Austria - Thomas Plamberger leaves gf, Kerstin Gurtner to freeze to death on Austria's tallest mountain - charged with manslaughter - Jan.19/2025

[LookingForClues]

It's true the reports and media only mention her splitboard, and nothing about gear he had, but I don't think he had skis. There's no way he climbed up the mountain and down, long after dark, for 20+ hours, carrying skis on his back, knowing it's too dangerous to ski down in the dark. No one with any common sense and awareness would do that. Carrying extra gear just slows you down and sets you up for failure. Especially since he claims he was trying to get help to get her off the mountain.

As I mentioned before, they knew at the "breakfast spot" it was going to be dark by the time they summited. They should have turned around. He should have told her to at least ditch her splitboard if, as he insists, she still wanted to climb. He surely would have ditched his own skis at that point.

Plus it sounds like he made crazy fast time after he left her, in the dark, in winter, in a storm, let alone doing that carrying his ski gear.

I know some super-fit and highly experienced athletes who are incredibly focused on upping their game and not a one of them would try something this dangerous, especially with someone who is only getting into mountaineering. You are only as fast as the slowest person in your group. He threw caution to the wind from the moment they arrived late in the car that morning.

I agree it doesn't make sense for only one of them to have gear to snowboard or ski down, because that means they'll get separated. That has always confused me. The only thing I can think of is if he wanted to time himself for how fast he could descend on foot. Trying to keep up with her would be one way to test yourself. He strikes me as the kind of person who would want to have an idea of how fast he can summit and return on foot.

I guess we'll have to wait until the trial to know all the details and whether he had skis.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I think if he valued/cherished his girlfriend, he would have helped her into the bivy/blanket at some point before she reached "near death" or certainly once when she became unable to continue.

I do not believe this is something he "forgot."

I would ask him, which of his actions showed that he valued her well-being?

He would have known it was her only chance, and it would have taken some minutes, not hours, to cover her.

They had blankets and a bivvy wrap that were not deployed. But do we have evidence that no other ones were deployed and went missing in the winds?

Good question. Let's see what the authorities say he said to them at the time.

 

[Queen of the Winter Night]

I would think that experienced SAR teams would be well-aware of conditions and places where a bivvy and other equipment could blow away in the wind and would say something. Interesting that they too assume one simply was not deployed instead of having blown away, which surely would be one of the first things they would have though of too. Just to note! And I believe their expertise way better than TP's "expertise" and statements.

 

[RedHaus]

In case anyone has information they would like to share with prosecutors litigating their case against TP starting 19/2. I so hope there is justice for KG.

Public Prosecutor's Office of the Innsbruck District Court

Telephone: +43 5 76014 342

Fax: +43 5 76014 342 945

address
6020 Innsbruck
Brunecker Straße 3

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ETA: drop box link

 

[beubeubeu]

So... I half-wanted to do some sort of summary for those who didnt ended up in private thread about this case, and half-didnt, cause any further posting in this thread would cause me too much nerve loss thanks to one person here who totally should not get into borderline-victim blaming theories. But anyways.

Weeks of digging through only German language sources and joined analysis later allows anyone willing to put that much effort into some conclusions. And let's call it a "theory" for the sake of me not spending two days on making this summary.

TP is highely experienced winter alpine climber and thats not just the matter of the list of peaks he bagged. Moderately experienced climber could do that too (most of that), by picking easier routes and doing these climbs in summer months.
TP broke a record of run-climbing for nine hours straight.
And he's a long distance runner, Kerstin was not.

6:45 is the time when they left from the place they rented for the night. They stayed in Matrei. Its just creative counting and his top-notch high-profile-case hopeless-but-still-deemed-not-guilty-thanks-to-outstanding-defence lawyer's idea to have it stated in a way that implies they actually started WALKING on the route at 6:45. They did not.
7:00 they still werent on their way. They started shortly after.

3:40 was when he finally called mountain rescue services.
0:35 was when TP called back private number of the heli-pilot-mountain-rescue-friend of his. That guy was repeatedly calling and texting him since before heli went back there (and that heli was there for more than 10 mins). After that call no further rescue attempts were made. Further attempts to call TP again were made but he wasnt picking up the phone.
TP indirectly blamed that guy for doing nothing by claiming that he was sure rescue is on the way since then.
Guy publicly stated that TP in that call said that there is no need for the rescue still.
In JUNE through his top-notch high-profile-case hopeless-but-still-deemed-not-guilty-thanks-to-outstanding-defence lawyer TP helpfully explained that it was the matter of misunderstanding that he sees could happen cause he said that everything was all right reffering to the time when heli was there, not to the time when he made the call.
TP hasnt left Kerstin at 2:00 but shortly after 1:00 (and let's call it "theory" but I have receipts).
3:30 TP called that officer again but still hasnt made things clear and insisted on sending a heli despite of having full awareness that there is a crazy storm outside.
TP got to the hut close to 3:20.
As he made that 3:40 call he was again unreachable for the rescuers.

As cops finally contacted him and saw him as they flew him back to Lucknerhaus with no medical emergency and no hospital visit mentioned anywhere he was saying very little.
Right away his story was that he couldnt make a call at all and descended in hope to make call from Adlers. His story kept expanding as more details were emerging.
He managed to make various statements about the specific circumstances of leaving Kerstin: saying that HE decided to go, THEY decided to go, they agreed that he should go and that Kerstin "urged him to go" after the incident.
He was NOT officially, properly questioned by cops till at least end of January, and at that point he already hired Jelinek.
Then he was saying nothing and Jelinek kept making statements that TP will make a statement AFTER cops will release their statement about progress they've made in investigation.

There is a full almost one hour long, excellent documentary made by Austrian TV (sadly available to watch only in Austria) where theyre explaining in excruciating details how such a climb should go, how it looks like, theyre showing trail, gear, bivy, they talk with mountain guides and several climbing legends as Peter Habeler who's 83 years old now, but climbs his whole life, Alps and Himalaya, he broke several records in Himalaya, he climbed highest summits on Earth with no additional oxygen.
Theyre not analysing what happened on 18th and 19th of January 2025 but theyre delivering everything anyone would need to make their own conclusions.

Kerstin had no winter climbing experience. Zero. Getting up Dachstein in March 2025 was surely a big and tiring challenge but there is no real climbing going on there. She started learning climbing later and she only did summer climbs and she was always with TP.
TP had great knowledge and understanding on Gross. He climbed it IN WINTER multiple times including winter all the ways up and down possible. There is no "he couldnt knew how much it could take" thing here. He knew and he left receipts.

Learned from: Kronen articles, Jelinek's official statements, Prosecutor's & cops statements & cams.

 

[beubeubeu]

Oh, I forgot about the splitboard - which is absolutely NOT appropriate for climbing Gross with or going down. Skis made of split splitboard are nowhere near as reliable as decent regular skis.
Almost certainly TP had skis with him as ha had them on his earlier climbs there and as people almost always have skis while climbing Gross in Winter cause its just faster and more convenient way of walking some parts of the route down Adlers and all way down to Lucknerhaus. It wasnt formally confirmed anywhere so far though (that he also had skis, but skis are not impacting the climbing process and arent "picked up" by wind making it all so much harder and riskier as splitboard does).
A lot of routes and trails in the Grossglockner general area where split-splitboard-skis and snowboard could go into a good use and fun - just nowhere near actual slope or glacier and not on these routes.

That would be totally next level daredevil wild ride, risky even for the most experienced snowboarders to put splitboard on right after descending stony part of Kleinglockner.
Kerstin had no history of doing such things, just normal snowboarding in resorts & very calm backdoor hills, not mountain slopes.
Using splitboard or skis made of splitboard after dark would be totally insane. With that wind from afternoon just suicidal.
TP has history of doing some wild skiing. There too.

Splitboards are generally heavier than skis. And much harder to carry on the back.

TP did not help Kerstin to take off her backpack or splitboard off.
TP did not help Kerstin to move into location that was more sheltered from wind - while she was at the location where it was pretty easily available, no carrying her or climbing required, it was just there on the rampe. He left her fully exposed to hurricane wind.
TP had bivy and multiple thermo blankets.
Proper thing to do in emergency situation is to take backpack off, put it on the ground, get into bivy and sit on backpack for additional insulation. Its not super complicated to get or put someone in bivy, as thats what they are made for: extreme circumstances and emergencies.
TP's official explanation for not doing anything to help Kerstin and secure her is that he "forgot" to do it.
Early in the story TP was going into making this decision to go to Adlers alone after consulting it with Kerstin or even being "urged to go" by her.
Prosecutor's source of info for putting words "disoriented" and "confused" in TP's indictment is TP himself. Thats how he described her state to the emergency services that he finally called at 3:40. Also added that she suffers from hypothermia and has no supplies with her.
Then he went to sleep and did not required any immediate medical attention.

Oh, and also:

He was NOT officially, properly questioned by cops till at least end of January, and at that point he already hired Jelinek.

THAT does not indicate that investigation was neglected. Death in mountains requires mandatory investigation but in cases of someone dying and the other/others surviving theyre not treated like suspects and looked at as guilty party. Investigation is to make sure that its known what went wrong.

Also - in context of some available criticism of SAR's actions of delays of rescue mission & so on:

• they got alerted about the situation, immediately went to identify the climbers,
• then there were multiple attempts of calling and texting with no response,
• so then heli flew up there and stayed there for quite a bit upon fears that climbers may be unable to pick up their phones - no alert was made there (pilot saw them "climbing" but theyve made just few metres of progress from there to where Kerstin was found),
• TP remembers and admits to saying that it is or was "all right" during the call from 0:35
• between 0:35 and 1:30 there were no lights visible on cams and TP wasnt picking up calls
• between 1:30 and 3:20 any light below the summit was visible while there WAS visible headlamp light showing that someone, possibly both people are descending,
• at 3:30 TP suggested to his cop-pilot-friend that heli should fly to Kerstin, with winds like that it would kill the pilot and wouldnt save anyone,
• weather was risky to fly even around 23:00, yet they flew there,
• as soon as winds weakened a bit, there was another attempt of flying to Kerstin approx. at 7:00 in the morning but heli had to turn back cause of the wind.

Thats (imo) just outrageous to even suggest that they should be expected to do more.
On what ground? Out of suspicion that there still might be and emergency despite of already doing so much to try figure out if there is or not?

Well, obviously. Could be the other way.

Maybe Kerstin just spontaneously got hooked on the idea of doing her first Winter climb in January and do so on the highest summit of Austria, via much longer and harder climbing route that she ever did in Summer without climbing shoes and skis appropriate for such occasion.
Then maybe very well experienced Thomas tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted, so he complied.
Then despite of starting very late, like 3-4 hours later than most people do in general and these few climbers who go there in Dec-Jan-Feb Kerstin kept insisting and he kept complying.
Then he just kept complying or being ambitious, scared, overconfident and summit-fevered till Kerstin dropped out of exhaustion, completely surprising to him.
So then he reacted appropriately, noticed the missed calls and texts, called back and notified the alpine officer that there is severe emergency - to which officer replied that heli cant fly there and felt like doing nothing more and then lied about it claiming that he misunderstood TP.
Then he forgot about basic medical emergency actions at all, hasnt offered Kerstin any assistance cause he was shocked, hypotermic and altitude sick despite of climbing that altitude on almost consistent bi-weekly basis and then he left on his brave mission of solo climbing up Gross & Klein & descending.
Did as much as he could then, called the cop back, tried calling Kerstin, finally called rescue services too and went to sleep, turning his phone off out of confusion.
Then he looked back at it and figured that he did nothing wrong and it was all just completely unforeseen misfortune. Yet despite of thinking that he hired top notch defence lawyer in the matter of days.
Confusion didnt left him anytime soon after the descend though, since that call from 0:35 and his alleged belief (which he later claimed he had) of help being on the way (slightly contradicting his other claim of not seeing any other way to call for help than to descend to Adlers) wasnt mentioned till June, when Jelinek made an official statement about the official TP's statement - after making a statement that neither of them will make such statement before next official statement about the progress in investigation will be released.

Just that possibility above requires:
1. Kerstin suddenly turning wild, reckless and authoritarian,
2. confused/lying cop,
3. SAR's reluctance to start a rescue mission,
4. having pretty much all mountain guides from Kals area, including World famous himalaists and alpinists just wrong and not qualified enough to judge this situation and judging it WRONG while the only one whos judging it right is TP.

 

[Hexe]

TP's official explanation for not doing anything to help Kerstin and secure her is that he "forgot" to do it.

How does one forget to help the person they allegedly love? Just HOW?