Kerstin G's boyfriend is accused of leaving her unprotected and exhausted close to the summit during a blizzard.

More than a year after a 33-year-old woman froze to death on Austria’s highest mountain, her boyfriend goes on trial on Thursday accused of gross negligent manslaughter.

Kerstin G died of hypothermia on a mountain climbing trip to the Grossglockner that went horribly wrong. Her boyfriend is accused of leaving her unprotected and exhausted close to the summit in stormy conditions in the early hours of 19 January 2025, while he went to get help.

The trial has sparked interest and debate, not just in Austria but in mountain climbing communities far beyond its borders.

  • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.todayEnglish
    16·
    4 hours ago

    There seems to be at least some level of neglect.

    Especially since he is claimed to have quite a bit of alpine experience compared to her. That’s really what brings the liability of negligence to the whole scenario.

    Alpine hiking at night is already incredibly dangerous, but not ensuring the person with the least amount of experience has the correct equipment and knows how to use it is just wild.

    I wonder, though, did she not have a phone? Was there no reception, or why did she not call or signal for help herself?

    Well the confusing thing is that they had helicopters overfly them multiple times as they made their climb and both failed to signal and continued their way to the summit. The person on trial claims that she was doing fine until right after the last flyover and then suddenly started to get worse.

    As someone with a mild amount of cold weather experience… I don’t really believe this at all. If I were a betting guy I would wager that she was already suffering from the mental affects of hypothermia. You can enter a super suggestive state the colder you get and your mental faculties and decision making ability rapidly deteriorate to the point where you can get lost and just start walking in circles.

    Were there other ways to make it through the night?

    She did have a bivy sack that could have provided at least a decent amount of shelter, but he didn’t help her set it up before he left her on the mountain.

    Tbh it really seems like he was purposely trying to endanger her, or at very least is a huge piece of shit that didn’t care about her well-being. This would be like a scuba diver taking an amateur on a night dive, not teaching them how to operate their regulator, and than abandoning them a hundred feet underwater in the dark. It really is criminal.