‘That’s called murder’: Woman endures a brutal ‘Alpine divorce’ after her boyfriend abandons her mid-hike in the mountains

The internet has learned a new phrase this past week and it’s not a fun one. Perhaps you’ve heard of the phrase Alpine divorce or maybe you haven’t, but for one unfortunate woman on TikTok who found herself living out the definition of the phrase the words “Alpine divorce” will likely be seared into her memory for a long time.

A video posted to TikTok by “everafteriya” shows the woman in clear distress as she walks along a rocky hiking trail by herself. The caption in the video reads: “POV: you go on a hike with him in the mountains but he leaves you alone by yourself and you realize he never liked you to begin with.”

That’s a particularly brutal way to get broken up with but not only that, it’s also incredibly dangerous. Leaving someone to navigate their way back could very well result in them getting hurt or even dying if they’re inexperienced. The worst part is that this has apparently become a trend, with the practice being so common it’s been given a name.

What is an Alpine divorce

If you don’t know what an Alpine divorce is you may have already pieced together the definition from the video alone but essentially it’s when someone (in most cases a man) takes their partner on a hike with the intention of abandoning them on the trail. Whatever happened to just using words to break up with a person?

If you’re wondering how people can end up separated from their partners, often the person intending to leave the other will simply walk ahead at a faster pace or even suggest running or basically anything to make distance between them and the person they’re dumping. Before long they will disappear out of sight, leaving the other person practically stranded. It’s not too far-fetched to believe this could result in deaths too, we’ve seen instances in the past of men bringing girlfriends on hikes only for the women to die after being abandoned by the man.

Of course, there is much discourse online over whether Alpine divorces are real or not. Aside from anecdotal experiences there isn’t much on the subject unfortunately.

The TikTok videos leads to a serious discussion

What the woman in the video went through is not okay but thankfully she made it back by herself safe and sound. The comments beneath the viral video explained that what she experienced was an Alpine divorce with many sharing their own tales of partners abandoning them on the trail. “I legit had this happen on a hike in YOSEMITE.” wrote one person. Another explained that this sort of thing “happens frequently enough that there’s a support group for survivors.”

It’s an unnecessarily cruel tactic but clearly some people are just cowards that would rather put their partner’s life at risk rather than actually talk about their emotions. Either way, the video has helped to educate many about the possibility of Alpine divorces, remember, it’s always important to make sure you truly trust the person you’re going on a hike with.