Summit to Swiss desk in five days
Since I wrote my last entry, my life has literally rushed past me as it took me only five days to get from the summit of Manaslu to my new job in Bern. I am sure it is not the record but my poor body and mind…
The crew - Ryuzeki, Adrian, Narly, Jaime, Brian, Monica and I
Back at Manaslu base camp
This is just a brief update to let you know that we had to abandon our summit attempt and are back at base camp. After having spent one night at Camp I at 5,570m, during which it continuously snowed and left about 50cm of fresh snow on the ground, we were called back by Russell, our expedition leader.
Manaslu seen from Camp II
Trials and Trembles
Ascent of Manaslu 2011: Earthquake, acclimatisation, incessant rain, amazing Sherpas, walking with the wounded. Billi Bierling's dispatch from basecamp.
Small child walking in Samagaon near Manaslu
Nepal earthquake
This is Billi's robot. Billi just called from basecamp where she is sitting in the rain, waiting. Yesterday at 6.10pm local time, a 6.8 earthquake struck on the Nepal Sikkim border, pretty much under Kanchenjunga. In Kathmandu it was felt apparently as a 4.8 earthquake which is…
Heli taking off after a short stop with Manaslu in background
Back on Manaslu
Billi Bierling has returned to Manaslu with Russel Brice and the Himex crew plus a team from the UK from Walking with the Wounded.
Manaslu as I saw it in 2010
Peaks, politics and prime ministers
When I arrived in Kathmandu last Sunday, I had no idea that this was the day of the country’s general elections. I had long lost track of who was actually ruling the country as the seat of the prime minister has been swapped around a few times…
Edi and I on top of the Wildspitze
Wildspitze and other outdoor joys
I have been in Europe for two weeks and I am enjoying the good food, the clean air, the organised life and all the outdoor possibilities Europe has on offer. I have been swimming in lakes and rivers and have been hiking in the Alps. Last…
Angela from Ireland and I moving to the tunes of my iPod at 5,000m
Ladakh – the land of high passes
I just got back from the beautiful region of Ladakh in northern India, where I was leading a trek to Tso Moriri and Lungser Kangri, a 6,666m peak, which unfortunately we did not get to the top of due to bad weather. However, despite the disappointment of…
There is always time to plank - even at Concordia at 4,900m
The dramatic scenery of the Karakorum
This is just a quick update whilst in civilisation before I go off into the mountains again. I have just come back from trekking to Concordia and the K2 memorial site in Pakistan and even though I had rather climb mountains than just trek, this trip was…
Off trekking to K2 Base Camp
After having spent one week in the sweltering heat of Islamabad I am now off to K2 base camp – a trip I am leading for a British tour operator. I am really excited to finally see the Baltoro Glacier and discover another part of Pakistan –…
Miriam, who has just become the fourth German woman to reach Mount Everest, and I waving the Bavarian flag in the Western Cwm
Back in the sweltering heat of Islamabad
Just about two weeks after having left base camp and the cold, I am back in Islamabad, where temperatures are currently soaring up to about 45 C. Life happens so fast sometimes and my Lhotse expedition, which I utterly enjoyed, seems so far away when I ride…
On the top of Lhotse with Mount Everest in the background
Back in Kathmandu
This is just a short note to let say that I am back in Kathmandu and I don't think I have ever come back from the mountains so quickly. After having come down from Camp II on 27 May in the morning, I just had a shower,…
Going down before going up again
It is the 5th of May and while many teams are going down to the lower elevations to recover from having lived above 5,000m and prepare for their summit attempt, the Himalayan Experience Lhotse group is heading down the valley in order to climb Lobuche East for…
Silence has arrived at our base camp
This is just a quick update on what has been happening here at Everest base camp. Our Everest group has gone off to Camp II and Camp III for the next six days, and the Himalayan Experience camp is very quiet with only Monica, Ellen, Russell, a…
Getting ready for Lhotse
After having wrapped up my job with the United Nations in Islamabad and said goodbye to the lovely people I met there as well as our CORE community, I am back in Kathmandu getting ready for Lhotse. I left Pakistan with a laughing and a crying eye…
Climbing season well underway
I have just come back to Islamabad after having spent a week in Kathmandu, where I was busy meeting mountaineering expeditions for Miss Hawley and starting writing the Newsletter for Himalayan Experience, who I will be climbing Lhotse with. It was good to be back and it…
Off to a new adventure
I have just noticed that time must have been flying over the past three months and even though it seems that I have only just got back to Pakistan after my visit to Europe, I am actually about to leave again. I have just been asked how…
The power of pictures
It has been six months since the floods in Pakistan caused huge devastation, left more than 1,000 people dead, killed around 500,000 animals, destroyed more than 2.2 million hectares of crops and affected almost 18 million people. I happened to be here when the water started to…
Laptop provides refugee poet with voice for his prose
„I have written some poetry for you,“ Mohammad Zai Parishan proudly told me when I finally found him at the local hospital at Surkhab Refugee Village in Balochistan, where he had been for a regular check-up. “I knew you would be coming back.” About six weeks ago,…
World Records, Fun Runs and a Delhi Belly
Last weekend was another weekend filled with sporting activities and first of all I would like to share with you that my good friend and Ironman World Champion, Chrissie Wellington, has yet broken another world record. Chrissie stunned the sports world again by finishing the 2.4-mile swim,…
Wheelchairs, laptops and mountaineering conferences
Quite a lot has happened since I posted my last newsletter, in which I wrote about my amazing encounter with Mohammad Zai, the wheelchair-bound man I met in Pishin near Quetta. Following the article I posted on the UNHCR website, I received an email from a university…
Special encounters with special people
My work in Pakistan has taken me to Quetta in Balochistan, which is in the south west of the country and is very close to the borders with Afghanistan and Iran. I came here more than one week ago and even though the city is surrounded by…
Life after Manaslu
Life after Manaslu has been reasonably hectic with barely three days gap between the summit and getting back to Kathmandu. Russell managed to organise a couple of helicopters that took us straight from Samagoan (the last village before base camp) o to Kathmandu, where I immediately got…
Summit Success
I am sitting in the sun at base camp watching the hard-working Sherpas clearing up the camp and packing everything away. It has been almost six weeks now that I left Pakistan and after all the waiting and acclimatising the expedition is finally over and we managed…
A Bad Day
Forty hours in a tent We have just come back down from spending four nights higher up on the mountain. On Monday we set off towards Camp I, where we were going to spend one night before we were supposed to move to Camp II at 6,270m.…
Off to Manaslu
This is just a quick note to let you know that I have arrived back in Nepal and am busy packing my bags, interviewing a few expeditions for Miss Hawley and just getting used to my very different life here again. Monica, our expedition doctor, Lakchu, our…
The floods continue
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…
The relentless rains just don’t want to stop
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…
