Annapurna ‘78

At a time when men dominated the sport, Arlene Blum and her troop of American women put up first ascents on some of the highest peaks in Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir and the Himalaya. By selling T-shirts, the climbers earned the $80,000 needed for an expedition to Annapurna in 1978 — one of the world’s 14 8,000 meter peaks. The bid for the summit brings both inspiration and devastation, inevitably changing the course of Blum’s life.