alpine divorce

plural alpine divorces · alternative Alpine divorce

1. countableinformaluncountableThe situation where an individual is abandoned by their romantic partner during hiking, climbing or mountaineering, mainly due to an argument.

   1 more example

   On social media, women describe alpine divorce as going on a hike, climb or other outdoor adventure with a male partner, only to be abandoned or left behind – perhaps he went too fast and neglected to wait, or a fight on the trail resulted in him storming off. Breakups have quickly followed. […] Others flooded the comments section with stories about being served with an alpine divorce. One woman described a 12-hour journey out of the Grand Canyon after her boyfriend ditched her, during which she was assisted by a “very nice man from Norway” who carried her backpack. […] That said, many alpine divorces do not happen because a man has ill intentions.

   2026 March 17, Alaina Demopoulos, “Women are being abandoned by their partners on hiking trails. What’s behind ‘alpine divorce’?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2026