Swiss ‘Mountain Tinder’ sparks high-altitude attraction

BULLE, Switzerland – 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.

“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.

“I wrote that I had climbed up for the sunset and, next time, there would be two of us,” he said.

Mr Monney, who provides woodwork vocational training for people with disabilities, said that when he shared the story with colleagues, they jokingly suggested he place dedicated “Tinder” notebooks on mountaintops.

“It has worked well,” he said during a recent hike to the La Vudalla peak.

“A number of couples have been created,” he said, thumbing through the red notebook he had stashed alongside the traditional visitor’s book in a metal letterbox mounted near a large wooden cross.

In all, Mr Monney has placed notebooks on seven Fribourg peaks, swopping them out for new ones as they fill up.

The idea has spread, with people in other Swiss cantons and as far away as Argentina telling him they have started Mountain Tinder notebooks.

Nature “a good filter”

Mr Monney felt proud when hearing from couples who met through the notebooks. It is nice, he said, to make someone happy.

The notebook on La Vudalla is filling up fast.

“Passionate about mountains, skiing and climbing,” one message reads, while another is seeking someone who “likes sports, metal and tattooed women”.

“The idea is very simple,” Mr Monney said. “If you contact someone, that person has also reached the peak, and probably likes nature and mountains. You already have something in common.”

Ms Rotzetter agreed. “The shared love of nature... is a good filter,” she said.

Her first date with Patrick last winter was a long scenic walk, ending with a picnic.

Ms Rotzetter said she loved that Patrick took along food and drink for her, and noticed that he kept pace with her.

“I wasn’t looking for someone I had to run after,” she said, adding that walking makes for a perfect first date and provides good insight into the other person’s character. “You can see if they adapt their pace... or if they charge ahead.”

Patrick added: “It is very revealing.”

Mountain “algorithm”

Mr Monney said he preferred his system to the online dating apps he stopped using a decade ago.

“I didn’t like the idea of choosing a person based on a picture and swiping left or right,” he said.

Others have congratulated him for liberating dating from algorithmic dictates.

With Mountain Tinder, he said, “you have to reach the peak – that’s the only algorithm”.

The peaks also naturally filter for age and physical ability.

La Vudalla, at an altitude of 1,669m, is one of the easier peaks to reach, allowing older or less fit people to leave messages there.

But Mr Monney said only the fittest will make the technically difficult climb up the 2,376m-high Vanil de l’Ecri across the valley.

He has himself found love, not by leaving messages, but still thanks to his notebooks.

She saw him on television speaking about Mountain Tinder and got in touch, Mr Monney said of his partner. “Now, I am happy.” AFP