What a view.
Women are posing topless while hiking on mountaintops in a social-media trend, all in the name of empowerment.
The movement, which has been around since 2015, has surged in recent months, according to a new report from The Denver Post.
After reaching the mountaintop, female hikers will strip down and look out on the vista, and have a friend take a shot of them from behind. It’s especially prevalent in the mountain-filled backdrops of Colorado, where going topless is legal.
“It feels fun, exciting and maybe a little risky to be naked in nature,” Kari Armstrong, who runs a women’s hiking club, told the Colorado-based news outlet. “When you have worked hard for your hike, or even if you haven’t, it is fun to do something a little silly and liberating to celebrate.”
“This was a big, important moment for me,” Kelli Schulte said, after climbing a 14,000-foot-high mountain while going through a breakup. “With every step, I felt empowered. Like I was taking control of my life. Like I could and would be me again.”
She asked her hiking companion to play photographer. “I … said, ‘I’m taking one of those topless pics, and I’m never giving up the things I love again.’ Then I snapped a couple of pics and I absolutely love them,” she said. Schulte framed the photo in her bathroom as inspiration.
“It’s freeing and exhilarating,” commented Donalyn White, who surprised herself by wanting to take a nature nude. “Men are out there hiking with their shirts off all the time.”
“It felt empowering,” she said.