THE MESSAGE MATTERS
The town of Zermatt in Switzerland lies at the foot of one of the world’s most famous mountains. In global terms, this peak, which straddles Switzerland and Italy, is not particularly outstanding. At 4,478m above sea level, it’s about half as high as the world highest, Mount Everest (8,848 m), and is significantly shorter than Russia’s Mount Elbrus (5,642m), generally accepted to be the highest mountain on the European continent. It doesn’t quite stack up either to its neighbour and Western Europe’s record breaker, Mont Blanc (4,807m), which lies along the French-Italian border but also extends into Switzerland at its northeastern end. This peak in the picture is, however, perhaps the most recognisable of those that make up the Alps, thanks to its almost perfect pyramid shape. It featured on what is believed to have been the world’s first modern travel poster — Emil Cardinaux’s sketch was printed as a tourism poster for Zermatt in 1908 — and today the peak is almost synonymous with the Swiss Alps, though it is best known by its German name, which translates to “peak in the meadows”.
It’s been claimed to be both the world’s most photographed mountain, and one of the world’s most dangerous as it is a difficult climb.
Even the first ascent, on July 14 1865, from the Swiss side, ended in tragedy when four of the seven climbers who had summitted fell to their deaths on their way back down.
In 2020, however, the people of Zermatt have used its smooth sides to send messages of goodwill to the world, as together we face the global crisis that is Covid-19. For five weeks since March 24, Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter has been beaming images onto the face of the mountain in an initiative the village says was meant to “show solidarity with all the people who are currently suffering” and gratitude “to all those who are helping to overcome the crisis”.
Hofstetter and his five-person team had to camp out at an elevation of 3,000m for the duration of the project.
The images have varied nightly, from national flags to hashtags to short messages and last week, on April 23, was SA’s turn. In social-media posts accompanying the image of the South African flag emblazoned on the mountain, Zermatt Tourism said: “We wish the population much courage and strength to overcome the crisis.”
The last image — projected last Sunday — was white text on a red background. It read #hope
● To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of the mountain. E-mail travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on May 5. Last week’s winner is Dianne Kypri. The correct answer was Mosi-oa-Tunya .