I have been in my hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a few weeks and it is absolutely gorgeous to be here. When I am away I keep forgetting how beautiful Bavaria is and how much it has to offer. I guess it is when you grow up in such…
Dear Friends Please be advised that the Billi Bierling page on Facebook is NOT mine. And even though you can see a FB icon on the top of this site, I have never been on Facebook myself and I am not intending to join it either. Somebody,…
This year’s Everest season has been heavily covered by the international news and I am wondering whether I should actually comment on it or not. I have had a few phone calls from journalists wanting to hear my opinion about what happened on the mountain this year,…
Another fortnight has gone and I have been rushing around Kathmandu trying to catch up with the teams I need to interview for Miss Elizabeth Hawley’s Himalayan Database. Kathmandu’s tourist district Thamel is noticeably filling up with trekkers and climbers, bars are getting busier and mobile phone…
It has been less than 36 hours that my plane touched down in Kathmandu and even though it is good to be back in the madness of this sprawling city, it was great to get out into the surrounding hills on Saturday morning. After five months of…
After having spent five months working for the Swiss Humanitarian Aid in Berne, time has come to say goodbye to Europe and head back to my other life in Nepal. I have had a very interesting and fulfilling five months in the Western world and like…
This is just a very quick note to say Thank You to everyone who came to my Manaslu presentation and who supported the solar light project in the region. More than 100 people attended the event, which was hosted by Sport Conrad in Garmisch-Part., and it was…
On the second weekend in December, I will present pictures and a few stories about my two Manaslu expeditions. Manaslu, also called 'Mountain of the Spirits', is the eighth highest mountain in the world and is located in the Lamjung District in the northern Himalaya range. The…
In my last entry I was boasting that I would be doing a half-marathon in Lausanne on 30 October, however, these 21km were reduced to a 10km race due to various aches and pains by the participants. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Ale, who…
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…
While I am writing this I am lying in my tent which is engulfed in a huge cloud and I can hardly see the tent next to mine. But despite this latest fog at base camp, the weather has improved hugely over the past two days and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 –…
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…
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,…
Apologies for the silence over the past week but I have been away from modern technology and have been unable to send any updates to my website. I have just come down from four days at Camp II and Camp III and enjoyed the dizzying heights of…
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…
Greetings from my little acclimatisation hike with my friend and mountain mentor Ellen from Vale!The rest of the Lhotse group is still on their way down from the 5,455m peak and Ellen and I are happy to be sitting in the lodge as it is snowing hard…
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…
I am just sitting in the legendary White Pod – the igloo-like structure that dominates the Himalayan Experience base camp – and the thought of moving over to the prayer flags from where I have a good enough 3G connection to send this update for my website…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
