Nasz Kasprowy [Our Kasprowy]

Rafał Sonik is known for his affection and love for the Polish Tatra Mountains and the Kasprowy – a cult mountain for Polish skiers – in particular.

I would like to make the people who spent a lot of time on the Kasprowy stop for a moment and reflect on the beauty of the place, to make them meditate, which is not an easy task today. We slowly lose that ability… Interpersonal relationships taking place upon the Kasprowy were not and are not common; they seem to be “excluded” from the framework of the consumer society.

He has initiated actions aiming at documenting, archiving history and present events taking place on the legendary mountain peak. He also came up with the idea of creating the naszkasprowy.pl web portal. He organizes meetings of “People of the Kasprowy Wierch” at the Kondratowa Valley and annual holy masses celebrated on the Kasprowy. He also buys back souvenirs related to its history, like scraps of the old cable railway dismantled in 2007. And among other things, there was Cable Car Number 1, sold at an auction conducted by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

The plan is to set up an organization that would coordinate activities taking place around the Kasprowy mountain peak on a more systematic basis. There are at least two reasons essential for Rafał Sonik. The first is the desire to establish an ongoing dialogue between the milieu gathered around the mountain consisting in groups having different, not always consistent interests (representatives of the cable railways, skiers, authorities, the national park, enthusiasts for the place). He used to say: The specific form of creation in the form of activities involving the Kasprowy mountain is necessary for the Tatra Mountains.

The other reason is the need to create a foundation or an association that would care for the elderly who have devoted their lives to Kasprowy, the mountains, skiing and the cable railway. They are a treasure to the public and often stay destitute and deprived of joy.
It is worth making these special people feel that what they did was important, that it has an important meaning for someone, that we appreciate it. That’s why we interview them, record and prepare an extraordinary movie, take photos; and we now have opened the first exhibition showing these photos and movies.

Learn more about the project at: www.naszkasprowy.pl