Arlene Blum
If you've never heard of Arlene Blum, here is your chance. It's worth it.
I heard Arlene Blum speak last weekend. She was one of the first women mountaineers, beginning her quest to the top around 40 years ago as an undergrad at Reed College in Oregon. She is currently on a book tour for her second book, Breaking Trail. If you get a chance to see her-- grab it.
Arlene is a dynamic speaker, and she has things to talk about. She's scaled Anapurna, Denali, and a dozen other sky-scraping peaks, including a trip up Everest. Oh, and she also has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and played a key role in getting a toxic chemical banned that used to be used in children's sleepwear as a fire retardant. She is still a fierce advocate of better regulations on the harmful chemicals we live with in our industrialized world.
Her first book, Anapurna, is about that trek specifically, while Breaking Trail is more of a retrospective or memoir on her life as a climber and trailblazer (in so many ways). I was moved by her accounts of bitter cold, painful decisions under tough conditions (push on? Or set up camp for the night? Your life could depend on this decision), and the death of friends at the unyielding hand of Nature.
As in other difficult activities, women are presumed to be incompetent. She encountered many who said women couldn't handle high altitude or the stress of climbing, or were too weak physically, or whatever. When she led a group of women up Everest, taking 7 sherpas along to haul the equipment, she was told that women hadn't really done it alone since the sherpas were male. Of course, when a group of American men were hailed for being "the first Americans" up Everest, no one commented on the 40 non-American sherpas they brought with them!
Later, she did a really neat trek. She walked almost the entire length of the Himalayas, from the edge of China, across Nepal, Tibet, and India, and finally into Pakistan. She did it with one companion over many months. Once, when they came into a village in India, it happened that the Dalai Lama was there -- just for that one day -- giving a lecture in English. How neat!
And later, they almost had to turn back when there was too much snow and they couldn't break trail. They would have had to go back for nearly a month in order to get around the mountain range that was about to be snowed under with the arrival of winter. But then, out of the blue, four yaks appeared, walking in a line. They were essentially breaking trail! Arlene and her companion scrambled to follow the yaks, and eventually made it into a small town with a Buddhist monastery. The monks came bounding out and welcomed them with food and warm tea.
And of course, the whole lecture was done in conjunction with slides showing the most beautiful pictures of snow-capped Himalayan peaks, grinning climbers, and dizzying drop-offs to both sides.
Arlene laughed and said she had "a very busy mind," and had never been able to handle meditation. But she also noted that when you are tiptoeing across an ice-covered ledge, aware that one false move will mean plunging to your death, you get focused. FAST. Mountain climbing is her meditation.
And it certainly seems to have freed her spirit. Check out her website.
PS: Remember those shirts that say "A Woman's Place is on Top"? Arlene was the original creator of those. She sold them to raise money so she could climb Anapurna!
I heard Arlene Blum speak last weekend. She was one of the first women mountaineers, beginning her quest to the top around 40 years ago as an undergrad at Reed College in Oregon. She is currently on a book tour for her second book, Breaking Trail. If you get a chance to see her-- grab it.
Arlene is a dynamic speaker, and she has things to talk about. She's scaled Anapurna, Denali, and a dozen other sky-scraping peaks, including a trip up Everest. Oh, and she also has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and played a key role in getting a toxic chemical banned that used to be used in children's sleepwear as a fire retardant. She is still a fierce advocate of better regulations on the harmful chemicals we live with in our industrialized world.
Her first book, Anapurna, is about that trek specifically, while Breaking Trail is more of a retrospective or memoir on her life as a climber and trailblazer (in so many ways). I was moved by her accounts of bitter cold, painful decisions under tough conditions (push on? Or set up camp for the night? Your life could depend on this decision), and the death of friends at the unyielding hand of Nature.
As in other difficult activities, women are presumed to be incompetent. She encountered many who said women couldn't handle high altitude or the stress of climbing, or were too weak physically, or whatever. When she led a group of women up Everest, taking 7 sherpas along to haul the equipment, she was told that women hadn't really done it alone since the sherpas were male. Of course, when a group of American men were hailed for being "the first Americans" up Everest, no one commented on the 40 non-American sherpas they brought with them!
Later, she did a really neat trek. She walked almost the entire length of the Himalayas, from the edge of China, across Nepal, Tibet, and India, and finally into Pakistan. She did it with one companion over many months. Once, when they came into a village in India, it happened that the Dalai Lama was there -- just for that one day -- giving a lecture in English. How neat!
And later, they almost had to turn back when there was too much snow and they couldn't break trail. They would have had to go back for nearly a month in order to get around the mountain range that was about to be snowed under with the arrival of winter. But then, out of the blue, four yaks appeared, walking in a line. They were essentially breaking trail! Arlene and her companion scrambled to follow the yaks, and eventually made it into a small town with a Buddhist monastery. The monks came bounding out and welcomed them with food and warm tea.
And of course, the whole lecture was done in conjunction with slides showing the most beautiful pictures of snow-capped Himalayan peaks, grinning climbers, and dizzying drop-offs to both sides.
Arlene laughed and said she had "a very busy mind," and had never been able to handle meditation. But she also noted that when you are tiptoeing across an ice-covered ledge, aware that one false move will mean plunging to your death, you get focused. FAST. Mountain climbing is her meditation.
And it certainly seems to have freed her spirit. Check out her website.
PS: Remember those shirts that say "A Woman's Place is on Top"? Arlene was the original creator of those. She sold them to raise money so she could climb Anapurna!
