“Bikini Hiker” Freezes to Death

Gigi Wu, Taiwanese ‘bikini hiker,’ dies after mountain fall

Yeaahhhh.. not a good idea.

GiGi Wu was known as the “Bikini Hiker”. Famous for… well, hiking in a bikini and posting it on social media.

Which is fine. For all I care you can hike butt naked (if your local laws allow public nudity, that is).

The thing is, its just a pretty stupid idea and nature has no sense of humor.

So this last Saturday “Bikini Hiker” went solo hiking in Taiwan’s Jupen Mountain, fell into a gorge 30 meters deep where she was injured but able to use her phone to call for help. A Chopper was sent but unable to land on location. A team on foot found her body the next day, cause of death seems to be hypothermia.

Don’t be fooled though, this 36 year old woman was an experienced hiker and we still don’t know the details regarding how she died. If they are speculating hypothermia though, its probably because she was visibly poorly dressed.

The lessons here is, obviously enough, when hiking outdoors, adequate clothing is essential and can in fact save your life. Hiking solo, while fun and some people prefer it, it also involves an additional risk. Don’t make it even worse by making an obvious, ridiculously poor decision such as hiking solo and doing so practically naked. Take adequate clothing (obviously) and footwear, spare food and water, a small survival kit, and these days an additional battery bank for your phone is a must have.

Also, just as important as having the right gear, let people know where you’re going and when you are expecting to be back.  Email a map with your intended route to a trusted family member or friend, detailing your schedule and when you’ll be calling in and who to contact if there’s no news of you by a given deadline.

Stay safe!

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”