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RKG NOCEK (Caving Club "NOCEK*") is a non-commercial organization based in Ruda Slaska
, southern Poland, Central
Europe. We are a group of outdoor sports enthusiasts - we are focused mainly on
caving, but we take
part in activities like climbing, ski-alpinism, mountain bikes or plain hiking as well.
The club was founded in 1976 and currently gathers around 50 people from all over the
Silesian aglomeration. Typically,
we perform weekend trips to Polish and Slovak mountain areas (Tatry,
Beskidy, Jura Krakowsko-Czestochowska), however
every summer season there are usually several longer events, including abroad expeditions (mainly to European
countries - Austria, Spain, France, but also Romania, Moldovia, Ukraine, Slovenia...). Almost all outings are mentioned
on the website - unfortunately, we describe our adventures only in Polish, but if you want to get familiar,
you can always have a glance at our Photo Gallery at http://foto.nocek.pl.
The atmosphere in the club is very relaxed, though the organisation is legally registered - we have formal
articles of association, a Board elected every two years, general meetings, etc. The club is also a member of
the Polish Alpinism Association, which is a part of the
Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme.
The club members meet every Wednesday to discuss upcoming activities and talk on really various subjects. Thanks to
the City Hall and the school complex the facility is located in, there's also an indoor climbing facility available
free of charge for the club members on Mondays and Fridays. The Club also maintains a sort of Gear Warehouse, that
every member is allowed to borrow from - we have kilometers of ropes and perhaps several hundred karabiners at our
disposal.
Another activity that keeps the club on the move is the Caving Course, organised on a non-profit basis every year.
Although the course is led mainly by the two club instructors - namely, Tomek Jaworski and Ryszard Widuch, every
experienced club member tries to help. The course has a rather slow pace (lasts for about 10 - 12 months) and its programme
includes general knowledge about mountaineering and caving, quite advanced training in the European one-rope techniques
on Petzl's equipment, basic climbing training and a few rescue techniques - all
that on an indoor climbing facility and during several course expeditions (usually 8 - 12) to Tatra caves.
Damian Szoltysik, our collegue that has been there and seen that is the current president (elected 2005)
of the club. If you want to contact us, do not hesitate to drop a message at his mailbox:
rkgdamian@poczta.onet.pl.
(*) - NOCEK is a colloquial name for myotis myotis, a spieces of bat commonly encountered in Polish caves.
Text courtesy of: Mateusz Golicz <mateusz.golicz@sileman.pl>, 2006-02-24. The
author is aware that his English is far from from perfect, reports on grammar and vocabulary mistakes are more than welcome!
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