An Austrian man has been charged with “grossly negligent homicide” after allegedly abandoning his girlfriend near the summit of the country’s highest mountain earlier this year and leaving her to die of exposure. The 39-year-old defendant, an experienced mountaineer, was said to be acting as a guide for his more inexperienced partner, 33, as they attempted to scale the 12,461-foot peak of Grossglocker back in January. After getting within 50 meters of the summit, the victim said she was unable to continue the hike, prompting the defendant to leave her on the summit feeling “unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented” as he went to seek help, authorities said. Before he left, he failed to provide her with shelter or emergency heat-retaining blankets, causing her to freeze to death as she was battered by “challenging winter conditions,” including gale-force winds of up to 45mph and a temperature of -17°F. After alerting emergency services at 3:30 a.m., he became unreachable after putting his phone on silent, prosecutors claim. “We continue to believe that this was a fateful and tragic accident,” the man’s lawyer told Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung, adding that his client “very much regrets the whole thing.” The man faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
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