A CLIMBER accused of leaving his girlfriend to freeze to death up a mountain wrote a haunting social media message after her body was found.
Prosecutors claim Thomas Plamberger, 36, abandoned Kerstin Gurtner, 33, after she collapsed near the peak of Grossglockner – Austria’s highest peak – where she then froze to death.
He allegedly delayed at multiple opportunities to alert rescuers to his stricken girlfriend, who lay 150ft from the top of the 12,460ft peak, and failed to wrap her in any warm protection.
Plamberger then paid tribute to his partner with a since-deleted Instagram post, saying it “hurts so incredibly much”, Bild reported.
He wrote: “I miss you so much. It hurts so incredibly much. Forever in my heart. Without you, time is meaningless.”
The 36-year-old also reportedly co-signed the obituary that Gurtner’s grieving parents wrote in the wake of her death.
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Plamberger was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, and faces up to three years behind bars if convicted.
Prosecutors said the couple became stranded at around 8:50pm, but that he failed to issue a distress call until the early hours.
The pair had been climbing later than planned and were ill-equipped for the brutal winter conditions, officials said.
They were just 150 feet from the summit when Gurtner collapsed, as temperatures plunged to around -20C with wind chill.
What followed, investigators allege, was a catastrophic chain of delays.
Plamberger “did not call the emergency services quickly enough,” prosecutors said, accusing him of ignoring multiple early chances to raise the alarm.
They claim he stayed silent when a police helicopter passed overhead at 10.50pm, and that he only first spoke with Alpine Police at around 12.35am, nearly four hours after trouble began.
He then allegedly put his phone on silent.
The boyfriend reportedly didn’t call again until 3.30am, after leaving his partner alone on the mountain.
By then, a trail camera had captured him descending the opposite side.
Prosecutors said: “At approximately 2am, the defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic, and disoriented about 50m below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death.”
Authorities insist Plamberger, a seasoned mountaineer, should never have taken Gurtner – who was inexperienced and on her first high-altitude winter tour – on the route.
She is said to have been wearing soft boots unsuitable for the terrain.
He also allegedly failed to place her in shelter or wrap her in emergency blankets.
Chilling webcam images reportedly show their head torches climbing at 6pm, then fading six hours later as power drained.
Another image shows Plamberger alone, torch still lit, traversing the ridge after leaving Gurtner behind.
A helicopter launched at 7am the next morning was beaten back by fierce winds.
A rescue team reached Gurtner around 10am, but she was already dead.
Plamberger denies wrongdoing through his lawyer, Kurt Jelinek, insisting he left only to get help and that the tragedy was “a tragic, fateful accident.”
He faces up to three years in prison if convicted when his trial opens in Innsbruck in February.
Meanwhile, friends and loved ones have posted emotional tributes to the late climber from Salzburg.
“Rest in peace in heaven,” one wrote.
“Behind the tears of sorrow lies the smile of remembrance,” said another.
A third added: “We still think of you so often.”