Billi Bierling – Journalist and Climber

I don’t think I have to say any more about the floods in Pakistan as I am sure you are all seeing daily pictures of these devastating waters that have submerged one fifth of Pakistan’s land – and it does not seem to be over yet. While I am writing this, sitting in my dry [...]

Most of you will have heard that Pakistan has been hit by severe floods following torrential rains that fell over one week ago, and the extent of these raging waters engulfing the country is still not quite clear. Here in Islamabad, the situation is ok but I remember that last Thursday I could not take [...]

One of the comments to my last entry said: “Billi, you are a master of making lemonade when life hands you lemons.” This was a note from Beth, who has followed my website since I climbed Mount Everest last year and it referred to me changing my plans from working for the UN in the [...]

After having thought that my next adventure would take me back to Islamabad to do another three-months stint for the United Nations there, I was bitterly disappointed to find out that my contract could not get extended due to United Nations regulations. However, the disappointment lasted only for about a day or two as I [...]

After a manic four to five days, during which most mountaineering expeditions descended on the Nepali capital after their successful or unsuccessful trips to mountains like Mount Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri I, peace and quiet has now returned to Kathmandu. Well, relatively speaking as it is difficult to find piece and quiet in this city, unless [...]

Last week, I was honoured with being invited to a Nepali engagement party. The girl to be married was the daughter of my good Nepali friend, Mr Puru, who I met through my even better Australian friend, Judy. It was an interesting and very Nepali affair – and don’t think that the party was in [...]

A few days ago, the penultimate 8,000m peak to be conquered in the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first ascent – or rather the Swiss, Austrians and Nepalis did. Dhaulagiri I, the seventh highest mountain in the world, was first climbed by a Swiss/Austrian/German/Nepali team on 13th May 1960 – almost seven years [...]

Long time, no update! Well, not quite true as I have been writing for the Himex Newsletter and even though I am back in Kathmandu I will continue to be writing about the team, what is happening at base camp and more stories from the Khumbu. I returned to the heat, pollution and dust of [...]

I have just got back from Lobuje base camp, where part of our team is waiting to tackle the mountain and the other half is currently camping on the summit to acclimatise. I will be going up in a couple of days and I am very much looking forward to it. It has been great [...]

After a busy season in Kathmandu during which I interviewed dozens of teams going to mountains, such as Everest, Makalu, Dhaulagiri and many more, I left the Nepalese capital about one week ago and managed to walk to base camp in three days. This is something that should not really be repeated as it defies [...]

Life in Kathmandu has been quite hectic over the past two weeks, with dozens of expeditions coming through to climb the world’s highest peaks. For me that meant whizzing around my bike from hotel to hotel trying to catch expedition leaders guiding teams to mountains, such as Mount Everest, Makalu, Manaslu, Ama Dablam, Baruntse, etc. [...]

This is just a quick update on what has been happening in the expedition life of Kathmandu. Since I have been back I have been running around, more or less non-stop, trying to catch expeditions intending to climb one of the many expedition peaks of Nepal. The main bulk of the climbers are going to [...]

Well, up until last week I could proudly claim that I had never run a marathon or more than 35km in my life – but little did I know that this would change after my Saturday run. I hooked up with a few people who are getting ready to run a 71k Ultramarathon race in [...]

I have arrived in Kathmandu and it is good to be back! I literally went straight from the plane to see Miss Hawley to discuss, who is interviewing which expedition this season. Despite the economic crunch this spring looks pretty busy, at least when it comes to big expeditions in Nepal, which we cover in [...]