TINDER AT ITS PEAK

Ms Cathy Rotzetter and her partner, who wanted to be known only as Patrick, relish describing how they found each other: through a message left on a Swiss mountaintop.

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BULLE, Switzerland -

"It was just a beautiful way to meet," said Ms Rotzetter during a recent hike in the Pre-Alps of the western Swiss canton of Fribourg.

Sick of online dating sites, the 58-year-old was thrilled to discover an analogue alternative, with a Swiss twist: "Mountain Tinder."

In October 2024, she clambered up to the Wandflue peak, at an altitude of 2,133m, and jotted down her information in the red notebook she found there.

Ms Rotzetter recalled the message as she sat in a mountain pasture, her arm laced around Patrick, with the Wandflue towering behind them.

"I wrote that I liked relaxed hikes, and also to have a drink afterwards," she told AFP with a laugh.

Patrick, who is also 58, found the message a week later, and was charmed.

STARTED AS A JOKE Mountain Tinder is the brainchild of Mr Thibaud Monney, a 29-year-old avid hiker who said the whole thing started in 2023 as a joke.

During a climb up the Dent de Broc, overlooking the picturesque Lake of Gruyere, he realised he missed having someone to share the view with.

On a whim, he jotted down his feelings in a leather-bound visitor's book. The books are traditionally found on peaks across Fribourg.