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

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https://www.ndtv.com/lifestyle/what-is-alpine-divorce-a-dark-dating-trend-of-abandoning-partners-mid-adventure-11149886#:~:text=Read%20Time:%203%20mins,hike%20has%20become%20quite%20common.

I shall keep an eye on scientific articles. What is the thrill of doing such things?

Is it a thrill? It's probably convenience.

Vast vast VAST majority of husbands and fathers who report their wives or kids missing are scared victims of same event/accident/abduction/murder that stopped the wife or kid from coming back home.
Yet as you read about disappearances and solved cases you learn that's pretty popular scenario that murderers were the ones who either reported wife/girlfriend/child/family as missing OR hasnt reported it officially to cops but sold the bulletproof story to concerned friends and other family members that:
a) they left home middle of the night,
b) "she ran away with a sailor/biker",
c) they have no idea what could possibly happen.

Women occasionally do that too, but it seems to be like 20 to 50 TIMES rarer.
It happens often enough that the smartest, most convenient and best for investigation is to focus on family and close ones first - to rule them out or in and dont waste money on big suspect hunts, cause it happens that often thats indeed a husband/father/boyfriend/other male close to the victim that is responsible.

And the reason WHY they do it is obvious. Cause that gives them the best chance of getting away with it.

Its even easier when victim is into climbing, hiking, sailing, mushroom picking, exploring and whatever other activity that takes place in secluded areas or/and involves a lot of risk if all safety measures arent followed or even if they are.
Everybody knows that accidents happen. This works as yet another shield.

Same thing with suicides. Back in the day, with much less technology and knowledge available it was next to impossible to prove that what looked like suicide wasnt really that. As it became possible, as more dedicated investigators with bit of time focused on cases like that. And they discovered that not every time when it looked like suicide it really was.

Yet we are still in some sort of strange denial about sketchy tragedies that happened outdoors.

 

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And hopefully if the prosecution's appeal is argued in full, they do a more thorough job at dissecting those 4 web cams.

They already dissected this too much with I cant get what reason.
Why they gave him a list of 9 (which is not enough for my judgement but whatever) of offences and went through every single one like they were not connected.

How starting too late is a crime? It's freaking not.
It's not forbidden, its not dangerous by itself. You can start a hike in Grossglockner direction at whatever time, in any weather on any day of the year, then stay at the hut overnight or get to the glacier, take some pics, turn back and go home.
Even doing actual climb - as long as you know what youre doing, what youre dealing with and have the gear or if you have absolutely no clue how to climb, dont have a gear or an idea what a climb like that actually means - its not a crime, by any stretch. The latter may and probably should guarantee you a decent fine, forced educational course and the rescue bill if rescue operation will be necessary (unless you have great insurance).

Like literally each of these 9 offences separately:

• Starting the climb too late
• Inadequate planning/preparation
• Allowing unsuitable equipment
• Failing to turn around
• Failure to use emergency gear
• Leaving the partner alone
• Failing to properly signal for rescue
• Negligent communication/Failure to call for help
• Breach of Duty of Care

Could be easily explained by:

• too much confidence,
• poor judgement,
• hoping for the best,
• tunnel vision,
• shock & stress,
• bad decision,
• confusion,
• loud wind,
• twisted sense of equality

But as I said about 20 times before and I will say it 21th time: one, two or three of these can no ill will, just some (strange or not even necessarily strange) factors happen, and it could still end up as perfectly fine climb. None of these could be at play and they could both end up dead cause of avalanche. Or single small mistake could turn into disaster.

It shouldnt matter at all.
The totality of it should matter. If divided into 9 elements, then each element in context of the fateful events and what preceded and followed them. Not separately.

That separation actually makes me understand "his" defenders and concerned climbers.
As in my opinion there is absolutely no way that anyone who lacks bad intentions could get even remotely close to what the accused did. No matter the experience, no matter what.
But if taken apart like that? Looked at as separate offenses? Barely anyone could end up not negligent in some aspects, especially if someone really wanted to make them look like that even during perfectly safe climbs as nothing goes exactly-perfect in every aspect of it. Then imagination can go wild and create all sorts of crazy scenarios in which someone gets vilified despite of doing only what they deemed as best, safest and most reasonable option.

There is a reason why its easy to create a scenario where someone no ill will but some odd-or-not-so-odd factors ends up
a) starting climb oddly late, missing some rather important piece of gear and failing to do something they havent even thought of doing...
b) panicking after companion gets injured and making a bunch of bad choices...
c) making wrong choices cause relying on wrong assumptions
and the reason is: cause that may happen. That happens sometimes. No ill will, excesssive stupidity, recklesness, lack of knowledge, lack of experience required. It still can happen in unfortunate circumstances.

Not so easy to come up with something that would be as elaborately, consistently, multi level "negligent" as the accused story is.

Upon appeal, could the prosecution upgrade TP's charge to murder???

Of course they could but they wont.
Apparently they are too concerned with how the trial and sentencing is gonna look in the eyes of people who rely on coverage that makes him look like a bad boyfriend and poor climber.

 

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There is a recent interview with Kerstin's mom in "Die Zeit" and apart from trial reports thats the only time she spoke up. It's paywalled, so Im not gonna share it here but I think I can share what you can learn from it.

1. The mom and likely whole family struggles a lot with the fact that Kerstin ended up portrayed as this inexperienced, naive, silly girl who got dragged up the mountain by the media.

I can't tell thats the impression I got but I also dont know which media she talks about. Could be something that affected her/them deeply but wasnt delivered by one of the biggest media sources, possibly something I havent stumbled on.
BUT (my speculation) it also may be what they experienced via social media or from people who got familiar with the story and that's what they concluded: that she was naive, silly and inexperienced.

This is absolutely NOT the case. There is nothing out there that would indicate or support that and a lot to support the exact opposite of it.
Kerstin WAS experienced in mountaineering, had few months experience in climbing, lived in Alps and was very active, loved the mountains, loved the outdoors.
BUT there is a big difference between being experienced mountain HIKER and impressive beginner climber and an having an experience that would be relevant on Studlgrat in January.
That's why the accused here and his lawyer insist so much on repeating that she had "relevant alpine experience". That's true. Hell yeah she had. You can't argue that as long as it's just that vague statement. You have and (imo) should argue that in context of "relevant alpine experience" vs. Studlgrat in January.

Same thing with "naive" and "silly".
That seems to be the very basic conclusion that could pop up in people's heads after hearing this story and learning that she didnt have proper equipment, never climbed in Winter before and got exhausted on the mountain. Majority of reporting in this case is not great, there are errors, mixed up facts and strong tendency to go on the surface so hard to even blame people for concluding what they were essentially led to conclude by the style of narrative.

2. We can learn more about Kerstin and her love of the outdoors. Curious, active child. Grew up in Alps. Hiked with her family a lot, loved winter sports, was always very active.

What to me feels like contradictions is also in that article. The quote below:

"Kerstin liked to explore her limits. But above all, she was a responsible and nature-loving person. For her, the mountains were not a place of recklessness, but of silence, mindfulness and respect. She carefully prepared herself for her tours and met the alpine world with humility."

No idea what mom means by "liking to explore her limits".
There are two types of that as far as I noticed: one is the daredevil, extreme style and the other fits more into self-improvement, challenge and achievement umbrella.
What mom says later fits the second type.
If she meant extreme-daredevil stunts then well... may be the case, but nothing on her socials, in the trial or in the interview provides any example of that.

3. Mom says that Kerstin and Thomas ALWAYS made their decisions together and that "if Kerstin didn't agree they didn't take a mountain tour" or he did it alone.

That confuses me a bit - and that "bit" may be understatement.
We learned from the trail that they allegedly "met through social media" in 2024.
First mention of him in her socials is on the (relatively easy) Dachstein tour in March.
Another thing that we learned from trial is that they werent living together.
Neither Kerstin lived with her mom, or with Thomas - they only allegedly planned to move in together in the future.
Both his and hers mountain tours are almost exclusively taking place during Weekends.
In span of these 10,5 months there was a lot, a LOT of climbs that he did alone or with other people, not with Kerstin. There was more of that than their joined tours.
Surely not everything was shared in SM but (my opinion, my speculation) it doesnt seem like there was that much time and occasion for Kerstin's family to get to know Thomas. They appear to have nothing but good impression of him. To me not that much to back it up as more than impression, especially that mom also mentions that Kerstin worked a lot.

4. What creeps me out to the bloody oblivion is the fact that mom uses exact same phrases in German than the accused did. They all miss her "infinitely", all describe the event as "exceptional situation". She, as well as many of those who defend Thomas online accuses many people who blame him of "never being in such an exceptional situation" and playing heroes from the comfort of their couches.

That may mean nothing or it may mean something. As far as online reporting goes, it came from him first, these phrases, cause Kerstin's family wasnt speaking up till February 2026.
May be the way they all are speaking. May be caught on subconsciously by either of them and thats why ist same not-the-most-obvious phrasing.
Hard to me to entirely brush off an impression that he might heard or read them saying that and decided to repeat it in same way to make sure they feel like he feels in exact same way about this.

Its worth remembering that majority of those who expressed shock, outrage and confusion about the January 18th and 19th events are not couch goblins and keyboard warriors but climbers with decades of experience.

And it should not be (imo again) forgot for even a second that we're not talking here about the "exceptional situation" of the type that everything was going relatively fine, then SOMETHING HAPPENED and all sorts of bad decisions followed, like it all started after Midnight. It did not start at Midnight. If it started at Midnight I doubt he would be charged of anything.
That whole situation was indeed exceptional. Compared to spending time on the couch. Compared to climbing various peeks every weekend. But also compared to the accidents and all sorts of unfortunate events during climbing. Someone having an injured/exhausted companion during extreme weather is not that exceptional situation for mountain rescuers who were and still are stunned by this.

5. Mom makes it very clear that they dont want to put a blame on Thomas or anyone, that they see it was a tragic accident, a result of concentration of unfortunate circumstances and that... essentially they just want peace now.

Admirable yet heartbreaking attitude. Understandably they want to keep living somehow and try to honor Kerstin and her love for mountains best as they can and this whole media attention to go away.

6. But then she also says that Kerstin was highly trained. And that she has already mastered much more difficult climbing tours alone and also with her boyfriend.

And that's problematic.
"Highly trained" in what? Compared to who? Is she was so highly trained, then why NOTHING but a climbing course for beginners taken in 2024 is mentioned?

7. She provides examples. Schönfeldspitze, Watzmann in 2020, Großer Wiesbachhorn... and Dachsten via Steinerweg route in November 2024.

And that is even more problematic. Cause three out of 4 mentioned are HIKES. Not climbs but HIKES. Hikes that include some narrow passages, some very steep edges and holding on a rope while going up... theyre not even in same universe as Studlgrat in January.
Not by any meaning a easy hikes. Demanding, challenging, long, exhausting... hikes. No actual climbing required there.
I will write more about Steinerweg later cause that's a big thing I missed in my earlier research.

8. She points out that its not out of the ordinary to be in Mountains at night.

Of course it's not. She even mentions watching sunrises and sunsets in mountains that Kerstin enjoyed. Thats beautiful thing and it is very popular.
BUT hiking & mountaineering before sunrise (to see it from high above) or to see sunset is most of the time a Summer season activity. And not on mountains and especially routes as hard as Studlgrat.
Most people have 7-15 or 9-17 job's. Some of those people want to be active and they want to go out and be in the mountains. Those who live in the mountains can have it after work. But they arent summiting through challenging routes starting in the evening but going on hikes.

So she makes a great argument why the sole fact of being out there at night isnt weird, extraordinary or irresponsible. It's not. In general. But "in general" by any stretch doesnt extrapolate on mountains like Grossglockner, especially in January.

9. She says that neither she talking with Kerstin on the phone daily nor her friends she met two days earlier noticed that Kerstin may be sick. She never mentioned it, she hasnt sounded or appeared sick.

She said that its extremely irritating to her that the claims that Kerstin went climbing while sick came up. So apparently speculations went wild.
And since these are claims in Thomas's defense - speculations that she woke up sick that morning, took a pill, havent told him about it and bassically put them both at risk this way. It wasnt said that way directly, but in a way that suspicion comes as pretty obvious conclusion from the provided narrative.

No mention of mom's possible awareness that ibuprofen may be taken for the altitude sickness, without Kerstins awareness that shes in very early stages of infection.
Which means nothing in context of the mom cause she couldnt be aware if Kerstin or Thomas had that in their minds or could have that in their minds as Kerstin wasnt really on ANY mountain that would be tall and hard enough to be problematic in context of altitude sickness.

I missed the ibuprofen questions during trial very much. To the accused if he was aware that's why climbers use ibuprofen. If he ever used it or advised to use it. If his climbing companions were using it that way and/or talking about it.
May not clear up anything, may clear it up a bit - but that wouldnt be in his interest.

That would be very "naive and silly" to not say "irresponsible and dumb" move to just take a pill and go climbing despite of feeling unwell in the morning.
But NOT naive or silly at all if that pill was taken to decrease the risk of getting altitude sickness.

I dont like that pill. I dont like it at all. He says he knew "nothing about this".
With only three possible reasons to take ibuprofen she could have:
a) feeling a bit sick,
b) experiencing some pain like a tooth pain,
c) for altitude sickness.
With C he should absolutely know about this. A B and C a caring, attentive boyfriend who has a trust of his girlfriend would more likely than not KNOW that she felt a bit sick or had x pain before taking it, through basic human interactions and talking between people.
It also could totally happen that the reason for the pill was so tiny and irrelevant to Kerstin that she didnt mentioned that at all. But then how come that she even HAD that ibuprofen with her? It was his car so she would have to pack it up just in case. That's not an action of an irresponsible person, to HAVE that ibuprofen just in case it may be needed. May be accidentally left in purse or something. But adding it to the fact that SHE HAD A BIVY in her backpack, and that she HAD at least one conversation with her mom about mountain safety (while he & his dad claim that naah, only superficially) may imply that she was pretty responsible person.

10. Mom says that "Kerstin is often portrayed as an untrained woman with very little mountain experience." in context of troubles that family has dealing with all the media attention.

Cant say that I stumbled on much of that unless some random insta/fb/yt reel/short counts as "media coverage". More reputable sources were pretty good in stating that she had no experience in high altitude, Winter or Studlgrat climbs. Which is true.

Pico el Teide hike and several almost high altitude climbs doesnt count as "high altitude climbing experience" by any stretch. Its more than vast vast majority of people have, cause theyre not mountaneering or climbing at all and even if they occasionally go somewhere up, its not that high.

Going up via normal route on Dachstein in March doesnt count as having experience in Winter climbs. Neither does hiking up the mountains that still have some snow on top of them.

And Kerstin was never on Studlgrat or Grossglockner.

So it's all true and factual.

Not true that Kerstin had "very little mountain experience". It would be like claiming that someone who drives their car for 20 years have very little driving experience. Ridiculous. Of course he has a lot of driving experience.
But not everyone who has a lot of driving experience in general could drive through North Yungas Road in Bolivia first time in his life and still be considered as experienced in context of THAT challenge. Unless he drove through that or similarly extreme roads in the past he wouldnt be. Would be hurtful and unfair to call him inexperienced driver... yet absolutely inappropriate to insist that he IS an experienced driver and can go there anytime.

That whole article (link) is heartbreaking and painful to read, you can really feel how that mother is suffering and how horrible it is for her and for the whole family.

Hasnt changed my perception of the events though.
Makes me thing that I understand where she's coming from while defending the accussed and insisting that he's not at fault. Cause well... it being totally unforeseen and genuinely, tragically accidental takes all the blame away from everyone. Every little aspect of it. And especially from Kerstin.

If it was unforeseen, unintentional and due to the unpredictable circumstances then there would be no room for insinuating that Kerstin was naive, silly and irresponsible about that climb and climbing in general. And also in regard of her boyfriend.

That seems to be the easiest way for survival while under all the shades of public scrutiny that may not even be meant as such yet still feels like ruthless blaming.
There is not really a pass for being both: generally experienced, responsible, fit yet deceived into going for that climb. Not with the narrative that was set on by media, focusing solely or mainly on the fact that he left her and that she had no high altitude Winter climbing experience - which turned into her being totally unexperienced.

Like oh my, no freaking way that experienced hiker and great beginner climber, strong willed, physically active woman could be deceived and dragged up the mountain against her will or against her better judgement. Must be:
a) a naive sheep who knew nothing about anything,
b) 100% aware what she was doing and what was going on, no matter how odd it appears
or she should know better and we all know better so thats only her issue and may be an issue of others who also dont know better.

 

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Dachstein climb via Steinerweg may actually be a reason why Kerstin went on Studlgrat.

No reason to assume that it was that well planned ahead cause again, as mom testified - they havent discussed the climb, they havent discussed the route while they DID with other climbs, and the only mention of Gross was Kerstin expressing that she wants to go there said in December 2024.
It might be planned, but no actual proofs and hints that it was planned showed up.

Mom mentiones Steinerweg in the interview. Judge also mentioned Steinerweg as the only somewhat comparably demanding and long climb Kerstin ever did.

If we're gonna compare Steinerweg and Studlgrat in early November, with decent weather, then Steinerweg will be the HARDER climb out of the two.
But there is not really that much comparison between still-Summer-season Steinerweg with nice weather and completely ruthless weather on Studlgrat in January. Studlgrat is pure insanity in that context. And totally exposed to the wind while Steinerweg isn't.

Pic from bergsteigen



It's 2 hours walk from the parking lot to the wall + from 5 to 7 hours climb with relatively easy descend, easier than normal route on Gross.
Studlgrat (described by most) about 3 hours walk from Lucknerhaus + 2 hours up to the Fruhs + 3 hours to the summit.
So that's comparable estimated time.

Kerstin shared pics from that climb, which took place most likely on November second.



Thanks to the cams again (Ramsau this time) and the sun on Dachstein's south wall it can be pretty accurately estimated that pic was taken sometime around 8:00 in the morning. And they still havent started climbing yet.

Yet they still summited at dark, dark night. Had to be 19:00 at least. There is a picture on her insta.



Then descend isnt that challenging and theoretically can be done after dark. Not optimal but not deadly dangerous. Could be consider a hike down.

So that 5-7 hour (estimated) climb took them LONGER, about 10 hours in perfect weather of first weekend of November 2024.

After doing that and not doing ANY climb that she felt are worth mentioning or no climbs at all for 2,5 months she felt like she totally can do Studlgrat as her first climb on ice?
Even more, Im supposed to believe that climb made Thomas confident that they can make it in decent time while starting actual climbing on Studlgrat at about 11:00?

Higher mountain, more wind exposed, Winter vs. Summer season, stone vs. stone under ice and stone, longer than average estimate vs. within or even bit quicker than average estimate AND no significant climbs for Kerstin in the mean time? Just skiing/snowboarding tours?

11:00+2h is 13:00 +3h is 16:00 +1,5h is 17:30. After dark already.
+ January. + Studlgrat being totally exposed to the wind while Steinerweg not so much.

Judge mentioned something about planning to summit at 21:00.
From where he got it I dont know. But still.
3-5 hours behind "estimated" climbing time on Steinerweg... and assumed BETTER speed on Studlgrat in January? Even with loony plan to summit at 21:00 that was unreasonably optimistic.
Unreasonably optimistic like no freaking reason to have that expectation. Not at all. Especially with worsening weather. It could only slow them down to snail speed or make them stuck.

And if we are going with assumption that it was allegedly PLANNED as nightly summiting and descending. Okay, fine. Lets say that happened. But then why on Earth she would have that splitboard on? It wouldnt have any use. Dead weight in exhange for bits, tiny bits of smoother walk up. That apparently she didnt get cause he was wearing her splitted skis on their way to Studlhutte (according to the witness who walk there with them and then went on normal route).

I havent checked Steinerweg before. Not enough digging about that.
Scarily, relying on online available info its totally possible to DO some quick/basic research and get an impression of Studlgrat being:
a) EASIER
b) FASTER
climb than Steinerweg.
Not even comparable. EASIER and FASTER.

Even in people's reviews. Nobodys comparing Summer season Steinerweg to Studlgrat in January. Even if some Winter SEASON comparisons are made that "Winter season" is not January but March, April, May - mountains are covered in snow still.

That still would require a lot of recklessness and naivety that isnt really showing in Kerstin's actions prior. Unless she got a reassurance and encouragement from Thomas. That it IS significantly easier and that they CAN do it faster.
Then, even considering that she did some research... that research could not dive her into making realistic conclusions.

Having - no matter how much he tries to downplay his experience - very well experienced with Gross, with Studlgrat and with Winter climbs boyfriend brings pretty logical assumption that he could be expected to provide necessary info and insight.

We know that he already experienced a partner getting exhausted during climb there (yup, that ex girlfriend he left in that state and descended alone in a heartbeat).

Kerstin's mom provides somewhat odd description of them making their decisions together. As "she could say no". Cant say that fells into my vision of "making a decision together", but anyways.

But with the weather going bad afternoon, without anyone else climbing anywhere on the mountain, with his ice climbing experience and Gross experience...
No. Still no. Just no. There is literally NO base for summit fever there. And he made these decisions and kept them long before he could get exhausted, confused and altitude sick.

Even if she would still want to keep climbing, even if it was her idea. Suddenly she became the dominant one? Or an equal participant?
He was providing her with his leftover gear. He had adequate shoes, she didnt. At no point she was leading. She kept walking behind him even before Studlhutte and she could absolutely NOT be the first one climbing on Studlgrat. That's not equality. That's clear one-sided dominance. That theoretically could be caring, partnership like leadership... but he cant even describe it in that way.

Its him who "thought about calling the rescue" at 0:30.
It's him who asked Kerstin if she called for rescue as heli showed up.
It's her who injured her hip SLIGHTLY during the fall, its her who lost a glove and had to be given one of his spare ones.

Its not WE thought about calling the rescue.
Its not WE were shocked and confused about the heli.
Its not WE asked each other if the other one called 140.
Its not WE tried to figure out what to do.
There is no HER in his descriptions.
Only HER thing is "urging him to go" and "agreeing that him going to the Adlers is their best option" that shrinked with time into "Go, Go!" scream.
And that totally unfitting the set narrative of "we wanted to have a tea but everything was frozen".

Thats not how the euality works. If someone sees themselves as truly equal, there is more of "we" and lot of "I" mixed with "she/he/them" said/did something. Not I, I, I all the time.

Kerstin successfully climbed Steinerweg. That's no joke, no hike, no easy, short or quick and smooth climb.
Ambitious and challenging task after smaller mountains and easier or/and shorter climbs.
She was happy with it. Had a good time apparently.
"1000m of pure climbing pleasure, via the Steiner route to the Dachstein summit I never thought I'd be able to climb the entire face after 6 months of alpine climbing " on her insta.

There was Steinerweg on the (most likely) November 2nd (cant rule out that possibly even a week earlier).
Then there was Frauenkopf (1287m) that she posted pics from on November 4th. Thats pretty short and relatively easy climb with not so long climbing part of the climb. Very popular during all seasons.

Then there is nothing on Kerstin's socials. No climbing posts at all. Pic in snowboarding outfit in December, then pics from hiking and snowboarding in early January.
In the mean time he did several extreme Winter climbs.

Including Grossglockner via Aschenbrenner,
including Grossglockner via Mayerlrampe
and including Grossglockner via Palavicini.

November 8th, Friday evening, from 17:00 to 20:30 there are at least three people visible going up to small 8 people capacity shelter called Grossglockner-Biwak thats most convenient starting point for all the three routes.
November 9th - at least two people descending last parts of Kleinglockner via normal route between 17:30 and 18:00.
First climbers SUMMITING on that day are seen on the Gross Zoom camera near the summit at 9:00 in the morning. Six people there at 10:00. Then more people. Then no people. Then two people at 16:20, then no more pics available.
November 10th - at least two people descending from 17:20 and passing Adlers at 18:10
Summiting climbers, same as day before. 8:40 in the morning and there are already 4 on the summit, few more visible climbing up via normal route, then even more people and more people, up to 12 near the cross in same moment up to 13:40, then no pics or nobody till 2 climbers on the summit at 16:00 visible descending later.

Well, there is no way of proving who are those people whose headlamps are visible shortly after sundown but it was either him and his possible companions or he summited much earlier and headlamps belong to other people.
Call me biased but isnt that pretty good indicator of how long such climb should take to be reasonable in time, bit overdue and crazy, dangerously overtime?

Also, he claims to climb Grossglockner 14-15 times.
Well, according to what he posted online while claming to be "digital creator" prior to shutting it all up after getting charged he climbed it at least six times in 2024.
Cause these Mayerl & Aschen climbs I mentioned earlier happened in February. And there were three, one with unspecified route - then three in November.
Maybe it somehow cant be proven that it was more than 14 or 15 (and maybe indeed it was, even without some creative counting like marathon of day after day climbs counting as "one climb") but even if it wants, with the best will in the World to believe that there was no ill will or/and outrageous criminal negligence going on with climb on 18th I cant see how anyone can have not at least "mixed feelings" about this.

 

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Dachstein climb via Steinerweg may actually be a reason why Kerstin went on Studlgrat.

By that I meant that no matter what level of deception anyone is willing to consider (if any) so either:
a) them planning that trip together in advance,
b) him deciding to go and giving her a chance to join,
c) him deciding theyre going and giving her a chance to refuse,
d) them planning to go somewhere in Grossglockner area but deciding to go on Studlgrat only as they arrived, or in the Morning or as they parted ways with climber who went via Normal Route,
e) him deceiving her into going on a surprise climb via Studlgrat while it "supposed to be" via normal route,
f) him deceiving her into going on some other mountain in the area and there is A LOT to choose from in the wide Grossglockner area around Matrei,
g) or something even crazier like convincing her to go just to see the mountain and take some pics in good weather and best sunlight from the below (not really possible to do with very early climbs) and then jumping out with the gear from his backpack and "lets go climb" idea with some forms of emotional blackmail going on*

*- I would not put much stock into that last possibility, I was thinking about it but expected to learn more and discover that no way it could be the case. Didnt happen. Even worse.
There were actually things that made me consider it as even more a possibility as nowhere in the trial reports is actually mentioned IF he had skis.
Climbers often HAVE skis. He shared several pics of himself climbing other mountains, Gross and Studlgrat specifically with skis. Which means he absolutely COULD have them on. But that doesnt mean he had them on. And the info came up that he was using her "skis". Why would he using her skis if he had his own? Doesnt make sense. But her having splitboard on while he didnt have skis doesnt make much sense either.
Then he also says that the reason why they were climbing so slow was cause of heavy backpacks.
Hers was weighted insanely by the splitboard itself. She also never had to climb with a backpack full of winter climbing gear and supplies. He did. Multiple times. Why was it heavier?
It could be much heavier than usual if he was carrying all the climbing gear up to the point he made her aware that surprise climb awaits her.

Nothing said so far excludes or implies that possibility.

BUT, no matter what. No matter which scenario. Kerstin almost unavoidably had a LOT of reasons to believe she can make it.

The biggest one being the fact that she had experienced climber boyfriend.
He can dispute that all he wants but the fact is that if your friend or significant other is very much into something and appears as an expert or at least very experienced in the area the only logical, natural and universally common reaction is to TRUST them on that field, not to doubt and suspect that theyre reckless, irresponsible posers.
Then there is at least one more climber they met on the way. So they werent alone there. "Other people do that too" is pretty reassuring.
If she expressed an interest in climbing Gross in unspecific future in December, being with a guy who climbed it left and right, North and South slope and had all his socials sprinkled with lots of pics from these climbs then she likely did some research about the routes and mountain itself. According to the internet it's all (the routes) much easier and/or comparable or SHORTER than Dachstein via Steinerweg.
IF it was a trip planned ahead and IF she planned to climb it at least since December, then what would speak up in Thomas's defense louder than her family/friends saying that she talked about it in advance. Yet we havent heard that.
Took me over a month of consistent looking at Studlgrat/Gross climbing pics from people to start recognising the shape of stones and kinda be able to tell where is what. I highely doubt I would be able to tell in what spot I am relying just on what I see during the climb after a week of looking at them. There are multiple plates with info, not only at Fruhs (with the most recognisable and attention grabbing plate) but they dont go into very specific details. Its pretty basic info. She could easily get or be forced under impression that summit is much closer than it was.
She also had the reasons to not be scared of with the perspective on still being on the mountain after dark. All the way up to Fruhs she could be under impression that they will make it before sundown and will be in the safer zone then. No naivety, no irresponsibleness, no sillyness required. Possible for her. Not only possible but most likely. Not possible for him.

Maybe somehow it was "just" negligence on the accused part and no ill will. MAYBE. I dont buy it, I dont believe it, what I learned from the trial made me consider it even less but even taking it as possibility, entertaining it for a little bit.
Even without his deception, without his ill will it was still totally possible FOR KERSTIN to, due to combo of very unfortunate circumstances (mostly involving the fact that this climb wasnt discussed prior with people who may have or get better first hand experience AND the fact that none of these climbing websites makes it clear how much harder the route gets in Winter - and its not as simple as "oh obviously in Winter its all ten times harder", not neccessarily and its not hard to find people who argue that Winter climbs are easier, cause Summer heat is worse for them) to be smart, responsible, safety oriented just bit daring and open to new challenges and go on Studlgrat in January with a guy who she trusted and who climbed that mountain and that route many times.

With some level of deception involved anyone could end up in her position. Hurt, scared, exhausted and alone. Barely anyone could end up on the mountain like Gross, cause barely anyone is in into climbing (as far as general population goes). But that was just what she specifically loved: mountains. Different people love different stuff, some appear less risky than other and that can be used or end up working against them.
There is too much focus on the mountain and to less on Kerstin and the dynamic of the event.
Mountain is tall, Winter is cold, so Kerstin must be pretty silly to go there. And thats how instead of truly, deeply investigating what happened with use of every info that is or could be available for those who do it we end up with traumatized family who tries to protect and save all what they have left: the memory of Kerstin and trying to stop her from being a character in a story, written by people who dont even seem to honestly read the early news reports and that crazy odd statement from June.

There should be some mandatory extra deep counseling for people who lost their loved ones and got dragged into a media craze cause there is like no base. Losing a loved one, even tragically, not hard at all to find people who can relate, who went to similar trauma few years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago and so on. There are parents, friends, grandparents, family members, neighbors, whoever who know and can share how this, that and that person dealt with it, not necessarily AS it happened to someone. On daily basis, during talking, as life goes on. Not that much experience anyone can have with Countrywide or even Worldwide media attention. Thats new, thats not something anyone could really prepare to in any way during their lifetime, like entirely new beast, bigger than any local gossiping could ever get. Like... how anyone could even figure on their own what to do, how to behave, how to not make it even worse for them AS THEY ARE GRIEVING?

(the paragraph above not that closely related to what I wrote before, just a thought)