In the course of his many hikes, Sepp Forcher collected minerals from all over Austria. These now find a memorial in the state capital. And remind us of Forcher’s connection to the mountains.
“Sepp was very familiar with minerals and geology,” says Johann Weyringer. The Neumarkter is not only a well-known painter and architect in Salzburg. Since the 1980s, he has also maintained a deep friendship with television legend Sepp Forcher, who died in 2021. In the course of his TV productions for the 200 programs of “Klingendes Österreich”, Forcher not only gained experiences that he shared with family and friends. The native Italian took a stone home with him on almost every hike he went on. “And then he set it up in his garden in Salzburg-liefering,” says Weyringer. For him, the stones are not just a reminder of his friend. “Each of these stones has its own special story. And they connect Sepp with the mountains,” says Weyringer. Even as a child, Forcher supported his parents, who ran a hut in Tennengau from 1940. Later he followed in his footsteps together with his wife Helli. In addition to the Zeppezauerhaus on the Untersberg, mountain lovers were also drawn to Grossarl. Namely on the Kieserl, which is much discussed nowadays. In the mid-1950s he managed the so-called Berglandhaus, which can be reached from the Unterberg district. Memorial built in Salzburg-Nonntal “For Sepp, friendships were something very important,” says Weyringer, who was involved in the design of the Sepp Forcher memorial in the ORF television garden State studios helped. At the opening ceremony, Weyringer was not the only one to commemorate his old friend. The former “Krone” hiking columnist and Pongauer TV presenter Herbert Gschwendtner also remembered the time spent with Forcher. “Sepp always supported his friends. I’m glad to have known him,” says Gschwendtner.
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