The identity of a woman who allegedly died from exposure on a mountain summit after being left by her boyfriend has been confirmed by officials.
The man is now facing charges of negligent homicide following the death of 33-year-old Kerstin Gurtner. She passed away less than 150 feet from the top of Grossglockner mountain in Austria during a nighttime hike in frigid temperatures.
Gurtner, who reportedly lacked mountaineering experience, was guided up the 12,460-foot peak in -4 degree conditions with strong winds on January 19, at Austria’s highest point.
While enduring these harsh alpine conditions, the resident of Salzburg informed her partner that she could no longer proceed as she became hypothermic and disoriented near the summit.
Approximately three hours later, at around 2am, her boyfriend allegedly left to seek help. Prosecutors argue this decision essentially abandoned her to ‘freeze to death’ on the mountainside.
Gurtner, who described herself as a “winter child” and a “mountain person” on social media, where she frequently posted photos of her adventures on the slopes, was allegedly let down by her boyfriend, who was expected to ensure her safety, according to prosecutors.
They further assert that he did not take the necessary actions to save her, neglecting to use available blankets and shelter to safeguard Gurtner while he left to find help.
Their statement, translated from German by Heute, states: “At approximately 2:00 a.m., the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 meters below the summit cross of the Grossglockner.
“The woman froze to death. 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.”
Her boyfriend is additionally accused of delaying the call to emergency services and missing vital communication by silencing his phone when they attempted to reach him.
Austrian prosecutors also claim he neglected to signal a police helicopter that flew over their location at 10:50 pm and failed to move his partner to a more sheltered area.
“The defendant failed to move his girlfriend to a sheltered spot to protect her from heat loss,” they stated, criticizing the experienced mountaineer for continuing the ascent after a two-hour delay with someone who had ‘never undertaken an alpine high-altitude tour of this length, difficulty, and altitude.’
Unfortunately, rescue teams could not reach the 33-year-old until the following day due to hurricane-force winds on the mountain during the tragic midnight climb.
The lawyer representing Gurtner’s boyfriend has called her death a “tragic, fateful accident.”
Online tributes to Kerstin Gurtner describe her as a ‘beloved daughter, sister, sister-in-law, godmother, granddaughter, partner, and friend.’
They requested that those paying their respects ‘refrain from accusations and assumptions.’