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International Toast of Caving Friends

Автор: Alexander Klimchouk
Дата: 30 Jun 2002

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Доpогие дpузья-спелеологи!

Hе пpопустите важное и пpиятное событие.

--А.Климчук

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Dear Friends,

This is a gentle reminder about our special tradition, the International Toast
of Caving Friends, the event that comes in few days. Year by year, hundreds or
probably thousands cavers around the world greet each other hearty at the
precise moment on July 4th (12.00 by Kiev time, 11.00 by Paris time, and 5.00
p.m. by New York time) by rising the Toast. It does not matter where they are at
that moment and which drinks they have or prefer for the Toast.

For those cavers who want to join the Toast for the first time, I am pasting
below a brief article by Jacques Chabert (Spelunca, No.85, 2002) explaining well
the history and the meaning of this event.

Best wishes,

Sincerely,

--Alexander Klimchouk,
The Toast coordinator

Attachment: The Toast logo
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"In 1991, during a American convention at Cobleskil, New York, a hundred
cavers raised their glasses with their friends from Russia and Ukraine,
on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the same day, at the same hour.
This is how was born the tradition of the International Toast of Caving
Friends, an international adaptation of a previous practice among
Soviet cavers.

"In 2001, the Toast celebrated its tenth anniversary and, willing to
give a wider extent to this ceremony, our friend Alexander Klimchouk,
coordinator of the International Toast, invited us to participate. The
proposition was too late to give a national extent to the event.
However, several cavers received the information by e-mail or by
telephone, in Paris, in the department of Lot,... in Guadeloupe (French
West Indies), organized meetings, and drank to the health of their
colleagues worldwide. At my place, in Paris, July 4, 2001, there were
several cavers including David McClurg, a Californian caver, author of
several books on caving techniques, our Franco-American friend David
Brison, Jerome Ashoori, a member of Speleo-Club de Paris, of Iranian
origin, who gave an international character to this improvised meeting.

In the difficult period that we live now, it is a duty and a pleasure
for us to get associated to this ceremony encouraging, at the level of
our caving community, the friendship among the people of the earth. The
principle is very simple. You just have to meet with other cavers - the
place is of no importance; you can even drink alone, but it will not be
much fun - Remember the day and the exact time : 4 July, 11.00 p.m.
(in France). At this precise moment, with thousands of kilometers between
them, American cavers (it will be 5 p.m. for them in NY),
Russians, Ukrainians and cavers from many other countries, will drink a toast,
their glasses full of their favorite drink, to the friendship of all cavers on
earth. That's all. It's a small thing and a great thing at the same time.
And it's not sad!".

By Jacques Chabert





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