Freund wird wegen Totschlags angeklagt, nachdem er „eine unerfahrene Bergsteigerin auf dem höchsten Gipfel Österreichs sterben ließ“

>> Prosecutors argue the boyfriend, an experienced mountaineer from Salzburg, abandoned her for six-and-a-half hours in vicious cold while seeking help.

Negligence or planned murder ?

We had a case of a local student taking a handful of female exchange students up a mountain with a cable car. They got lost in their excitement, selfies, silliness, they were underdressed (leggings, light sweaters, and sneakers, and no other gear), the first snow had fallen although it was a sunny day, he didn’t communicate the urgency of them picking up pace to get on the last gondola down, a good 1/2h light jog away.

He left them stranded.

They called mountain rescue and were evacuated by helicopter.

A cautionary tale told at every welcoming event for new exchange students.

Isn’t this the plot of cliffhanger?

I climbed Grossglockner in winter and I can tell you that soft snow boots are not appropriate for this.

Auto-translated from Der Standard (more reliable, link see below) for context:

>**Woman frozen to death at the Großglockner: 36-year-old companion charged**

>The 33-year-old froze to death during a mountain tour in January. Her friend must now answer for grossly negligent homicide in court

>_Stefanie Ruep, updated on 4. December 2025, 2:24 PM_

>Kals/Innsbruck – After the freezing death of a 33-year-old mountaineer on the Großglockner, her friend and mountain partner is charged with negligent homicide. This was announced by the Innsbruck Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday. The 36-year-old alpinist left his girlfriend „unprotected, weakened, supercooled and disoriented about 50 meters below the summit cross of the Großglockner,“ writes the public prosecutor’s office. The man must register on the 19th. February for grossly negligent homicide at the regional court. He faces up to three years in prison.

>Not turned back, no timely emergency call

>On the 18th of January, the couple from Salzburg wanted to climb the highest mountain in Austria with 3798 meters. „Since the defendant, in contrast to his girlfriend, was already very experienced with alpine high tours and planned the tour, he was to be seen as the responsible leader of the tour,“ the public prosecutor’s office justifies the accusation. The office accuses him of having undertaken the alpine high tour over the Stüdlgrat with the woman despite her inexperience and despite the challenging winter conditions. The woman had never done an alpine high tour in this length, difficulty and altitude before. In addition, the two started too late. The man had not expected an emergency as part of the tour planning, he himself had not even had sufficient bivouac emergency equipment with him.

>The defendant also allowed his girlfriend to go up with a splitboard and snowboard soft boots. This is not suitable for a high alpine tour in combined terrain. The alpinist would therefore have had to turn around with the woman earlier, given the strong to stormy wind with up to 74 kilometers per hour and a temperature of minus eight degrees, which felt like minus 20 degrees due to the „windchill“ effect.

>The man also refrained from making an emergency call in time before dark, the prosecutor’s office accuses him. The Alpine police were alerted by other mountaineers when the couple’s headlamp lights were seen on the webcam of the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte. In addition, the man did not give any distress signals to a helicopter that flew over the two, although he and his girlfriend de facto did not get any further from 8:50 p.m.

>No bivouac bag used

>After several attempts by the Alpine Police to contact the accused, he called an alpine policeman for the first time at 00.35 a.m. But then he set his phone to silent and stowed it away and therefore did not answer any more calls from the Alpine police, according to the prosecutor’s office. Before the defendant left his girlfriend behind around 2 a.m., he had neither used her bivouac bag nor the existing aluminum life-saving blankets to protect her from further cooling. The accused had also refrained from taking his girlfriend to a place that was as protected from the wind. He did not contact the rescuers again and did not notify them until 3.30 a.m. after he had descended via the normal route to the closed Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte (3454 meters).

>As part of the investigation, a forensic medical report was obtained, mobile phones and sports watches of the deceased and the accused were evaluated as well as photographs and videos. In addition, witnesses have been heard. An alpine technical expert has prepared an expert report in which all the results of the investigation were taken into account. Since the alpinist is considered a trained mountaineer, his partner has less experience, a „leadership“ is given. For the man, the presumption of innocence applies.

>Defendant denies misconduct

>The defendant issued a written statement in which he had „denied misconduct“, according to the public prosecutor’s office. His defender Kurt Jelinek said in a first statement on the STANDARD: „He is infinitely sorry for how it happened.“ The defense still assumes a „fateful, tragic misfortune“.

>Even before the criminal complaint, the lawyer commented on the events in June. At that time, he explained that the woman had a flu-like infection. During the first overflight of the police helicopter around 10:30 p.m., she was still in good shape. Only after midnight did her condition deteriorate rapidly. Rather, the defender accused the emergency services that the rescue chain had started so late. The first call was made soon after midnight, the second at 3.30 a.m. The mountain rescue did not come to the woman until around 10 o’clock. They could only determine her death.

Source: Stefanie Ruep, November 4, 2025: Frau am Großglockner erfroren: 36-jähriger Begleiter angeklagt https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000299273/frau-am-grossglockner-erfroren-36-jaehriger-begleiter-angeklagt?ref=article

Only 3 years for this?

“Boyfriend” but then “female” ?