Winter + Hiking Nude + Booze = Bad Idea
An Australian hiker learns the hard way why hiking naked and drunk on a winter night hurts.
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Australians are known for holding their liquor, but even their prodigious boozing skills can’t ward off disaster in the wild. Police rescued a 21-year-old man after he made the unfortunate decision to go on a midnight winter hike—while naked and drunk.
He fell 260 feet down an icy slope into a pile of trees, but was lucky enough to have friends who found him, albeit covered in cuts, bruises, and second-degree hypothermia. This frosty accident happened near Hotham Heights in Victoria, Australia’s alpine region (remember, it’s high winter right now for the Southern Hemisphere.)
“It’s pretty foolish and another reminder that snow and alcohol don’t mix,” Sen-Constable Kinder said. “The alarming thing is, that a young girl died sliding down the exact same embankment some years ago.”
Aussie friends, remember: Don’t hike naked—save that for Switzerland. And if you want to be drunk and outside in the winter, save it for the slopes, where that kind of thing is accepted.*
—Ted Alvarez
Nude snow hiker lucky to survive after booze session (Herald Sun)
*Kidding, folks. Even though lots of jerks do it, don’t ski drunk—it’s dangerous!