Billi Bierling – Journalist and Climber

My amazing friend and Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington talked to a journalist about a bonkers bike trip we did in Argentina a year ago. It was actually the honeymoon of our close friend Tina, who got married to Seba in Mendoza in November 2008. Tina, Chrissie, Helen and I used to bike together in [...]

If you think Valentine’s Day is only big in the ‚Western World’ then you are wrong. Here in Pakistan, people also make an effort to get married on this day, which was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496.

On Sunday, 14 February, our office took the opportunity to go [...]

Those who know me from Kathmandu will know that I hardly ever – or rather never – leave the house without my bike. My two-wheeled companion is my best friend and I would not know how to get around Kathmandu, or as a matter of fact any other city in the world. My bike gives [...]

Those who know me also know my motto in life: Life is beautiful. However, in times like these, this motto is hard to believe and I sometimes wonder whether I can keep on saying it. Tragedies will always happen in our lives – they happen all over the world, however, we are often far away [...]

Apparently the series, the Discovery Channel shot on our Everest expedition, has been aired in the States. There are five episodes and our team, led by Russell Brice, is on episode five.
It is weird not having seen it as a lot of people have contacted me saying that they had no idea that my summit [...]

This is just a quick note to say happy New Year to everyone and to apologise for the malfunctioning of my website. I guess it also needed a rest over the Christmas period but it is back up and running and waiting to be filled with more interesting news.
I guess it was probably a good [...]

Sunday was another big event for the sporty folks in Islamabad. The Canadian Club in the Diplomatic Enclave had organised a fun race comprising a 3km, 5km and 10km race. A few friends of mine and I took part in the event and this time around it went through and was not cancelled because of [...]

Last Friday, another piece of mountaineering history died when Lino Lacedelli passed away in his Italian hometown of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Lacedelli, who died of a heart condition at the age of 83, was one of the first two men to conquer K2, Pakistan’s highest peak and the second highest mountain in the world.
I was surprised [...]

After having written about normalcy in times of war last week, this week I went to a camp, where internally displaced people from Swat, Buner, Malakand and Shangla Districts are currently living. And I guess, for them life is everything but normal at the moment. We went to Jalozai Camp just outside of Peshawar, the [...]

On Sunday once again, at least 10 people died in a suicide bomb attack near the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar – and, once again, it happened in a busy market place. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and these violent strikes are expected to continue as long as the Pakistani military carries on [...]

Last week I was writing about my amazing friend Chrissie Wellington, who has probably made the male triathlon world shiver with her latest performance at the Ironman Triathlon event in Kona. Well, this week I want to write about my own little triathlon experience in Islamabad, which is a lot less impressive but also very [...]

I am back in Pakistan and the country seems to be falling to pieces. Last week, a suicide bomber blew up the United Nations World Food Programme offices killing five people, and on Thursday, 15 October, there were several bomb attacks across the country. Life in Islamabad still seems reasonable quiet, however, it could be [...]

On Monday, 5th October, a suicide bomber entered the building of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and blew himself up. Sadly, five people lost their lives in the attack and the United Nations are now on high alert.
This is just a short note to say that I am fine [...]

I seem to have confused a few people with my sudden return to Nepal but I guess I did not explain why I am actually back in Kathmandu.
I have taken a two-week holiday from my job in Islamabad and have come back here to help Miss Hawley with interviewing expeditions.  Spring and autumn are the [...]

I got back to Nepal on Saturday, 26th September and I arrived right in the middle of Dashain, which is the biggest festival in the Himalayan country and I guess it is comparable to our Christmas time.
The country virtually stops for the duration of the holiday, which is about 10 days, however, the eighth, ninth [...]

On Friday, it all of a sudden dawned on me that I had four days to play with as our office was closed for the event of Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramandan. During this festival, people get together, exchange presents and basically eat all day. And as eating all day is not really [...]

I have just come back from an interesting experience in a bike shed in Islamabad. I had been biking around with a puncture for the last few days as my puncture repair kit did not hold one of the most important items: the glue. However, who needs a puncture repair kit if one has duct [...]

My trip to Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, was interesting, however, it was rather short. We drove two hours in a convoy, were picked up by a police escort just outside the city, went straight to the office, had an informal chat with a very interesting journalist and came back to [...]

Other than talking about life in the Pakistani capital, which is probably not representative for the situation in the rest of the country, I would also like to tell you a bit about the problems, Pakistan is faced with at the moment.
When we talk about Pakistan, we often associate this beautiful country with conflict, suicide [...]

I have managed to survive the first 10 days in Pakistan and I am even coping quite well with Ramadan. On Sunday, 23 August, this holy festival, a month of sunrise-to-sunset fasting, began. It is quite interesting to be, and work here during this month, as I have never been to an Islamic country during [...]

This might be a weird association with a city, however, that is how I feel about the town planning of the Pakistani capital. According to the online encyclopaedia ‘Wikipedia’ Islamabad is ‘one of the most organised and well-planned towns of South Asia’, and this does not surprise me. The whole city is divided into different [...]

After an interesting direct flight with Pakistan International Airlines from Kathmandu, where I seem to have been the only woman and the stewardess asked me where I was going (??), I have finally arrived in Islamabad. It is always strange to come to a new country where you do not know the culture, you have [...]

After almost seven weeks in the clean air of the Bavarian Alps I have returned to Kathmandu, where traffic and pollution is still as mad as it was when I left. It was really sad to leave Germany as I very much enjoyed being with my lovely family, doing a few good mountain trips and [...]

I have just come back from a two-day ridge traverse in the Alps of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and I think it was one of the most beautiful but – apart from Everest – one of the most daring things I have ever done.
My very good friend Andi from Munich, his brother-in-law, Bernd, and I decided to climb [...]

I am sitting here in my front garden with Richard looking at the medals we received after having done a mountain race today. The medal says: ”Zugspitz Extremlauf” – well, we did not do the ‘Zugspitz Extremlauf’ but I guess time was too short for the organisers to change the wording to “Gentle run up [...]

I have just noticed that I have not updated my website since I signed the ‘Golden Book’ of that famous Bavarian village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen but life has not really given me a reason to write anything interesting….until last Sunday that was. On 12th July my friend Chrissie Wellington, the current Ironman World Champion, broke the [...]

It has now been a week since I had the honour to sign my name into the famous “Golden Book” of Garmisch-Partenkirchen – well, it cannot be that famous as I had no idea what it was when my mother rang me all excited to tell me that I had been invited by the mayor [...]

After having suffered in the sweltering heat of Kathmandu for three weeks, I am now trying to cope with wintery temperatures of around 10 degrees in my Bavarian hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I have finally arrived in Europe after not having set foot on the continent for more than one year and it is great to be [...]

A lot happened in Kathmandu last week, hence the silence on my website. However, one of the sad events was the death of Mick Parker, a fine Australian climber and friend of mine. Mick, together with British mountaineer Roland Hunter, had just come back from a successful trip to Makalu, which at 8,485 is the [...]

I have been back from Everest for over one week now, however, the fact that I actually made it up there still has not sunk in yet. Maybe it is because I don’t really feel it – or look like someone who has just climbed the highest mountain in the world. My friends here in [...]