Left behind

A branch of misogyny I hadn’t been aware of:

…women on Reddit, Instagram and TikTok began sharing stories of being left behind by their partners while hiking, biking and climbing in nature, calling it “Alpine divorce.”

Often, the women described risky or uncomfortable circumstances where their partners had more knowledge of the terrain or more experience with the sport. In some cases, the couple met again, but in others, the women remained alone or relied on strangers to descend the mountain safely.

Nice! Get your girlfriend into a dangerous situation and then leave.

The flurry of social media posts during the last few weeks appeared to have been triggered by a criminal case in Austria focused on a mountaineering expedition that ended in death. In February, Thomas Plamberger, 37, was found guilty of gross negligent manslaughter for leaving his girlfriend, Kerstin Gurtner, 33, to die of hypothermia on Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossglockner.

Gross indeed.

Max Eberle, 32, a freelance journalist and hiking instructor in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, said that growing up in the Austrian Alps, Alpine divorce was a “rural legend” — something he’d heard discussed but never actually witnessed.

The current use of the term, Mr. Eberle said, described what he preferred to call “toxic Alpinism.”

“It’s very common that you see a couple in the mountains, and it’s always like the guy pushing his wife or his girlfriend to go further when she is totally exhausted and wants to go back,” Mr. Eberle said.

It’s close cousin to the men in women’s sports problem. Dude, you’re bigger and stronger. Men are bigger and stronger. That doesn’t translate to “Yay we get to beat them up!” It translates to take your physical advantages into account and act accordingly.