The woman who was allegedly abandoned by her boyfriend to freeze just steps from the summit of Austria’s highest mountain has been identified as 33-year-old Kerstin Gurtner. The Salzburg native described herself online as a “winter child” and a “mountain person.”
On January 19, Gurtner passed away less than 150 feet from the peak of Grossglockner during a nighttime winter ascent with her boyfriend, 39-year-old experienced mountaineer Thomas Plamberger.
Prosecutors say Plamberger not only led her up the mountain, but ultimately left her there in catastrophic weather conditions.
