The peak of Grossglockner is over 12,000 feet high. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
On January 19, a 33-year-old woman died 160 feet below the summit of Grossglockner, Austria‘s highest peak. She perished after her boyfriend, an experienced mountaineer, left her alone in the freezing conditions. The lights they carried with them were caught by a webcam, and they trace an outline of a sad sequence of events.
According to reports, neither the woman or her boyfriend have been identified, but the boyfriend is facing up to three years in prison if manslaughter by gross negligence is proven in an Innsbruck Regional Court on February 19, 2026. Gross negligence manslaughter is a criminal charge for killing someone through behavior so careless that it can be considered a crime.
Local media outlets reported that the boyfriend set off to find help at about 2 a.m. when the woman couldn’t continue on with the climb. Grossglockner, also called Glockner or The Großglockner, is not only the highest peak in Austria, but the highest mountain in the Alps east of Brenner Pass. Austria’s biggest glacier, the Pasterze, makes up part of Grossglockner’s east slope. LBC Radio reported that the woman had a splitboard and soft snowboard boots, which is not suitable for a high-alpine climb.
After the victim realized that she couldn’t go on any longer, the 36-year-old boyfriend decided to get help, but didn’t find any shelter for her. The temperature was well below freezing and wind gusts were in the 45-50 mph range when he left her.
“The defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50 meters [160 feet] below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death,” prosecutors said Thursday while charging the boyfriend with grossly negligent manslaughter. “Since the defendant, unlike his girlfriend, was already very experienced with alpine high-altitude tours and had planned the tour, he was to be considered the responsible guide of the tour.”
About an hour and a half after he left his girlfriend alone on the peak, he made contact with emergency crews. It was around 3:30 a.m., but it is alleged that after that contact was made, he “put his phone on silent and stowed it away.”
When the dawn broke, six rescuers began their ascent, but by the time anyone could reach her, she had tragically succumbed to the cold.
“Despite the woman’s inexperience, as she had never undertaken an alpine, high-altitude tour of this length, difficulty, and altitude,” prosecutors said, “and despite the challenging winter conditions, the defendant undertook the alpine high-altitude tour to the Grossglockner via the Studlgrat with her in winter.”
