Boyfriend charged after ‘leaving exhausted girlfriend to freeze to death’ on mountain
A court in Austria is now pouring through phones, sports watches, photos, videos to discover how an expert climber left his girlfriend to die in hellish conditions last January
A skilled climber is accused of abandoning his girlfriend to freeze to death, leaving her near the peak of one of Austria’s tallest mountains at night in arctic conditions.
The man, 36, is charged with manslaughter over the tragic death of his girlfriend, who he left “unprotected, exhausted and hypothermic” near the peak of the harsh 12,460ft Grossglockner mountain.
The 33-year-old woman, who was new to high-altitude climbing, died only 150ft from the summit after being abandoned in brutal weather for six and a half hours.
A prosecutor said the climber was “already very experienced” and should be considered “the responsible guide of the tour.” But the man’s lawyer said his client was “very sorry” and the death was “a tragic, fateful accident”.
The 36-year-old is charged with manslaughter by gross negligence and faces up to three years behind bars. The couple battled winds up to 46mph and polar temperatures that felt like minus 20 degrees Celsius, said investigators.
Yet the woman attempted the final push to the summit with kit that experts called inappropriate – soft snow boots and a splitboard, a type of snowboard that can be divided into skis.
Prosecutors say the couple began the ascent about two hours late and didn’t carry a proper emergency kit.
The forensic probe includes analysis of phones, sports watches, photos, videos along with expert assessments. Investigators say the man ignored his partner’s inexperience and should have turned back long before darkness set in.
He is also accused of not calling emergency services before nightfall. He allegedly stayed silent even when a police helicopter flew overhead at 10.50pm.
Officers eventually got through to him at 00.35am but he then allegedly put his phone on silent and missed further calls. A rescue alert did not go out from him until 3.30am.
High winds further prevented a helicopter rescue at dawn and when mountain teams reached the woman, shortly after 10am, she was already dead.
Prosecutors said: “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.”
But the man’s lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, said: “My client is very sorry about how things turned out.” The defence “still assumes it was a tragic, fateful accident”, he added.
The case will go before the Innsbruck Regional Court on February 19, 2026, just over a year after the event.
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