Billi Bierling – Journalist and Climber

Photo: Alex Treadway (click to enlarge)   I have been at base camp for two days now, and it already feels like weeks! Life here is great, and as a matter of fact it is extremely comfortable. I guess every once in a while we have to remind ourselves where we actually are as it [...]

Wow! That is all I could say when we toddled into Himex’s Base Camp on Sunday afternoon. I had been to base camps before and I had seen Russell Brice’s setup at Cho Oyu in 2005, but this is just amazing. Alex, who I managed to catch up with just above Pheriche, and I wandered [...]

After having spent one night in Namche Bazaar, I decided to leave the Sherpa capital and move on to Deboche, which is a tiny little settlement just below the famous Tengboche monastery. On a normal acclimatisation trip you would stay in Namche Bazaar for two nights, however, as I was feeling fine and Deboche is [...]

I have made it out of Kathmandu and it actually went very smoothly. Flights were leaving very early and we already landed in Lukla at 7am. It is great to be back in the mountains and I am glad that I made it as I nearly decided to stay in Kathmandu for another week to [...]

This is just a short note to let you know that I will be off to Lukla tomorrow, or shall I say I will certainly be off to Kathmandu airport at 6am and I am hoping that planes will be able to land in the Khumbu. The Himex team has arrived in Lobuche this morning, [...]

I have just found out that flights to Lukla have resumed and I can actually hear the planes as I am writing this. This is good news, as the trekkers and mountaineers, who are eager to get out, are finally making it to the Khumbu, or rather to the land of the Sherpas. Now, there [...]

I have had a few manic days interviewing expeditions for the Himalayan Database, however, today is the first day when I actually have time to update my website. I have met around 20 teams in the past two days and most of them are headed for Everest. As it turns out, I probably could have [...]

The Himex team left for the mountains on Tuesday morning, it has been snowing in the Everest region, I am finally packed and all I have to do now is interview all the other expeditions that are currently arriving in Kathmandu. However, I had another thought about an issue that is quite ubiquitous here in [...]

On Sunday, most of the members of the Himex Everest South 2009 expedition arrived in Kathmandu, and it was quite overwhelming to see how many people are actually part of this expedition. There are 28 clients from all over the world, seven “western” guides, a doctor, 30 climbing Sherpas, 10 base camp staff, two cooks [...]

Up until one week ago the streets of Kathmandu were mainly filled with taxis, street sellers, expats and stray dogs, however, Thamel is now teeming with tourists in the shape of trekkers, mountaineers and cultural visitors. It is good to see that despite the global economic crisis and the constant power cuts in Nepal, people [...]

If you have ever been to Kathmandu and know the Bagmati River, you might think that I am trying to get out of my Everest expedition by poisoning myself with the dirty water of the river. No, this is not the case, however, it is true that you probably would poison yourself if you ever [...]

I have just found out that Nepal could actually be a dangerous place for me to live! This is certainly not because of my upcoming expedition to Mount Everest but because of a new report stating that journalists live precariously in the Himalayan country. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Nepal [...]

I don’t want to make this a meteorological website, however, after having ranted about the dry and dirty air in Kathmandu, I just wanted to give an update on the latest smog and weather developments in the capital. After about five months of dry weather we have finally had some rain. On Saturday, the skies [...]

Well, this is something I have been wondering since I have been interviewing expeditions for the Himalayan Database, but considering what I have seen and heard over the past five years, I would say: “Yes, Everest changes people!” The most striking transformation I notice is obviously when the mountaineers come back from their respective expeditions. [...]

Kathmandu has been under a thick cloud, or rather smog cover for the last few days. It still has not rained even though the skies look so gloomy that you would expect the first drops to fall soon. But nothing has happened so far and according to the weather forecast there is no rain in [...]

Ich habe ja schon fast ein schlechtes Gewissen, dass ich dieses Tagebuch und diese Webseite nur auf Englisch führe, und ich möchte mich bei meinen deutschen Lesern dafür entschuldigen. Das Problem ist, dass die meisten Leute, die sich diese Webseite ansehen, Englisch sprechen, und es macht einfach mehr Sinn für mich, diese Webseite in einer [...]

I have just read through my last entry again and I am sorry if I was having a bit of a rant about the fact that we don’t have enough power here. It actually made me think that I should write a little bit more about ‘Bhatti Chaina’ as I have also seen the flipside [...]

‘Bhatti’ is the Nepali word for electricity – ‘Chaina’ is the word for NO! So ‘Bhatti Chaina’ is what you can currently hear in the shops and streets of Kathmandu. As I have briefly mentioned in my previous entry, we are currently suffering from 16 hours of power cuts a day and we have been [...]

Whilst I have never really been that interested in being the first in anything (what could I possibly be first in?) I could not resist having a look into how many German women have summited Mount Everest so far. I was surprised to find out that only two German women have actually made it up [...]

I have been contemplating when to start writing my Everest diary but I guess there is no real beginning to an expedition as, mentally, it starts the day you decide that you are actually going to do it. I had been thinking about climbing the Big E for a few years but I never thought [...]