An Austrian court has sentenced a 37-year-old mountaineer to five months in prison and a €94,000 fine for abandoning his partner during a storm on the Grossglockner, Austria's highest peak. Thomas Plamberger left Kerstin Gurtner alone on a ridge exposed to strong winds while he went to seek help at a nearby refuge. During the trial, it was revealed that Plamberger took their emergency equipment: a thermal blanket and a bivouac sack. The incident occurred in January 2025. According to the ruling, after a long day of climbing in adverse conditions, the couple was about 50 meters below the summit when the victim, exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, had to stop. The judge stated that while the defendant is an excellent mountaineer, Gurtner was not at his level, and they should have abandoned the expedition when they saw that the conditions were unsuitable for her. According to the prosecution, winds were blowing at up to 74 km/h and temperatures were around eight degrees below zero. Therefore, since Plamberger was a much more experienced climber than his partner, he had the responsibility to assess the situation and make a correct and safe decision. The defendant has been found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, as he abandoned the victim without activating any rescue signal, even though a helicopter was circling the area. The man, who pleaded not guilty, told the court he was "terribly sorry," described his partner's death as a "tragic accident," and claimed they had planned the trip together. His lawyer argued that the victim was not inexperienced and knew what kind of climb they were undertaking. A former partner of the defendant who testified at the trial explained that he had abandoned her on a previous climb to the same peak. According to the statement, Plamberger disappeared suddenly when both were fatigued and dizzy, and did not return despite their shouts. Footage recorded from a helicopter showed the couple climbing, not in any risky or emergency situation. Mountain police did not activate a search operation, although they received a call in which it was unclear whether they needed rescue. They later tried to contact Plamberger, but he did not answer calls and messages, reportedly because he had activated airplane mode on his phone to save battery. The case has attracted international interest because it could affect legal liability in mountain sports. The sentence is not yet final and can be appealed.

"Every year I feel a kind of sadness when these days approach," sighs hiker Biel Grau (Lliçà d'Amunt, 1948). Exactly 25 years ago, he lost two close friends buried by an avalanche while descending from the summit of Costabona, "a mountain of cows" at 2,465 meters in the Ripollès region. He survived for two days buried under the snow. It was the painful epilogue to the tragedy that had taken place three weeks earlier. Nine dead in the Balandrau area.

"I remember entering the refuge and bursting into tears, thinking, 'Wow, we're saved. We won't die now,'" says Marta Valls (Barcelona, ​​1974). She is one of the survivors of the tragedy that, exactly 25 years ago, left nine dead in the eastern Pyrenees, in the Ripollès region, amidst the most extraordinary and fateful weather event ever recorded in the Catalan mountains. Barcelona.

A few months ago, David Göttler (Munich, 1978) reached the summit of Nanga Parbat, at 8,125 meters, the ninth highest mountain in the world. He did it without Sherpas, without base camps, climbing with little equipment and opening a new route. It took him days to climb this key mountain in the history of mountaineering in his country, because Germans had summited it first in 1934. But it took him only thirty-five minutes to reach base camp. His companions arrived three days later. The secret? He went paragliding. No one had ever flown a paraglider above 7,000 meters before. Göttler is a cheerful man with a great sense of humor. A friend of Kilian Jornet, the ARA welcomed him at the Barrabes store in Barcelona, ​​after the presentation of the collection. Advanced Mountain Kit from The North Face, which he helped develop.

Pablo Batalla (Gijón, 1987) sips a decaffeinated coffee in the cafeteria of the Hotel Regina, in the center of Barcelona. Outside, everyone is busy, but inside the establishment, everything seems quieter. Batalla probably appreciates this, as he prefers to take things slowly so as not to miss the details. This Asturian historian, translator, and journalist, who lives in a town of 40 inhabitants in León, has just published The Flag on the Summit: A Political History of Mountaineering (Captain Swing), a magnificent work that explains how flags and every possible political cause have risen to the top. He fell in love with the mountains in the most beautiful way. Thanks to a father and a teacher who, in his free time, took public school children to the Asturian mountains. "A vocational teacher. He did something very beautiful: he left little messages all along the route, tucked into a small film canister. We children had to search for them, and inside the canister, we found questions and games to learn about nature," he recalls. Now he still talks to that retired teacher and tells him what he discovered while making the book.

A man died Tuesday morning in Toledo after jumping from a hot air balloon and his parachute failing to open. The shock was even greater when it was learned that the man was Carlos Suárez, a well-known 52-year-old extreme sportsman who, in fact, was filming some jumps on the set of The fair, a film directed by Salvador Calvo. The professional was skydiving with four other companions, who landed safely at the Villa de Don Fadrique airfield.

"K2 is not an evil being hiding out there in the Baltoro, waiting for us. It's just there, indifferent. It's an inanimate mountain of rock, ice and snow. Its savagery is due to all that we project onto it, as if we were blaming the summit for our own misfortunes", Ed Viesturs wrote after returning from K2. Viesturs, the first American to climb the planet's 14 peaks of over 8,000 meters, almost bent over backwards on the second highest mountain in the world, at 8,611 meters. "To try to reach the summit, we climbed despite the threat of bad weather. And in mountaineering, going up is optional, but going down is mandatory. On the way down I almost lost my life", he recalls. Every year the objects of climbers who lose their lives at K2 end up in an improvised memorial at base camp, where the name of the Catalan Sergi Mingote, the last victim of the "cursed mountain", as many call it, will now be added. "It's not cursed", Viesturs defends, who has dedicated a book to a summit that "is fascinating; it's perfect, it can make you lose control".