The mother of a woman who froze to death after her partner abandoned her on an Austrian mountain has defended him on the eve of his trial for manslaughter.
Kerstin Gurtner, 33, died just 150ft below the summit of the 12,460ft Grossglockner in January 2024 as temperatures plunged to a bone-numbing minus 20c.
Later this week her climbing partner and boyfriend Thomas Plamberger, 39, will go on trial accused of negligent homicide after prosecutors ruled he left her ‘exhausted, hypothermic and disorientated’.
But astonishingly tragic Kerstin’s mother Gertraud, backed Plamberger and said: ‘It makes me angry that Kerstin is being portrayed as a naïve little thing who let herself be dragged up the mountain.
‘And I think it’s unfair how Kerstin’s boyfriend is being treated. There’s a witch hunt against him in the media and online.’
Speaking from her home in Salzburg to German newspaper, Die Zeit, she added that Kerstin and Plamberger would always agree on routes to take when climbing and prosecutors were treating him unfairly.
She said: ‘The two of them always made their decisions together. If Kerstin disagreed, they didn’t go on a mountain tour – or her boyfriend went on it alone.
‘Therefore, he didn’t deserve to be held responsible as a guide. But one thing is certain for me: My daughter’s death was the result of a tragic chain of unfortunate circumstances. I don’t want to blame my daughter’s boyfriend for it.’
Kerstin Gurtner, 33, with her climbing partner and boyfriend, Thomas Plamberger, 39, who faces a manslaughter trial after prosecutors concluded he left her ‘exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented’ in the dark while he descended alone
Kerstin’s mother has defended Plamberger on the eve of his trial, saying that her daughter had been wrongly ‘portrayed as a naïve little thing who let herself be dragged up the mountain’
When asked why, she replied: ‘For us as parents, it’s not about assigning blame, but about understanding, providing information, and doing justice to our daughter and her dreams.
‘She loved the mountains. And the mountains, as we know, have two sides. Joy and sorrow are closely intertwined.
‘Many people who blame Kerstin’s boyfriend have never been in such a situation. I hope they never find themselves in such an exceptional situation.
‘Because nobody knows how they’ll react then. It’s easy to be a hero in the comfort of your own home.’
Haunting webcam images show the glow of the couple’s two headtorches as they slowly edge towards the summit at around 6pm – almost 12 hours after setting off – then, hours later, only one light is seen as it moved down.
Rescue teams were unable to reach Kerstin until the following day due to hurricane-force winds, and she was found just below a cross that marks the summit of Austria’s highest mountain.
Kerstin’s social media profile is illustrated with dozens of images of her and Plamberger climbing and hiking and she described herself as a ‘winter child’ and ‘mountain person’.
Prosecutors in Innsbruck announced last December that Plamberger would face trial after they concluded an eleven-month investigation into the circumstances of her death.
Webcam images showed emergency lights of the two alpinists during their ascent glowing at 6pm on January 18
Just six hours later, the lights had dimmed as Kerstin’s strength gave out
An image captured at around 2.30am showed Plamberger allegedly pushing on alone to the other side of Grossglockner amid claims he left his partner in freezing conditions
At 7.10am webcam footage captured a helicopter soaring over the mountain, but the rescue mission had to be aborted due to strong winds
Just under three hours later, six rescuers were seen during their ascent, but Kerstin was tragically dead upon their arrival
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EXCLUSIVE Pictured: Girlfriend, 33, ‘left to freeze to death’ on Austrian mountain by her boyfriend in -20C cold – as he now faces homicide trial while tragic questions swirl over what happened
Plamberger is also described as an ‘experienced mountaineer’ on his now deleted social media, but prosecutors say the couple were ‘ill equipped’ and ‘failed to call for help’ and that he ‘turned away’ and left her to die.
As part of their probe, investigators examined their mobile phones, sports watches and laptop photographs the couple had taken as they made their way to the summit, and concluded he made several errors.
They highlighted how the couple were poorly equipped – Kerstin was wearing snowboard soft boots instead of proper hiking footwear – and officials say he ‘turned away’ despite a helicopter flying low over the area.
Through his lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, Plamberger has denied the allegations and insisted he turned away to get help and it was simply a ‘tragic, fateful accident’.
In a statement Innsbruck prosecutor’s office said: ‘At approximately 2am on January 19, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 metres below the summit cross of the Grossglockner.
‘The woman froze to death. 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 of the tour.’
They added he did not take into account that his girlfriend was highly inexperienced and had never undertaken an alpine high-altitude tour of this length.
He was also accused of scheduling starting the climb around two hours later than prudent, while not carrying any sufficient emergency equipment.
Kerstin’s social media profile is illustrated with dozens of images of her and Plamberger climbing and hiking, and she described herself as a ‘winter child’ and ‘mountain person’
Plamberger has denied the allegations and said it was a ‘tragic, fateful accident’
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Mountaineer who left girlfriend to freeze to death during doomed bid to climb Austria’s highest mountain ‘wrote about how he was left “hurting so much” after the tragedy’
Even when he had left his partner to get help, he apparently did not bring her to a wind-protected place and did not use a bivouac sack or aluminium rescue blankets, they said.
Given the harsh weather conditions with wind speeds of up to 46mph and temperatures of minus eight degrees – which felt like minus 20 degrees when combined – the defendant should have turned back earlier, according to the public prosecutor.
They will also claim at the trial in Innsbruck, Plamberger and Kerstin were stranded from around 8.50pm, he allegedly did not give any distress signals when a police helicopter flew over at 10.50pm.
After several attempts by the Alpine Police to make contact with him, he finally spoke to an officer at around 00.35am.
Officials say he had put his phone on silent and could not be contacted by Alpine police but eventually at 3.30am he decided to notify the rescue services, after having left Kerstin alone.
A funeral notice for Kerstin posted online last January read: ‘Our lives are in God’s hands; if it is His will, then do not grieve for me. But remember me with love.’
When asked to describe her daughter, Gertraud said: ‘Kerstin loved pushing her limits. But above all, she was a responsible and nature-loving person.
‘For her, the mountains were not a place of recklessness, but of silence, mindfulness, and respect. She prepared meticulously for her tours and approached the alpine world with humility.
‘That she had to lose her life precisely where she felt so alive is almost incomprehensible to me. I miss her terribly. ‘
