Annapurn A Woman's Place By Arlene Blum

Annapurna: A Woman's Place is a fantastic account of Arlene Blum leading the first Americans and the first women expedition through all kinds of challenges to the summit of Annapurna I, the world's tenth highest peak.
Compared to the increased accessibility for tourism and transportation in other mountains, such as Alps in Swiss, Annapurna has not been thoroughly explored by mountaineers, giving us an image of a vast and pristine wildness almost unspoiled by human settlement. The pursuit of mountain adventures is linked to experiencing the mountain wilderness. Wilderness has always been one of the chief elements of travel literature. It plays a role as important as events since the twists and turns of emotions in the journey are also connected

Being in the wilderness helps shape identity through challenges of surviving in the wilderness —avalanche, icefalls, the need for food and shelter, the terror of teammates’ death. In addition, wilderness provides opportunities for self-discovery, for example, it fostered Blum’s leadership. It also provides an opportunity to test oneself in an environment where making a mistake means paying for it — Blum’s two teammates didn’t listen to her warning and insisted on). In surmounting those challenges, people achieve a sense of accomplishment and increased feelings of self-worth and

As Arlene climbed from peak to peak she kept running into fairs where people prayed and worshipped god. When they were “traversing a treacherous flake of rotten ice”, Norbu, a Sherpa, “prayed, tossed the rice over his shoulder, and then informed [Blum] that now [they] can cross the rotten ice safely” (106). “Though many Sherpas are expert at using modern technical-climbing techniques and equipment, they still believe that their survival in the mountains depends primarily on fate and the goodwill of mountain gods. They ready themselves for the most severe climbing not only by perfecting their skills, but also by praying and making offerings to this god” (107). “Native people have long believed that deities live at the top of high mountains” and that “they can control the forces of nature such as wind, rain, snow and hail”. People need to worship Mountain gods before climbing the mountain because if Mountain gods are pleased they would protect climbers from icefalls, avalanches and any disasters. There superstitions are largely prompted by fear and ignorance. However, Blum as an educated professor, believed in the savage’s superstitious behaviors and also made offerings to the mountain gods and speeches before climbing the peak. John Dewey stated in Democracy and Education, “a savage adapts himself to the environment, but a civilized man subordinates the environment; therefore, a