English

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 (Tatras, 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!