When we think about dangers in the wilderness, we picture the obvious things.

Getting lost, extreme weather, wild animals, kinds of risks that you can prepare for.

But there's another risk people don't talk about as much, the person you choose to go out there with.

Because when you're somewhere remote, you are relying on that person.

If something goes wrong, they're the ones who decides what happens next, whether to stay,

whether to leave, whether to get help or not. And lately, that dynamic has been getting more

attention. In early 2006, the term alpine divorce started circulating online, describing situations where

someone intentionally abandons their partner in a remote or dangerous outdoor setting.

It's often framed as a dramatic breakup, but experts point to it being something much more

serious, emotional abuse, coercive control, and in some cases, life-threatening neglect.

And there are real cases behind that data.

In 2025, a climber in Austria left his girlfriend and Gross Glockner, the country's

highest mountain in winter conditions.

She later died of hypothermia.

During the trial, another woman came forward

and said he had done something similar to her years earlier, leaving her alone on the

mountain in the dark while she was exhausted, disoriented, and calling out for help. The court

ruled it was negligent manslaughter, not intentional murder. But the outcome didn't change the reality

of what happened. The person she depended on didn't act when it mattered most.

In 2008, in the bushland of Victoria, Australia, a 17-year-old girl went out on what was

supposed to be a simple picnic with someone she trusted. Within hours, that trust would be used against

her in a way that was deliberate, controlled, and far more dangerous than anything the wilderness

...