Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Climbing Every Mountain ...


.... for charity

Mountaineers, Mark S Lewis and Ian Blessley started their daunting 855 rock faces climbing challenge at 10.00am on Monday 3rd September at Morlais Quarry in Merthyr Tydfil and in the last 8 days have climbed over a 1500mtrs, done live interviews with BBC and had several articles in the newspapers. The pair, both experienced mountaineers, are taking on the VS challenge; climbing 855 rock faces, that’s 100,000mts of rock faces, by two climbers in a bid to raise £100,000 for Tenovus, Wales’ Cancer Charity and the WISCM Trust. They have completed over 1000mtrs of climbing so far and it is all blogged on Mark's website - www.markslewis.co.uk

Mark, who runs his own Mountaineering company and is sponsored by Zero G Climbing, explains more about their amazing challenge ... “We are about to take on one of the most extreme mountain challenges ever attempted in the UK and will be rock climbing full-time for about six months, weather dependent, until we have completed the 855 rock faces challenge.”

The intrepid pair will be climbing throughout South and West Wales; on Gower, in the Bridgend area, on Inland Limestone and Sandstone rock faces. Mark and Ian are inviting people to join them in their quest along the way, “Each climb is weather dependent, so we will be choosing our daily location dependent on weather forecasts. Each week we hope to complete 6 climbs per day for 5 days in a row.

Mark concluded, “I have climbed on Mount Everest a few times but this rock face challenge is going to be every bit as gruelling, even without the snow!”

Tenovus, Wales’ cancer charity is full of praise for Mark and Ian, Kylie Parfitt, National Project development officer for Tenovus said, “This fundraising challenge has high hopes of raising £50,000 for Tenovus to help us support cancer patients and their families at a time they need us most.”
She added, “If you would like to help the boys reach their target over the next six months please donate on line at Just Giving or you can send cheques or postal orders made payable to Tenovus to The VS Challenge, Tenovus, 43 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AB.”

Monday, October 29, 2007

Monday Morning Wave


Photo: Jason Murray

Don't waste your time standing on the beach of life, trying to decide whether or not to surf. Just go. The waves always look better once you're in the water.

- Mark Anders -

Greg Long performs his morning duties inside a beautifully-designed Moroccan temple.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Objects of Desire


When it comes to cool travel gadgets, the SteriPen is without doubt as seeringly cool as it's possible to get. Not just because of the remarkable thing that it does, but also because it looks just so darn hot! Before we get into tech details, suffice to say that within a matter of seconds, this SteriPen will mean you never again have to worry about 'Don't drink the water' signs ever again. Flip off the lid and dip the end of the pen into your glass of water, turn it on, and the cool UV light will glow bright blue, and in no time it will kill off a whole heap of potential nasties. It's the only patented, handheld water purifier that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to destroy waterborne microbes. Ultra-violet light has been used for 90 years in large-scale systems including hospitals, city water systems and bottling plants to purify water. Independently tested by four universities, the SteriPen has been shown to destroy in excess of 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses and 99.9% of protozoa.

To date SteriPEN has been tested against: E. coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Poliovirus, Rotavirus, Klebsiella terrigena, Streptococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis (vegitative and spore), common yeast, Coliphage MS2, Giardia and Cryptosporidum. We don't know what most of those are, but we're pretty sure we don't want to inadvertently drink any of them, that's for sure. Effective against the waterborne microbes that cause giardia, polio, diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, botulism, dysentery and cholera (just to name a few), we can't imagine travelling anywhere without this compact and invaluable little gadget. Complete peace of mind in a pen, don't you just love the 21st Century!

Testing shows that SteriPEN meets the standard as set forth in the U.S. EPA Guide Standard and Protocol for Testing Microbiological Water Purifiers.