A climber who froze his girlfriend to death on Austria’s highest peak then dumped his ex-partner on the same mountain two years ago, a court has heard.
Thomas Plamberger, 39, was sentenced to five months’ probation in January 2025 after being found guilty of grossly negligent homicide.
Ms Guttner, 33, collapsed from exhaustion just 150 feet from the 12,460-foot summit of Grossglockner in the Austrian Alps at around 8:50 p.m., with temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius.
Planberger decided to leave her and crawl back down the mountain to seek help. But within six hours of his absence, Ms Guttner died from the extreme cold.
In a case that has attracted global attention, Planberger’s lawyer described her death as a “tragic accident” and said his client had left the mountain by “mutual agreement.”
Kerstin Gurtner died from extreme cold near the summit of Grossglockner
But during the trial at Innsbruck District Court in the western Austrian state of Tyrol, it was alleged that Praberg left his ex-girlfriend Andrea B on the same hillside two years ago.
Andrea, who was in a relationship with the defendant between May and September 2023, told the court he abandoned her during a nighttime descent because he thought she was too slow.
“The atmosphere was terrible. And then all of a sudden he just disappeared,” she said. “My headlight went out and I was alone crying and screaming.
“He left me there by myself. He kept going. That was our last climb,” she said.
Andrea added that he told her not to “make a fuss out of a molehill” and that he could get grumpy when she expressed fears.
“He tended to have a bad temper when I was scared. For example, he would say, ‘Don’t be such a child,'” she told the court.
During their brief four-month relationship, the couple went on several mountain trips together.
The court heard the pair were about 50m from the summit during the fatal climb with Ms Gurtner and were ill-prepared for the extreme freezing conditions.
A helicopter had to cancel a rescue operation
The ruling noted that the climb was “more than 1,000 leagues beyond” Ms Gutner’s experience and that she had placed herself “under the responsibility” of her more experienced partner.
The defendant pleaded not guilty, claiming that the situation got out of control during the climb.
The webcam clearly showed the emergency flashlights the couple carried as they made their way up the mountain starting at 6pm. But six hours later, the light slowly dimmed as they lost power.
Rescuers tried to contact Planberg by phone, but he allegedly turned off his phone before contacting Alpine police at 12:35 a.m.
He left Ms Guttner at 2am and went down the other side of the mountain, contacting mountain rescuers at 3.30am.
A helicopter attempted a rescue at 7.10am but had to be called off due to strong winds.
Rescuers climbed up the mountain around 10am, but by the time they reached Ms Gutner she was dead.
She died of hypothermia and laboratory analysis later revealed a viral infection.
The court also fined Planberg €9,400 (£8,000). Climbers can appeal the verdict.
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