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1 posted on 02/20/2026 7:03:05 AM PST by BenLurkin
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The judge, Norbert Hofer, himself an experienced climber who works with mountain and helicopter rescue teams in Tyrol, said "I don't see you as a murderer, I don't see you as cold-hearted."

After all, he added, 'who hasn't done the old leave the girlfriend on the mountain gag. Some chicks really dig it.'

2 posted on 02/20/2026 7:05:46 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Very, very, odd.

It’s seems like they’re criminalizing personal responsibility....all because it was “decided” he was the more experienced climber? Even though she was no novice? Her judgement to not continue is of no relevance?

“Rescuers said it wasn’t an emergency call”...then why the call?

“The defence said that she told Thomas P to go to get help” - how do they know this?

So, in an emergency situation, if you ‘only’ make sure you survive, you’re guilty of a crime if somebody else doesn’t make it?

This seems bizarrely subjective.


5 posted on 02/20/2026 7:14:24 AM PST by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: BenLurkin

Reading the article makes this guy sound pretty strange, and not someone to go climbing with.


7 posted on 02/20/2026 7:26:03 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: BenLurkin

This is an interesting case. My first reaction is that everyone should be personally responsible for themselves, but when it comes to rock climbing, it many times is a two person operation. You need a partner to help you and to ensure safety. So if he made it up safely and then walked away, perhaps that is some type of crime.


8 posted on 02/20/2026 7:27:04 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: BenLurkin

“”””An Austrian climber has been found guilty of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend froze to death on Austria’s highest mountain last year. The man, named only as Thomas P in line with Austrian privacy laws, has been given a five-month suspended sentence and fined €9,600 (£8,400).”””


If anyone has a plan to commit Gross Negligent Manslaughter, then the place to do it is in Austria.


14 posted on 02/20/2026 8:06:53 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: BenLurkin

“Their” song, ironically, was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”


15 posted on 02/20/2026 8:12:27 AM PST by I-ambush (From the brightest star comes the blackest holeYou had so much to offer, why didya offer your soul?)
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To: BenLurkin

Roped himself a hottie, too soon a coldie.


18 posted on 02/20/2026 8:18:50 AM PST by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: BenLurkin

Ha...years ago (45?)...a boyfriend left me standing alone as we entered a very large casino in Vegas..He just wandered off without telling me (must have turned my head). I just panicked...and, I promptly dumped him on return home


23 posted on 02/20/2026 9:18:02 AM PST by goodnesswins (Make educ institutions return to the Mission...reading, writing, math...not Opinions & propaganda)
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To: BenLurkin

Solution: Stop trying to climb mountains with weak women. Or find a less exhausting way to break up with them.


25 posted on 02/20/2026 9:42:19 AM PST by OrangeHoof ("Our property is protected by two pitbulls. They love visitors, especially with marinara or garlic.")
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To: BenLurkin

I wouldn’t take a group into serious mountaineering country without a lot of workup training. Example: bouldering and top roping and lead climbing at Squamish. Cardio tests with easy hikes timed, and other assessments. Once you get into the backcountry 14 hours up a mountain into some saddles or passes or even further up, the idea of rescue is about nil. You best be sure you can make it.


26 posted on 02/20/2026 9:58:41 AM PST by Bulwyf
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To: BenLurkin

Wow they gave him as close to a womans sentencing as a man can get. If the roles were reversed she’d be fined for littering on the mountain, and getting book deals and being told well you had to look out for you, hes an adult...


27 posted on 02/20/2026 11:39:43 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: BenLurkin

Sounds like manslaughter laws in Austria are similar to Italy. Anytime anybody dies from anything other than natural causes and there’s another individual involved, they’re liable to get jammed up for manslaughter. And there’s usually no jail time but a big stonkin’ fine.

When F1 driver Ayrton Senna was killed in a crash at the San Marino GP* in 1994, the Italians spent more than 10 years trying to jam up several of Williams Racing’s higher-ups for the accident. They ended up convicting the team boss but only after the statute of limitations had expired, so there could be no punishment rendered apart from the damage to his reputation.

*San Marino is an independent country but it’s too small and mountainous for a race track, so they use the Imola circuit, near Bologna, which put the matter of his death under Italian jurisdiction.


28 posted on 02/20/2026 1:51:32 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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