Wanted ice bathing

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More and more people are trying out the trendy ice bathing.

(Bild: Daniela Bily)

Despite the cold, things got hot while ice bathing on the River Inn. A young couple wanted to get changed behind a tree for the tingling pleasure when a third party took a photo with his cell phone. But the peeping Tom was also observed and an eyewitness called the police.

There are quite a few compatriots who seek tingling pleasure while ice bathing. A 22-year-old man from the district of Passau was probably more excited than just stimulated when he discovered two people of the same age changing behind a tree near the university meadow in Passau at around 3.50 pm on Friday.

Half-naked couple filmed with cell phone
The young couple would actually have been protected from the view of third parties, but the passer-by reached for his cell phone, photographed and filmed the half-naked couple. An uninvolved eyewitness didn't think this was right and called the police. The officers forced the peeping Tom to delete his recordings and filed a complaint against him for violation of the most personal sphere of life under Section 201a of German criminal law. The penalty is up to two years.

We have leased a private lake for our wakeboarding school in Steyregg, which we also use for our ice bathing courses.

Sabine Fetz

This is the legal situation
What is the legal situation here in Austria? The "right to one's own image" applies here. This means that images of people may not be made available to the public if this would violate the legitimate interests of the person depicted or a close relative.

"You're much more likely to freeze if you're clothed"
"We have leased a private lake for our wakeboarding school in Steyregg. We also use it for the ice bathing courses," says Sabine Fetz. "There are no problems with spectators there. However, a lot of ice bathers also use Lake Plesching, where it is certainly advisable to wear swimwear." However, she also knows that it is much more pleasant to dive into the icy waters without a bikini or swimming trunks: "You are much more likely to freeze when clothed than when naked. This is due to our skin's protective mechanism."