The experienced climber who allegedly abandoned his girlfriend to freeze at the top of Austria’s highest peak posted—and later deleted—a tribute to her just days after her body was recovered.
Thomas Plamberger was charged last week with grossly negligent manslaughter following a months-long investigation into the tragedy that claimed the life of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner.
Plamberger, an experienced mountaineer, is accused of leaving Kerstin behind approximately 160 feet (50 m) from the summit of Grossglockner mountain when she struggled to continue on January 19.
