How 'alpine divorce' leaves women stranded on hiking dates

MJ calls what happened to her in Zion national park a "small 'T' trauma." Five years ago she and a new partner travelled from Los Angeles to Utah for an adventure; on the morning of their hike she felt "off" and later learned he was seeing other women. As they climbed Angel’s Landing he walked ahead — "I was like, ‘Fuck it, just go ahead of me,'" she said — and at the summit he descended with a woman he had met on the way up, leaving MJ to finish alone.

They broke up soon after, and when she saw the phrase "alpine divorce" on TikTok last month she attached it to that trip. On social media, women use "alpine divorce" to describe going on a hike, climb or outdoor adventure with a male partner only to be abandoned or left behind.

A TikTok with more than 4.2m likes shows a woman sobbing as she descends alone, and commenters recounted being left to make a 12-hour exit from the Grand Canyon, getting lost in the woods, or immediately blocking a partner’s number once home.

United States, Utah

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