Against the vast snowfields and crevassed glaciers of Monte Rosa — the second-highest massif in the Alps — a mule train picks its way along the high alpine trail toward the Schwarzsee (Black Lake), their silhouetted forms and laden packs evoking centuries of mountain commerce that long preceded the tourist era. This striking black-and-white real-photo postcard, card no. 9622, captures the drama of the Swiss high alpine landscape with a photographer's eye for contrast and scale. The card was posted from the Hôtel Lac Noir (Hotel Schwarzsee) at altitude 2,583 meters — the circular purple cachet of the hotel is stamped boldly on the back — and sent from a traveler to Grete in Cologne, Germany, with a message in German describing the journey to the Matterhorn area and the mule trail to Schwarzsee. A Swiss Helvetia 20-centime red stamp franks the card.