Determined to make the climb, Blum organized an all-female team, and on July 6, 1970, the six women made history by being the first such group to scale the peak. Also known as Mount McKinley, at 20,320 feet this peak is the highest in North America. Blum was also turned down when she attempted to join an expedition up Mount Denali in Alaska. It was traditionally held that women could not handle the extreme elevations of the highest Asian mountains and that the presence of women in such a climbing team would be detrimental to male morale. When she applied to become part of a climbing expedition in Afghanistan, however, she was rejected because of her gender. While in graduate school, Blum joined mountaineering expeditions into Mexico and the Andes Mountains of South America. She enjoyed exploring Oregon's volcanic mountains so much that the subject of her undergraduate thesis was the analysis of volcanic gases. Thanks in part to Blum's work, the chemical was banned from use in textiles.ĭuring college, Blum took a course in high-altitude climbing.

Blum went on to work as part of a team that was instrumental in discovering the dangerous carcinogenic properties of a flame retardant that was in common use in the material for children's pajamas. She flourished in the demanding program, and by the time she entered college she had decided to pursue chemistry as a career, though this was a difficult field for a woman to break into at that time. While still in high school, she was placed into an accelerated program for chemistry and math. Although she is well known for her climbing adventures, Blum's primary area of expertise is chemistry. SIDELIGHTS: Arlene Blum is a seasoned mountain climber and a chemist whose achievements have proven that women can succeed in fields that have traditionally been dominated by men. WRITINGS:Īnnapurna, a Woman's Place (nonfiction), Sierra Club Books ( San Francisco, CA), 1980, 20th anniversary edition with new preface and afterword by Blum, 1998.īreaking Trail: A Climbing Life (autobiography), Scribner ( New York, NY), 2005.Ĭontributor to periodicals, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Science.ĪDAPTATIONS: Rights to produce a television miniseries based on Annapurna, a Woman's Place were bought by National Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Speaker at conferences and seminars.ĪWARDS, HONORS: Gold Medal, Society of Women Geographers. Instructor in mountain trekking courses instructor at Stanford University, Wellesley College, and University of California, Berkeley.

Has led mountaineering expeditions around the world, including to Mount Denali, 1970, and Annapurna, Himalyan Mountains, 1978. Box 5455, Berkeley, CA 94705.ĬAREER: Chemist and mountaineer. Education: Graduated from Reed College University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D.ĪDDRESSES: Home-Berkeley, CA. PERSONAL: Born 1945, in Chicago, IL children: Annalise.

Breaking trail a climbing life