A climber on trial for allegedly abandoning his girlfriend on Austria’s tallest mountain has been accused of doing the identical thing to his previous girlfriend.
Kerstin Gurtner, 33, died within the pitch-black on 12,640ft Grossglockner on an evening when temperatures plunged to -20C in January last 12 months.
Thomas Plamberger, her 39-year-old boyfriend, now faces a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.
A letter his brother allegedly received from an ex-girlfriend was read out to the court.
Within the letter, the lady wrote that Plamberger had ‘left her in a desperate situation’ during an argument in regards to the difficulty of the climb on the identical mountain.
His brother told the court after being asked if he could see his brother leaving Gurnter to die, ‘I never saw him in such a situation.’
Kurt Jelinek, representing Plamberger, claimed Kerstin shouted at him to ‘Go!’, after he spent greater than an hour along with her in freezing conditions.
Webcam images allegedly show him climbing alone at 2.30am.
But a rescue alert was not issued until 3.30am with fierce winds stopping helicopters from reaching her.
Judge Norbert Hofer said Plamberger’s account didn’t align with how Kerstin’s body was found on the mountainside at 10am.
The judge showed a photograph of Kerstin hanging freely from the rock face – indicating that she had fallen, he said.
Plamberger claimed he had left her at a special location.
The top of the mountain rescue team said that it appeared Kerstin had tried to climb down the mountain by her self.
Prosecutors say Plamberger left Gurtner ‘unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented’ and that, as an experienced climber, he was the ‘responsible guide of the tour’.
Plamberger has denied the allegations, saying through his lawyer that he left her to get assist in what was a ‘tragic, fateful incident’.
A whole lot of tributes have poured in for Gurtner since her death, with people remembering the ‘wonderful’ woman.
The couple began climbing Grossglockner, within the nation’s central-west, on January 19, with prosecutors saying they set off two hours later than planned.
Harsh weather conditions, including wind speeds of as much as 46mph, would have made the -8°C temperature feel more like -20°C.
Chilling webcam footage of the mountain showed the climbers’ lights glowing at around 6pm.
The pair were stranded from around 8.50pm. Hours later, just one light could be seen moving away, with Plamberger leaving her at 2am.
Mountain rescue teams in helicopters found Gurtner dead at 10am, just 150ft below the summit.
They’d tried to descend earlier within the morning but weather conditions prevented them.
He’s accused of not making enough effort to contact emergency services before nightfall and of not making a distress signal when a police helicopter flew overhead at 10.50pm.
Prosecutors also say the couple were poorly equipped – with Gurtner wearing snowboard soft boots as a substitute of proper mountain climbing footwear.
In addition they argue he didn’t put her in a wind-sheltered place, use aluminum rescue blankets or a ‘bivvy bag’ – a waterproof-covered sleeping bag – to maintain her warm when he left her.
He can also be accused of starting the tour around two hours later than scheduled, and never carrying the appropriate emergency equipment.
In an announcement Innsbruck prosecutor’s office said: ‘At roughly 2am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 meters below the summit cross of the Grossglockner.
‘The lady froze to death. For the reason that 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 didn’t properly consider that his girlfriend had never attempted an alpine high-altitude tour of this length.
In keeping with amateur mountaineers writing online, Grossglockner is a difficult ascent requiring ropes, crampons and ice axes.
The standard route forces climbers to cross a glacier – treacherous bodies of ice known for his or her hidden crevasses.
A funeral notice for Gurtner posted online last January said: ‘Our lives are in God’s hands; whether it is His will, then don’t grieve for me. But remember me with love.’
If convicted, he might be jailed for up to a few years. The trial continues.
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