Bergsteiger vor Gericht, weil er seine Freundin auf Österreichs höchstem Berg im Sterben gelassen hat

Reading the article it sure seems like this guy killed his girlfriend

Why this guy, out of all the people whose climbing companions have had to be left behind? Didn’t she make a lot of the poor decisions too?

I’m not a climber, so I might simply be wrong here, but reading that he left her alone, in the middle of the night, during bad weather, in order to get help, sounds like either stupidity, negligence or something more nefarious. What was the point of leaving? They had already called the emergency services, so climbing back down alone was supposed to do what? Speed things up? I don’t think so!
He was either a coward or incredibly stupid. Either way, he should be held accountable.
Also, not bringing sufficient gear while climbing high up in the alps‘ screams of negligence and false ego.
Anyway, while it is crucial to make sure that there will be consequences, what really matters is the fate of that poor woman. I can’t even imagine what she must have been through. Abandoned on a mountainside, in the dark, freezing temperatures and nothing to protect you with…gosh, what a nightmare. May she rest in peace

There’s a couple of problems with this case, the argument that the GF had never done a similar trip is bollocks in that case no one could ever do something like climb a mountain for the first time without already having climbed a mountain(circular logic). Second the not calling for help earlier, if both were feeling fine and still moving why would they call for help? Calling for help should only be done when needed and he did that, as for not responding I’d be curious as to the phone reception at the top of the mountain as I’ve been on plenty of hikes where phone reception is spotty to non existent. Third, He is responsible for her clothing choices is utterly backwards nonsense, I’ve had the issue with my partner where you recommend they wear X over Y due to the conditions expected and they reject the advice. If it was 2 men then nobody would be claiming one is responsible for the other’s poor clothing.

Fourth and finally, its a horrific precedent to set that leaving someone to seek help makes you criminally liable if anything happens to them. If he’d found help and got back then nobody would be questioning if he’d done the right thing or not and if he’d stayed and done nothing then I would argue he’d be more liable.

As someone that has climbed a few mountains, I’m trying to be as objective as possible.

1. I keep reading comments that he waived the helicopter off. The article states that they didn’t signal for help around 10pm. I doubt the helicopter would be capable of seeing them “waive” at night.

2. Her mother mentions how she loved hiking mountains at night. That tells me that she already knew what she should be wearing for this hike. I’ve had plenty of hikes where my partner tells me they prefer so and so boots because they’re cuter. No matter how much I argue, I can’t force them to wear what I suggest. I’m not going to diminish what another adult of the same age prefers if they have been on similar hikes.

3. Ignoring calls. I rarely have reception on the mountain. I can think of two spots where I had reception and that was base camp and near the summit. Other than that I keep my phone off in order to conserve energy. Otherwise it’s constantly searching for signal and dies.

4. I don’t think it made a difference in this scenario if he had stayed with her or gone for help. All I can think is that maybe he was running down the mountain to find help and lead them back to where she was exactly. The article states that he left her alone for 6 hours. 6 hours is pretty damn quick to get down a mountain and back to the same spot. It sounds like he didn’t rest the whole time.

I can see the negligence part, but I can also see where he made mistakes that I have made myself while climbing. Tragic story all around.