The Naked and the Dread

THE TIMES: The hills are alive with the joys of nudity in Switzerland after its courts ruled that ramblers had the right to roam around naked. Our writer joined the hikers

Puistola Grottenpösch looks out across a jagged Swiss horizon, the early-summer snow still fresh on the higher pastures. “I always had the feeling I was alone,” he says, bending over to touch an alpine orchid. “I went on secret walks, early in the morning — hiding behind bushes and feeling unlawful.” We reach an electric fence, and he turns suddenly before straddling it. “Be careful,” he says, “that your little brother is not electrocuted.”

My little brother is cold, as it happens, but unharmed. It, along with the rest of me, is 2,000m (6,561ft) up a Swiss mountain — here to experience the joys of naked hiking, in the month when its advocates won the right to roam freely in the Swiss Alps. Puistola no longer walks alone. Not since he started appearing in the courts. These days he is — reluctantly — one of the world’s most prominent naked hikers.

“I never wanted to start a hubbub,” he says of his celebrity — that has led to appearances on Swiss chatshows and in papers around the world. “I’m not a militant. But they started making trouble.”

The trouble began two years ago. And “they” are the Swiss courts. In 2008 a man was arrested while naked hiking in the mountainous Appenzell region. He argued, successfully, that Swiss law is not a moral codex — and has no prohibitions on nudity. But as a result, one of the Swiss cantons changed its laws so as to make naked hiking an offence. When another hiker was arrested, Puistola — a long-time practitioner of the sport, as well as having some legal experience — offered to represent him. The law, he argued successfully last month, was itself superseded by Swiss federal law.

“It is now accepted there is no law in Switzerland against naked hiking,” Puistola says. “The people have given us the freedom to be naked.” He swings slightly — whether in the wind, which is bracing, or from excitement, which is evident, it is difficult to tell. But the battle is not over, the canton is appealing the decision. Continue reading and comment >>> Tom Whipple | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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Herzlich Willkommen!
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Nude hikers in Germany have a new place to indulge their hobby. One keen naturist has announced the opening of a hiking trail exclusively for those who enjoy walking in the buff.

Heinz Ludwig, who owns a campsite and restaurant in the small village of Dankerode in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, has another passion beside serving food and providing tents: naked hiking. He is the initiator of a new walking path meandering 18 kilometers (11 miles) through the Harz mountain range in central Germany, which he claims is Germany's first official naked hiking trail.

The official opening ceremony and inaugural walk will take place at the start of the hiking season next May, but hikers are already using the trail, which opened to the public this week. "The only problem I have is that nobody seems willing to take part in the inaugural walk," Ludwig told local media.

Although plenty of people are interested in taking to the hills in nothing but their birthday suits, he says, many are afraid that, if they take part in the high-profile event, images of their naked bodies will pop up on the Internet and in newspapers and magazines all over the world.

However those who shun the pursuit of nude walking are given ample warning if they happen to stumble across the new path. "If you don't want to see naked people, then you shouldn't go past this point," a sign at the beginning of the path reads. The track also leads past a small lake, which has for years been known amongst locals as a hotspot for the unclothed.

The general response to the opening of the new path has so far been positive, which is not surprising given the fact that nudism is more entrenched in the history of Germany than many might expect. The country has a tradition of naturism -- known by its German acronym of FKK -- dating back to the late 19th century, and nude bathing is widely accepted, especially on designated beaches on the Baltic Sea coast. Naked Wanderlust: Germany's First Nudist Hiking Trail Opens >>> Josie Cox | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

FKK (Freikörperkultur) >>>