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.
My ex used to claim they could do X or Y task and I would make arrangements under the assumption they knew what they were talking about.
We’d get to the point they would need to utilise said skill, and they’d turn to me and say actually I thought I could wing it but I can’t, you’re going to have to do this now.
If I’d been told at the start that they didn’t know, I would have spent more time investigating the situation and upskilled myself in preparation. Instead, I’d ask “Do we have everything we need? Does this look good?”, get told it’s fine - and it wasn’t.
The lady in the article may well have deferred to his expertise when asking if she was adequately prepared, and trusted his judgement over a quick Dr Google search.