Word: nudeness
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...Fellow nude hiker Puistola Grottenpösch agrees, saying that the allure of walking naked "is all about freedom." For the past three decades, the 54-year-old engineer from Zurich has been unabashedly hiking in the altogether, in all kinds of climatic conditions, with no incident. "I wouldn't do this in Afghanistan," he concedes, but he insists on his right to walk naked on the trails of his own country, where public nudity - as long as it is not lewd - is perfectly legal. (See pictures of treasure-hunting in Afghanistan...
...Appenzell, the second smallest of Switzerland's 26 cantons, known for its cheese and sturdy mountain dogs, became a nude-hiking mecca is the subject of some speculation. "It's probably because naked hikers who had been here raved about their experiences on blogs, building this area's reputation," says Veronique Kanel, a spokeswoman for Switzerland Tourism, the country's official tourist body. "We haven't heard so far of a massive influx of naked hikers to other Swiss regions, although I suspect that once in a while they also go outside of Appenzell...
...prove difficult to implement, says Daniel Kettiger, a legal expert on public administration and management who has been following the Appenzell debate. The proposed legislation, he points out, would prohibit "misbehavior in public places" but would not specifically target nudity, "so its interpretation will be open-ended, because a nude hiker is not necessarily unruly...
...hiker Grottenpösch says the possibility of a new penal code (no pun intended) makes his flesh crawl. "Some people may see nudity as indecent, but what harm does it do to public security and order?" he asks, adding that he has already convened about a dozen other nude-hiking aficionados to devise legal action. If the law passes, "we will sue Appenzell," he says, vowing to take the case all the way to the Federal Court - Switzerland's highest judicial authority...
...Others look beyond the bare facts and see the silver lining. Reading about nude hikers, says the tourist board's Kanel, "is so much more fun than reading about the Swiss banks...