Climbing
The mountain community follows an unspoken code: when you invite a novice into the high alpine, you take responsibility for their survival. A landmark ruling at the Innsbruck Regional Court against Thomas Plamberger has brought the full force of the law to bear on a long-standing alpine code.
- Related: Exposure Death of 33-Year-Old Alpinist on Austria’s Grossglockner Sparks Police Investigation
On January 19, 2025, Kerstin Gurtner died of hypothermia during a winter ascent of Grossglockner. Friends and family described the 33-year-old as a “mountain person” and “winter child.” More than a year later, on February 19, 2026, a court found her partner, Thomas Plamberger, guilty of grossly negligent manslaughter. He received a five-month suspended sentence and a €9,400 fine.
The conviction hinged on the legal doctrine of ‘Guarantor Status’ (Garantenstellung). The court ruled that Plamberger’s expertise created a specific legal duty to protect his novice partner. Because Gurtner relied entirely on him, his role shifted from a moral guide to a legally bound protector. He breached that duty when he failed to recognize her limits and left her alone in a life-threatening state.
Court filings show the couple faced 45 mph (72 km/h) winds and sub-zero temperatures early on. Prosecutors argued that Plamberger ignored several turn-back points as weather deteriorated. He had summited this route nearly 15 times prior to the incident.
The most damning evidence involved survival gear. At 2:00 a.m., Plamberger left Gurtner to seek help. However, he took her emergency blanket and bivouac sack with him, leaving her without critical survival gear. Alpine experts testified she likely would have survived with this equipment. Additionally, Plamberger’s phone calls to police were vague. They failed to convey the emergency’s severity, which delayed the rescue response.
Judge Norbert Hofer—an active mountaineer and mountain rescuer—addressed the stark disparity between the two climbers. He noted that Plamberger’s “summit at all costs” mentality blinded him to his partner’s clear distress, stating that their technical abilities and experience levels were “galaxies” apart.
The court also heard testimony from a surprise witness, Andrea Bergener, an ex-girlfriend of Plamberger. She described a chillingly similar incident on the same mountain in 2023, where Plamberger abandoned her in the dark after her headlamp failed. She testified that she “felt dizzy,” and was crying and screaming.
The case remains unresolved as both the defense and the prosecution have appealed—the former seeking an acquittal, and the latter a harsher sentence. While the appeals were filed within days of the verdict, the legal process could take several months or even over a year to reach a conclusion in the higher courts. Despite the legal findings, Gurtner’s parents told the court that she had been “really active” in mountaineering since 2020, her mother adding that she would not have “gone along blindly.”
Regardless of the final outcome, the Plamberger case shows that the full force of the law now applies to the alpine code.
