The Grossglockner Case That Changed Alpine Law | Disaster Strikes E239

The Grossglockner Case That Changed Alpine Law | Disaster Strikes E239

In January 2025, Thomas Plamberger and his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner set out to climb the Grossglockner — Austria's highest peak — on a technical winter route they had planned together. What happened over the next sixteen hours would result in Kerstin's death from hypothermia, a forensic investigation using GPS watch data and confiscated phones, a surprise courtroom witness with a story eerily similar to Kerstin's, and a verdict that sent shockwaves through the international climbing community. In this episode, Julie and Kaycee walk through the documented timeline minute by minute — the equipment choices, the missed helicopter, the calls that weren't made — and bring in the medical realities of what Kerstin's body was experiencing in those final hours on the mountain. The case raises a question that has no clean answer: when two adults choose to climb together, at what point does one of them become legally responsible for the other? The court gave its answer in February 2026. Whether it was the right one is still being debated.

00:00 Patreon Mention
00:34 Disaster Strikes Intro
01:38 Cold Open On The Ridge
03:05 Case And Legal Question
04:13 Meet Thomas And Kirsten
06:26 Ascent Plan And Early Delays
08:23 Missed Call And Warning Signs
10:02 Helicopter Flyover No Signal
11:18 Gear Illness And Deterioration
12:58 Leaving Her And Rescue Timeline
19:36 Investigation And Trial Twist
23:11 Verdict And Family Response
28:30 Why This Case Changes Climbing
30:28 Final Reflections And Goodbye

Listen AD FREE: Support our podcast at patreaon: http://patreon.com/TheCruxTrueSurvivalPodcast

Email us! thecruxsurvival@gmail.com

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thecruxpodcast/

Get schooled by Julie in outdoor wilderness medicine! https://www.headwatersfieldmedicine.com/

KEY REFERENCES:

  1. Climbing Magazine — "Climber Faces Homicide Charges After His Partner Dies. When Does a Bad Decision Become a Crime?" (December 8, 2025)
  2. Climbing Magazine — "Austrian Climber Found Guilty After Girlfriend Dies of Hypothermia on Grossglockner Mountain" (February 20, 2026)
  3. CNN — "Climber Accused of Leaving Girlfriend to Die on Austria's Tallest Mountain Goes on Trial" (February 19, 2026)
  4. Irish Times — "Alpine Climber Guilty of Manslaughter Over Girlfriend's Death on Austrian Mountain" (February 19, 2026)
  5. Irish Times — "Climber Found Guilty of Manslaughter After Leaving Girlfriend on Austrian Mountain" (February 20, 2026)
  6. Global News — "Climber Convicted of Manslaughter After Leaving Girlfriend to Die on Mountain" (February 20, 2026)
  7. Global News — "Man Charged with Manslaughter After Girlfriend Freezes to Death on Austrian Mountain" (December 13, 2025)
  8. The Daily Beast — "Climber Whose Girlfriend Froze on Mountain Convicted in Shocking Verdict" (February 2026)
  9. LBC News — "Climber Who Left Girlfriend to Die on Austria's Biggest Mountain Spared Jail After Being Found Guilty of Manslaughter" (February 2026)
  10. LADbible — "Man Goes on Trial for 'Leaving Girlfriend to Freeze to Death' on Top of Mountain" (February 19, 2026)
  11. LADbible — "Man Accused of 'Leaving Girlfriend to Freeze to Death' on Mountain Allegedly Abandoned Ex in Same Place" (February 19, 2026)
  12. NewsNation — "Climber Guilty of Manslaughter After Leaving Girlfriend on Austrian Mountain" (February 2026)
  13. KCRG / AP — "Court Convicts Climber Whose Girlfriend Froze to Death After He Left Her Behind on Mountain" (February 21, 2026)
  14. Die Zeit (Germany) — Interview with Gertraud Gurtner (Kerstin's mother) (February 2026)
  15. Innsbruck Public Prosecutor's Office — Formal charging documents and prosecutorial statements (December 2025)
  16. Innsbruck Regional Court — Verdict and judicial statements, Judge Norbert Hofer (February 20, 2026)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(241)

9 Days Stranded in the Nevada Wilderness; The Wrong Turn That Took a Life | E 240

9 Days Stranded in the Nevada Wilderness; The Wrong Turn That Took a Life | E 240

On March 27, 2022, Ronnie and Beverly Barker were on a road trip they had made a dozen times before — from Oregon, heading south through Nevada toward Tucson, Arizona to meet friends. Their GPS routed...

8 Kesä 31min

Lost Behind Enemy Lines for 2 Weeks: After Taking 30 Meth Pills | E238

Lost Behind Enemy Lines for 2 Weeks: After Taking 30 Meth Pills | E238

Hosts Kaycee McIntosh and Julie Henningsen recount Finnish corporal Aimo Koivunen’s March 18, 1944 ordeal during the Continuation War: leading a seven-man long-range ski reconnaissance patrol in Sovie...

1 Kesä 44min

Frozen Solid at 3 Years Old: The Christmas Eve Miracle That Stumped Medicine | E 237

Frozen Solid at 3 Years Old: The Christmas Eve Miracle That Stumped Medicine | E 237

When three-year-old Brittany Eichelberger slipped out of her family's trailer in Elkins, West Virginia on Christmas Eve 1990, no one knew she was gone. She was found hours later, clinically dead in th...

25 Touko 27min

O Circuit Tragedy: 120 MPH | Disaster Strikes E236

O Circuit Tragedy: 120 MPH | Disaster Strikes E236

In this Disaster Strikes segment of the Crux podcast, host Kaycee McIntosh recounts the November 17, 2025 tragedy on Torres del Paine’s O Circuit at John Garner Pass, where a forecasted cyclone hit hu...

21 Touko 41min

30 Seconds to Escape: The Sinking of the Cynthia Woods | E235

30 Seconds to Escape: The Sinking of the Cynthia Woods | E235

Kaycee McIntosh and Julie Henningsen recount the June 2008 Regatta de Amigos disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, when the 38-foot racing sailboat Cynthia Woods lost its keel, punched a hole in the hull, a...

18 Touko 32min

42 Years in Siberia: The Family That Vanished From the World | E234

42 Years in Siberia: The Family That Vanished From the World | E234

In 1936, a Russian man named Karp Lykov watched a Soviet patrol shoot his brother dead in a field — and in that moment, he made a decision. He gathered his wife and two young children, packed seeds an...

11 Touko 41min

Frozen in Time: Solving the Dyatlov Pass Mystery with Science | Disaster Strikes E 233

Frozen in Time: Solving the Dyatlov Pass Mystery with Science | Disaster Strikes E 233

In February 1959, nine skilled winter hikers vanished in Russia's Ural Mountains during what should have been a routine expedition. When rescuers found their tent weeks later, it had been slashed open...

7 Touko 42min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
seitseman
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
i-dont-like-mondays
ihme-ja-kumma
hupiklubi
sita
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kaksi-aitia
mamma-mia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
kolme-kaannekohtaa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
rss-murhan-anatomia
meidan-pitais-puhua
mystista