He invites her on her first mountain expedition to the summit of Mount Adams. Her introduction to climbing comes through a “handsome” classmate, John Hall, her chemistry lab partner at Reed College in Oregon.

However, Blum credits these early low expectations with incentivizing her to succeed. Her aunt’s dismissive remark was typical of the atmosphere in her home. Her mother suffered from depression, her grandmother had a difficult temperament, and her grandfather, though kindly, was limited in his ability to understand his young granddaughter. She would not meet her father until she was a teenager. We learn that she was born in Iowa and raised in Chicago by her Orthodox Jewish mother and grandparents. Throughout the memoir, the narrative of Blum’s life is interwoven with the story of her growth as a climber. As she plays with a doll under the porch of her family home, Blum hears her aunt say, “That child will amount to no good.” Overcome with hatred and anger, Blum resolves there and then to “show them all.” From here, the memoir moves back to a moment from Blum’s childhood. Below her, her team leader is moaning: “I’m going to die.” Blum describes her terror and panic. Above her, troubling storm clouds gather. At more than 20,000 ft, near the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Blum clings to the rock face. The memoir opens with a climactic moment from early in Blum’s climbing career. Blume also discusses her career as a scientist, her experience of motherhood, and her trekking expeditions through the Himalayas and the Alps.

In her memoir, Breaking Trail (2005), American mountaineer and environmental scientist Arlene Blum narrates how she overcame the low expectations of her family and institutional sexism to become a pioneering female mountaineer, best known for leading the all-women team which achieved the first American ascent of Annapurna (I).

Breaking trail arlene blum