer would have mentioned it if there was anything like that.

BBC are reporting he left a previous girlfriend in similar circumstances a few years before. That alone without any of the other factors mentioned, is dodgy as fuck.

You are still ignoring the testimony of the former girlfriend.

I just cannot understand why you are defending him.

Killing Me Softly.

I completely agree and think this is what many posters are overlooking.

He could have done things differently after she became unwell.

But her inappropriate footwear and clothing etc were down to her and it’s unfair he is getting the blame for her poor choices.

If I went into a lion cage with an experienced lion tamer but decided to put raw meat in my pockets, then I would have to take some responsibility for the negative outcome.

But her inappropriate footwear and clothing etc were down to her and it’s unfair he is getting the blame for her poor choices.

He should have climbed without her or not at all then?