Annapurna, a woman's place Book

Arlene Blum and her crew of women climbers were the first Americans of any sex to scale the deadly 8,000-meter Himalayan peak of Annapurna in 1978. It was a monumental achievement, to be sure, and this account is a valuable one in the literature of mountaineering, particularly in its fulsome details on the frustrating difficulties of logistical and human-resource management, eg., the cultural and gender clashes between the native Sherpa guides and the Westerners. Also important is its delineation of the outrageous sexism that Blum talks about, mainly at the beginning of the book. In one case a male climber said he was OK with women being on the crew as long as they slept with all the men. Ugh. I remember a time when these attitudes were common, and they didn't even make me flinch, whereas now they are uber-cringe. The book isn't exactly the adrenaline rush provider that many mountaineering books can be, and at times it felt a bit meh and draggy, but its place in the story of mountaineering lit is secure. Any mountaineering fan needs to read it, even though it didn't entirely blow me away.