> There was also that whole bit about how he thought he should break up with her because he didn't belay him properly or something.

Relationships have ended over a lot less than one person potentially ending the others career by being careless. It isn't a trivial thing where her technique was wrong, she fucking dropped him and he was lucky to only have a simple broken foot.

The more interesting quote to me was when talking about the guy they both knew who died free soloing. The gf said it must be awful for the wife, and Alex (iirc) said "well what did she expect?".

“as if he is on the spectrum.”

Which makes him relatable to me and probably quite a few other programmers.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It is what it is. But I can see why that made him come across as cold towards his girlfriend.