The experienced climber who left his girlfriend to freeze to death at the top of Austria’s highest peak was convicted of gross negligent manslaughter — but will not immediately be going to prison.
Thomas Plamberger, 37, was given a five-month suspended sentence and hit with a $11,300 fine after he was found guilty Thursday after a one day trial over the gruesome death of his 33-year-old girlfriend Kerstin Gutner.
Plamberger, an experience climber, had led Gutner in January last year on the treacherous trek up Grossglockner when he abandoned her in brutal conditions just 164 feet below the 12,460 summit.
She died of hypothermia as he descended to safety, claiming she asked him to leave to get help.
Judge Norbert Hofer said Plamberger did not willfully leave behind his girlfriend — noting her experience climbing was “galaxies” short of Plamberger’s — but failed to properly prepare for the arduous trek and misjudged the conditions.
“I don’t see you as a murderer, I don’t see you as a cold-hearted man,” he said, alluding to social media posts about the case. “I see you as the one who ultimately tried to call help and stand by his girlfriend.”
Plamberger failed to take his “leadership responsibility,” the judge said, noting that Gutner would have survived “if the appropriate measures had been taken, such as turning back or placing an emergency call for help earlier.
The mountaineer told the court he was “endlessly sorry” and said they planned all their trips together.
Plamberger’s defense attorney maintained he only left Gutner alone after she told him to “go” when she was too exhausted to continue that night, when temperatures plummeted to -17 amid 45 mile per hour wind gusts.
He argued that he himself had no formal Alpine training and said Gutner had about as much knowledge of mountain climbing as he did.
She had been in good condition when a police helicopter flew by hours before he abandoned her before her condition suddenly deteriorated rapidly, he said.
Plamberger was facing a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
The verdict can be appealed.
With Post Wires
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