A climber left his girlfriend to die on Austria’s tallest mountain. Now other stories of ‘Alpine divorce’ are emerging | CNN

The hashtag ‘alpine divorce’ has exploded on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram in recent months, with many women sharing traumatic, sometimes life-threatening experiences. The term is used to describe an event during a hike or other outdoor adventure, when one partner, usually male, abandons the other, who is typically less experienced and more vulnerable, in a remote and potentially dangerous setting. Conversation has in part been driven by a high-profile case in Austria earlier this year, which saw a climber convicted of manslaughter and handed a suspended sentence after he left his girlfriend alone on Grossglockner mountain, the country’s tallest, as he claimed he went to seek help. She froze to death. Prosecutors accused the man, named as Thomas P., of not answering calls from rescue services despite having phone signal and failing to send distress signals in time. During his trial, an ex-girlfriend testified that he had abandoned her on the same mountain in 2023 because he considered her too slow, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported. He tended to get “grumpy” if she was struggling during a hike, she told the court during her testimony. Amid the trial,