Boyfriend facing manslaughter charges after 'leaving novice female climber to die on Austria's highest peak'
The 36-year-old in now facing up to three years in prison if charges of manslaughter by gross negligence are proven.
A man who allegedly left his girlfriend to freeze to death on Austria's highest peak has been charged with manslaughter.
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The 33-year-old novice climber died after being left "unprotected, exhausted, and hypothermic" atop the 12,460ft Grossglockner on a brisk January night.
Prosecutors argue the boyfriend, an experienced mountaineer from Salzburg, abandoned her for six-and-a-half hours in vicious cold while seeking help.
One said: “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.”
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The 36-year-old in now facing up to three years in prison if charges of manslaughter by gross negligence are proven.
Investigators said the pair were battered with winds up to 46mph with the conditions feeling like -20C.
Despite the extreme cold, the woman was allowed to attempt the final stretch up the peak with a splitboard and soft snow boots
Experts have called the kit, "totally unsuitable" for the high-alpine hike.The man’s lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, said: “My client is very sorry about how things turned out.”
He added that the defence “still assumes it was a tragic, fateful accident .”
The case will go before the Innsbruck Regional Court on February 19, 2026, just over a year after the event.