A 36-year-old Taiwanese climber who became known online as the "Bikini Hiker" died after a 100ft fall into a gorge during a solo trek, leaving a trail of mountaintop photos and a surprising record behind her. Gigi Wu had climbed 100 peaks in four years and posed on the summit of each one in a bikini.
A bet that became a hobby
Wu, from New Taipei City, said she began photographing herself in bikinis on summits after losing a bet with a friend. The habit stuck, and her following grew to between 14,000 and 18,000 people.
She was no novelty act. By July 2016 she had finished the challenge of reaching Taiwan’s 100 peaks that stand at least 3,000 metres high.
In a 2018 interview with FTV, she laughed about the project. "I put on a bikini in each one of the 100 mountains. I only have around 97 bikinis so I accidentally repeated some," she said. Asked why she did it, she answered: "It just looks so beautiful, what’s not to like?"
The fall
On January 11, 2019, Wu arrived in Nantou County. She planned to walk the Batongguan Historic Trail in Yushan National Park, home to the island’s highest peaks, and to finish on January 24.
On January 19 she slipped and dropped about 30 metres into a gorge. Her lower body was badly hurt and she could not move. Using a satellite phone, she contacted a friend, Alex Yang, whom she had met on a climb of Jade Mountain, and made sure rescuers knew exactly where she was.
A race against the weather
Help could not reach her in time. Severe weather kept getting in the way, and Taiwan’s National Airborne Service Corps said it took three attempts to send Black Hawk helicopters towards her. Each time conditions forced them back.
Throughout this time Yang kept texting Wu with updates and reassurance. Eventually her replies stopped.
Officials then sent two ground teams of three people each. Using her distress beacon, they found her body around midday on January 21, some 43 hours after her call for help. Overnight temperatures had fallen to 2C, and authorities concluded she had died of hypothermia. She had been close to the end of her ascent to 3,109 metres.
A warning and a farewell
The fall was not her first close call. On Christmas Eve 2018 she had shown followers a photo of her badly bruised legs after slipping off a trail. She admitted she could easily have fallen much further and called herself lucky.
Her last post, dated January 18, showed a stunning view from a mountaintop above the clouds.
After her death, hundreds of people left messages under her final posts. One follower wrote: "Gigi, thank you for filling us all with happiness – I wish you happy travels."
Today Wu is remembered as an experienced mountaineer who turned a lost bet into a four-year journey across Taiwan’s highest peaks, and whose photos still draw admirers to her page.
Image credit: Facebook/Gigiwu.bgn
Source: Daily Express US
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