We have cycled thousands of kilometers, from the United States to El Salvador and we have used our SteriPEN Adventurer Opti every day while riding to purify our drinking water.
Many sunny days we have been charging the second battery in the solar charging case on the back of our bicycle while riding along, ready for use when the other battery ran out. (more…)
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Nico from chaingethecycle.org tests Adventurer Opti
Nico from chaingethecycle.org tests Adventurer Opti
Put Your Paddle Where Your Mouth Is
When words just won’t go far enough to save a river, heroic means are in order. SteriPEN has the honor of helping sponsor this courageous couple, award-winning photographer, Jason Florio, and photography producer, Helen Jones-Florio as they canoe, hike, and donkey-ride their way down the River Gambia in West Africa.
they… will attempt to create a modern-day account of the people, societies, and life along the length of one of Africa’s last, free-flowing, major rivers – the River Gambia. There has also been talk, for a number of years, of damming the river. This journey is about documenting the communities and environment before this happens.
- ‘The River Gambia Expedition 2012 – 1000km source-sea African odyssey’
- The Journey – 1 river. 2 borders. 3 countries – Guinea-Senegal-The Gambia, West Africa
- Oars in the water: early October 2012 (through December) Estimated journey time: 2-3 months
- Estimated journey time: 2-3 months
Check out Outside Magazine’s Adventure Lab’s outstanding coverage of this : Expedition Watch: The River Gambia, From Source to Sea
Want to Stay Ahead of the Curve? Check Out this New Outdoor Website Launching Mid-July called thegrizzlyguide.com
This looks to be a promising resource for those interested in an edgy, outdoor lifestyle, grassroots adventures, and product reviews. They’ve got a steller cast of contributors and seem content to insist on high standards. This site will launch any day now.
The site is masterminded by a guy with one of the coolest names on record- Preston Rockfellow Thoeny. Here’s what he has to say.
TheGrizzlyGuide.com will be produced primarily by myself with areas of expertise in fishing, camping, backpacking, survival, and homestead skills (canning, soap making, woodworking etc). A river guide, outdoor guide, and one time outfitter will be helping create content and manage the website. We have a freelance marketing director handling most of our market research and related information out of NYC and she will also be using her experience in the outdoors to write helpful articles. Our art director, in addition to being an outstanding graphic designer, will head up the gardening aspect of the site. We also have a TV chef specializing in wild game, hunting guides, and many other friends we’ve made over the years in and out of the field helping with this project.
Young scholars lend SteriPEN some much needed product counsel.
Their conclusion is that Freedom and Traveler SteriPENs are easy enough for even an adult to use.
We had help this week from our Graphic Art Director’s kids. They stuck around most of a day and did some much needed consulting on new product design, packaging, and general “user friendly” R&D . They gave both the Freedom and the Traveler, and our ”yet to be disclosed new product” the thumbs up! We’d like to do this more often. There is something so keen, fresh, unbiased about a child’s view of text, design, user-friendliness, that they are prime for vetting a product’s impact on the general public.
Thanks Kaya and Kenai! Please come back early and often.
A wee disclaimer… The research K & K conducted was fully chaperoned! We’re adamant about this. SteriPENs are not toys, and should always be used with an adult present.
Gryph Rhyder crosses America with two horses, and fleetingly, a compadre of dragonflies…
A brave spirited woman, and even braver steeds, embark upon a journey to cross America… 8 hooves at a time….
Sea Gryph Rhydr , Jesse James and Finehorn just sent us some tender footage of dragon flies hatching. Just one of the many close observations of nature that her blog captures.
Quite of few of their pre-dragonfly selves had crawled up onto the mosquito net part of the tent in the night and as the sun was warming the day the adult dragonflies were slowly and carefully emerging from their dry, wingless shells. It was an amazing thing to be able to watch.
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Namaste from Everest Base Camp!
Namaste from Everest Base Camp!
With the Everest Summit Season in full swing, our friends at Peak Promotions Nepal have been busy lately. UK photographer Christian Kober is on the mountain and making preparations with his support team for his summit attempt. From his latest update:
The camp has been moved uphill a little, as the kitchen tent was blown away since our first time here. This time tent sites have been made and we stay for 2 nights. The original plan was to go on to Camp 3, but the fixed lines have not been put up yet, and Mingmar tells us to go back to Base Camp again. This creates an extra rotation on the mountain which is a bit tiring, but will hopefully make us stronger in the long run.
We also just received a nice batch of photos showing some SteriPEN love at Base Camp (17,000 feet above sea level). They’ve been devoted SteriPEN users since 2006 and count on the Classic to purify water in the Himalayas.
A special thank you to Gopal and everyone at Peak Promotions Nepal for their support!
Read more about the SteriPEN Classic.
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Australian Outdoor Magazines Feature SteriPEN Freedom
Australian Outdoor Magazines Feature SteriPEN Freedom
Our friends at Sea to Summit, the esteemed Australian purveyor of outdoor goods, passed along a nice couple of SteriPEN press hits from Down Under. Outer Edge magazine focuses on the ways of the Aussie Adventurer, reviewing and recommending gear to help those bold souls push past boundaries. Australian Geographic Outdoor is a source of inspiration for Australian naturalists and lovers of the great outdoors. Covering great trips and destinations, AG Outdoor also provides insight into new and outstanding gear to support such outstanding trips.
In recent editions, both magazines featured the SteriPEN Freedom as their recommendation for portable water purification, focusing on its flexible charging characteristics as a boon to those voyaging into remote lands.
Read more about the Freedom on our website and thanks to Seth at Sea to Summit for his support!
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The Restless Collective Crosses the Andes with SteriPEN
The Restless Collective Crosses the Andes with SteriPEN
Biking from Alaska to Chile is no small feat. But for Morrigan McCarthy and Alan Winslow, of the Restless Collective, it is only one leg of the journey. Since 2010, the two have been pedaling the globe, cameras in hand, hearts wide open, meeting people and sharing their stories. (more…)
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Krudmeister’s Bike, Hike and Paddle from Reno to the Bering Sea
Krudmeister’s Bike, Hike and Paddle from Reno to the Bering Sea
This summer Adam Bradley (a.k.a. Krudmeister) is going on an Adventure (yes, with a capital ‘A‘). The record-holding fastpacker (and longtime SteriPEN user) will traverse the North American wilderness from his home in Nevada north through Canada, across Alaska to the mouth of the Yukon River at the Bering Sea.
Bike: 2,847 miles
Hike: 33 miles
Canoe: 1,858 miles
Total: 4,738 miles
Adam, on his route:
I decided on a route I can navigate with human power. I decided this winter that it was important that the route be unbroken, much like my thru hiking approach. Directness isn’t an issue, nor is the speed in which I traverse this distance. I mainly wanted a route with scenic value, historic value and tons of opportunity to view wildlife.
The trip (google map) will take him through 48 national, state and provincial parks and protected areas in Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon and Alaska — plenty of chances for scenery, history and wildlife.
You can hear a great interview from Trail Runner Nation, in which Adam sheds some light onto the gore and the beauty of making it from Mexico to Canada in 65 days unsupported.
Also, be sure to follow along with the man himself at the Krudmeister Blog to get updates from the trail this summer and show him some love!
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Updates from SteriPEN in Nepal
Updates from SteriPEN in Nepal
Our friends at Peak Promotions Nepal have been busy this spring with a number of expeditions, including several Everest summit attempts. As a government-recognized trekking and mountaineering agency, they support individuals, teams and film crews on Himalayan expeditions and are long-time SteriPEN users.
Currently there are two Everest expeditions in progress, one by members from the Salt Lake City, Utah Wilderness Medical Society and another by UK photographer Christian Kober. You can follow along with those expeditions and others at the Peak Promotions Nepal website.
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SteriPEN Freedom Reviewed on HikingLady.com
SteriPEN Freedom Reviewed on HikingLady.com
SteriPEN already had a loyal fan in the Hiking Lady, even before the Freedom came out. She was an early convert, having owned the original Classic and upgrading it for an Adventurer Opti. With the release of the Freedom and its built-in USB-rechargeable battery she took the opportunity to highlight the newest available features.
An excerpt of her review:
All SteriPEN models operate the same way. You remove the lamp cover, then immerse it in the water (you’ve got to collect water from a stream if you’re hiking in the wilderness and get it into a bottle), then stir the SteriPEN in the water until the LED light turns green. The UV light kills 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and 99.9% of giardia and cryptosporidium.
SteriPEN has a new product called the SteriPEN Freedom, the smallest of all SteriPENs – it can fit right into your pocket!
You can read the rest of it here.
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Adventurer Opti at Work in the Amazon
Adventurer Opti at Work in the Amazon
Our friends Mike and Anne Howard have taken an interesting approach to the traditional post-nuptial celebratory vacation known familiarly as the “honeymoon.” (more…)
SteriPEN Recommended in India Travel Guide
Travelers in India know to proceed with caution when it comes to drinking water. Public water supplies are rarely potable, buying water bottled in plastic produces tremendous waste and doesn’t even guarantee cleanliness. In her book, Enjoying India: The Essential Handbook, author J.D. Viharini heartily recommends SteriPEN’s UV purification of contaminated water.
“Portable purifiers that use ultraviolet light (such as the SteriPEN, which I can highly recommend) do an excellent job of killing micro-organisms, although they don’t remove pesticides or other conta-minants from the water. Nevertheless, they are particularly useful because they are so easy to use and carry.”
To follow her adventures and get more tips about travel in India, visit the Enjoying India Blog.
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SteriPEN Journey Testimonial
SteriPEN Journey Testimonial
The SteriPEN Journey is a great product and we really appreciated it when we travelled with our family through America’s National Parks. It is easy to use, we always had safe drinking water during our trip and the whole family stayed in good health. I am sure that the SteriPEN will be in my baggage for my next trekking.
Petra B., German traveler, USA-trip 2011
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Abracadabra! OK, now drink.
Abracadabra! OK, now drink.
Working as a family-owned outfitter is a lot like working at a hardware store in that you have to know what you’re talking about. (more…)
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Blue Hill outdoorsman-inventor paves the way to safe water, any time, anywhere
Blue Hill outdoorsman-inventor paves the way to safe water, any time, anywhere
The power of the sun inspired one Maine resident to invent the SteriPEN, a handy gizmo that was recently named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 All-Time Gadgets, a list of “the greatest and most influential gadgets from 1923 to the present.”
The SteriPEN, a compact water purifier, is usually found in sports stores, outfitters and airports. And unless you’re an avid traveler or backpacker, you’ve probably never heard of it, even though the company headquarters and research hub is located in Blue Hill.
Wanderlust and Lipstick
Your Destination for Women’s Travel
Beth Whitman shares her passion for travel by providing inspiration, tips and words of wisdom from her 20 plus years of travel experience. Wanderlust and Lipstick provides both the nervous newbie and the well-seasoned Wanderluster with all the tools needed to set out on a dream journey. Beth’s gear always includes a SteriPEN water purifier to protect her stomach from those nasty microbes. (more…)
Passport Health
Passport Health, dedicated to “first class medical care for travel anywhere,” is the largest provider of travel medical services in the United States with locations nationwide. Whether traveling for business, pleasure or a volunteer adventure, Passport Health prepares travelers for their trips with destination-specific travel information, including water safety information, as well as immunizations, travel shots, specialty travel products, and international travel health insurance. We have teamed up with this valued partner to support Operation USA in its efforts to assist victims of the Haitian earthquake. Learn more about the value of travel medicine and Passport Health.
OPERATION USA
Operation USA is an international relief agency that helps communities at home and abroad overcome the effects of disasters, disease and endemic poverty by providing privately-funded relief, reconstruction and development aid. Since 1979, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit has worked in 99 countries, delivering over $350 million for relief and development projects. The organization supports several field organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health and World Vision, all of which are presently working to improve conditions in Haiti – and around the world. You can support OP USA’s efforts through donations at www.opusa.org.