Arlene's Blog

In Calcutta

2006-04-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

I an enroute from home to Sikkim with half of the members of my trekking group. Due to big head winds the plane didn't make it to Hong Kong and we stopped for refueling in Tapei which made the trip 16 hours. Not so fun, but survivable. After flights to Bangkok and Calcutta, I am on line with some difficulty in the lobby of my hotel They had broadband and I had to change the IP address numbers , but it finally worked.

Calcutta is much less crowded and more orderly and prosperous than I remember it to be. After our arrival some 26 hours after we had left home, we visited a georous Sikh temple. The young women were dressed in their finest Aris to attract attention from the young men. Then we strolled by the river and admired the amazing Calcutta bridge. Unlike my memoires of northern India, no one hassled us at all, maybe becuase Caltutta or Kolkota, as it is now known, is not a major tourist destination.

Struggling to stay awake and avoid jet lag we went our to the best Indian dinner I have ever had at a place called "Grain of Salt." The velgetarian grill was the most interesting best vegetarian food I have ever tasted. I hope Annalise comes here and tries it sometime. When I paid the bill, I was sleepy and did my math wrong so I paid too much, leaving a tip of about 500 Rupees or twelve dollarsl. The waiter chased us to the elevator, telling us we had paid too much.
Nothing like this has ever happened to me in Asia before. Hopefully this is a good omen for our trip.

I wonder if there is broadband in the Himalaya?

On the way to Sikkim

2006-04-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm in SFO waiting to board my flight to Hong Kong. I already learned that due to headwinds, the plane will have to stop to refuel and we will miss our connection to Bangkok. Sigh. I hope we don't loose a day in Sikkim. It's such a short trip.

I've worked up to the last minute to get ready for this trip and think things are in good order with Amy taking care of the cats and Annalise happy on her gap year. I hope to get lots of good excercise, walk, relax, and recover a bit from the last months stresses. Not bad to escape the incessant rain.

I planted wildflowers again and hope they work this time. I also hope I can find a way to get back to my research on toxic chemicals. It really seems important to me that chemicals be tested before people and the envoronment are exposed to them. I'd like to work on this, but am not at all sure of the best way to do it. The next weeks will be a good time to think.

I enjoyed Sedars the last two nights and am bringin Matzoh to India trying to keep Passover. We will see.

New York Times Article: A Special Danger

2006-04-05T16:04:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/01/sports/othersports/01outdoors.html

Special Danger for New Mountaineers

April 1, 2006 Outdoors

By ARLENE BLUM

On a cold night last April, I stepped out of Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon at 3 a.m. As freezing rain pelted us, my climbing partners and I clambered into a snow tractor that would take us up the first 2,000 feet of the mountain. We had come to Mount Hood to ascend the easy route on the south side as a backdrop for a magazine photo shoot to illustrate an interview about my style of decision-making when leading mountaineering expeditions.

At 8,700 feet, we reluctantly emerged from the relative warmth of the snow tractor and marched up the mountain in a blizzard. An hour later, we climbed out of the storm into a sparkling world high above the clouds. Mount Hood was encrusted with rime ice feathers and large cauliflower-like formations about three feet across. The neighboring Cascade volcanoes — St. Helens, Rainier and Jefferson — hung suspended in the sky.

When we reached the summit, I continued to the far edge of the small plateau, lay on my stomach on the snow, and squirmed out to peek over the nearly vertical slope leading up from the north side of the mountain. I vividly remembered ascending a route on this side called the Eliot Headwall — then considered the toughest route on Mount Hood — many years earlier. That ascent was probably the closest I came to dying on a mountain.

The beginning of a mountaineer's career, when energy and enthusiasm outpace experience and judgment, is said to be the most dangerous part. And I was no exception.

Early on a July morning, three new climbing partners and I hiked up to below the precipitous north face of Mount Hood. Looking up at the Eliot glacier, I saw translucent blue and green ice walls and white towers of ice called seracs. But far above, I could see huge boulders frozen into the sheer ice slope. We had to quickly ascend before the sun loosened the boulders and turned the route into a shooting gallery.

Ted and Jon, the more experienced climbers, roped together and headed up the glacier, leaving me roped to Greg, a novice like myself. Greg moved in slow motion as he led us up a short wall of almost vertical ice. I plunged my ice ax into the snow and wrapped the rope between us around it, carefully feeding out rope as he moved upward. This way of safeguarding a climber is called a belay.

When Greg reached the top of the ice wall, Ted and Jon were far ahead. Greg did not stop to rig a belay to protect me in case I were to slip. I didn't ask him to, because we would go faster if we moved at the same time. The sun was softening the slopes, small rocks were beginning to whiz down, and I wanted to get up and off the headwall as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the snow below my right boot gave way. I struggled for balance and felt myself falling off the face. I yelled, "Falling," the climber's time-honored signal of the obvious, plunged my ax into the ice, and reduced my fall to a slow slide. But then the rope between us pulled Greg off the slope. He, too, began tumbling, yanking me out of my attempted self-arrest. We were both rolling and bouncing down the slope. I did an inadvertent back somersault, landed on my head — fortunately, I was wearing a helmet — and thought, "You've really blown it this time." An image flashed through my mind of my falling hundreds of feet into an enormous crevasse gaping open below the headwall.

Then I felt a painful jerk around my waist and found myself hanging by the rope tied to my harness. Greg was similarly stopped 20 feet across from me. Miraculously, the rope between us had snagged over a small serac poking out of the face. The rope had sawed through most the serac, leaving about an inch of uncut ice. Greg and I were suspended on either side, our lives depending on that finger of ice. Shaking with relief, I quickly chopped a platform in the ice big enough to stand on and scrambled onto it. Greg inched across the steep slope and joined me in my perch.

Ted and Jon hurried back down. "That's the best fall I've ever seen!" Ted said. "I sure wish I'd had a movie camera."

After we rested for a few minutes, Jon suggested that we finish the climb. "The safest way off the headwall is straight up and down the other side," he said.

Shaken, I followed their lead up melting ice slopes mixed with loose rock and mud for the next six hours. Boulders loosened by the sun thundered down on either side. Several large stones glanced off my helmet.

In the late afternoon, we reached the top of Eliot Headwall. Ted exclaimed with enthusiasm that we had made a new route on the mountain, but I didn't care. I was just glad to be alive. As we ran down the south side of Mount Hood that July afternoon, I realized for the first time that mountain climbing could be a lethal activity.

My imprudent Eliot Headwall ascent was still vivid in my mind when we descended after the photo shoot. During the intervening decades, I never again had such a close call. Had my nearly fatal fall helped me to make better decisions, to be wiser in my choice of partners and not attempt routes beyond my abilities? Had it tempered my youthful feelings of immortality and extreme optimism?

On Mount Hood, I learned the importance of taking every step with care and deliberation. The misadventures of our youth, if we live to tell the tale, can influence the course of our lives.

Spring newsletter

2006-04-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

I am just back from the where UK I spoke at a mountain literature conference in Leeds and was interviewed on the popular BBC Women’s Hour My other news is that Harcourt bought the paperback rights to Breaking Trail to come out next March.
The first in a series of Outdoor adventure articles I’m writing for the Sports section of the New York Times was published April 1 and is at the end of this message. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/01/sports/othersports/01outdoors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
and there's an interview about Breaking Trail in the Berkeley Monthly http://www.themonthly.com/kilduff-04-06.htm
Happy spring,
Arlene

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TEMPLES, TREKS, AND TRIBES of BURMA: DECEMBER 2-17, 2006
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Annalise and I found Burma to be one of our favorite countries. The people are kind and compassionate and the landscape is stunning. Trekking through the tribal villages is reminiscent of walking in the Himalayas with the addition of temples of every possible shape and description.

I’m planning to return to Burma this December to trek, visit ancient temples and also the NGO we are supporting that brings water roads, schools, health and family planning education to the tribal peoples in Shan state. Part of the trek fee will support these charitable programs. This trip starts in the capital of Yangon, and features touring, biking, and hiking amidst the temples of Bagan, treks through tribal villages in Kalaw area, and relaxing at Inle Lake. An optional extension will take us to the tranquil beach at Ngapali for snorkeling

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ANNALISES GAP YEAR
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My daughter Annalise is in Guatemala now very happily teaching at a girls school, studying Spanish, and living with the same loving big family with five teen aged daughters where she lived two summers ago.
She is writing about her gap year at http://annalisesgapyear.blogspot.com/.

2005 Holiday Letter

2006-04-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

After neglecting this blog for some months, I thought I'd begin again with our 2005 holiday letter below.
Happy 2006. I feel optimistic that this year our country will wake up to the dangers of poverty, climate change, and war and begin to plot a more reasonable course.
Last year was one of changes for our family. My mother died after a long illness in August which was not a surprise but sad nonetheless. There are some photos of her and a paragraph about her life on the reverse side of this letter. Putting this together was healing for me.

Other changes were happier. Annalise graduated from high school and is having a wonderful gap year before she begins Stanford in the fall. The past months she worked with North Andaman Tsunami Relief in Kuraburi, Thailand setting up an English teaching program for villages that had been hit by the tsunami. In November she was flown back to New York where she was one of five US teens to receive a NetAid Global Action award for her work raising money and awareness of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
I visited her in December for an enjoyable five day scuba diving trip to islands in the Andaman sea west of Thailand followed by an two weeks in Burma, one the most beautiful countries we have ever visited. I am now working to support an effective NGO there that brings water, schools, roads, and health education to tribal villagers in this wonderful but troubled land. Next December, I plan to lead a trip back to trek and visit temples and tribal villages in Burma. This April, when blooming rhododendrons frame views of the highest Himalayan peaks, I'm leading a trek in Sikkim, a Himalayan region between Bhutan and Nepal. Friends and family are invited to join me.
Annalise and I led a fun trekking adventure to the mountains of Slovenia last summer, but most of my travel this year was related to the other big change in my life. After two decades of work, Breaking Trail: a Climbing Life was published by Scribner in October. I want to once again thank all of my friends for your invaluable contributions. These last months are a blur of book publicity; time spent with friends an family all over the country has been the best part.
Annalise is just heading off to the Sea of Cortez to join her dad for a cruise in his boat. Then she’ll study Spanish and teach English in Guatemala and help make a documentary on the 1961 literacy campaign, a great opportunity for her. I’m hoping to find a useful way to go back to my work on environmental chemicals. Also I am looking into adding an addition on the flat roof of my house where I have a view. Moving to another house seems too difficult and expensive, though an addition is neither easy nor inexpensive.
I wish you all a peaceful and healthy New Year, and a happy Spring too.

Annalise, Julie, and Arlene in Burma in December 2005

2006-04-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Friday December 23 Flight from Myanmar to Bankgkok

2005-12-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Sitting here on the Myanmar airlines flight, I’m amazed at the diversity of terrain and experience we have enjoyed during out two week stay in this “Golden Land.” Burma was the richest of the British colonies with mineral deposits, vast teak forests, plentiful flat rich soil, ports, a hard-working population including a wide variety of tribal peoples. But the history of this country has been tragic, especially since the 1962 military take-over. There is crippling inflation and little opportunity for the inhabitants.
Yet we met extraordinary individuals working hard to make better lives for their families and the country in the face of great difficulties.
I think first of a friend we met there who was imprisoned and tortured. Since his release, he has labored tirelessly and successfully to help the villagers in his area. He works with each village to decide what they need and then with their participation helps them obtain clean water, schools, roads, education about health, aids, family planning. Trekking in this region, we walked through clean prosperous villages where our friend had helped bring water to the village and desperately poor ones where he’d not yet worked. We also spent an evening at his hostel where some of the brightest children in the area live so they can go to middle and high school, not available in their villages. Listening to our freind talk of peace and foregiveness to those who tortured him and his countrymen, I think of Nelson Mandela and of Ghandi.
I have a number of ideas to try to assist our friend's work helping villagers from a variety of ethnic groups to a better life. I will write more about this soon.

Amazon Today: #5,694 in Books
(This is amazing. Breaking Trail seems to do better when I’m away!)

Sunday December 11 A conversation about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

2005-12-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

We are in the Bangkok airport on our way to Myanmar. I have heard there isn’t free access to the internet in Myanmar and am not sure if I’ll be able to continue writing this blog very often until after my return Dec 23, but still one never knows the unlikely places one can find an internet café.
I had a very interesting conversation with a Pakistani who had been in Musharraf’s cabinet, who was sitting next to me on the flight to Bangkok. When I asked about how things were in his country, he said the Pakistani people were so unfortunate to be deprived of democracy and in a military dictatorship, and that that government was supported by the US.
He is a strong believer that democracy is the best system because the leaders are ultimately responsible to the people, and said he thought that the US support of dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in what our leaders short-sightedly think is our best interest, is indeed the contrary. He spoke at some length about angry young men of Saudi Arabia, being responsible for September 11 and that their anger was based on our keeping their corrupt monarchy in power. I wonder if there is any way to get this message to Americans who believe we are spreading democracy.

My holiday newsletter

2005-12-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

I just sent out a holiday newsletter and thought I’d post it on my blog in case you don’t receive it. Please let me know at arelen@arleneblum.com if you’d like to be added to the list. I usually send messages four times a year or so, but have been sending them more frequently this fall.

For the Holiday Season: A Book, an Adventure, and a Good Deed

Dear Friends,
As a beautiful dawn breaks over the Ko Surin Islands off Thailand where Annalise and I are enjoying our first ever dive trip together, I wanted to share with you with an eclectic list of suggestions for the holiday season.
My first suggestion is a holiday present that will, I trust, entertain and inspire the recipient. This gift is my memoir Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life, my endeavor of the past decades, written to help the reader, and me too, understand: "How does an over-protected Orthodox Jewish girl from the Midwest who doesn't like to take risks end up leading expeditions to some of the world's highest and most dangerous mountains?"
For a more major gift, consider giving a loved one or yourself one of my Himalayan adventure treks. So far I have a rugged high altitude trek to Tibet planned for April, a gentle trip to Sikkim in November, and I do hope to return to Nepal soon.
And finally, I would like to share with you below a brilliant column from the New York Times telling how we can do a simple act that will help stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
Consider taking a few minutes in the next days to write to your Congressman or Congresswoman suggesting that the US House pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. This legislation, which would apply sanctions on Sudan and pressure their government, who is sensitive to world opinion, to stop the killing, passed the Senate unanimously but now faces an uphill battle in the House.
According to NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff "?if only 100 people in each Congressional district had demanded a stop to the Rwandan genocide, that effort would have generated a determination to stop it. But Americans didn't write such letters to their members of Congress then, and they're not writing them now."You can get more information for your letter and other suggestions for how to help at www.savedarfur.org.
Annalise plans to work on this. If you want to help her or know any one else (especially young people) who might want to work with her, please contact her at annalise_blum@yahoo.com.
We head for Myanmar where we will probably be out of email contact for much of the next couple weeks and then home Dec 23.
We wish you a joyful holiday season.
Arlene

THE GIFT: BREAKING TRAIL: A CLIMBING LIFE
THE TRIP: TIBET OR SIKKIM
THE GOOD DEED: A LETTER TO STOP THE DARFUR GENOCIDE

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THE GIFT: BREAKING TRAIL: A CLIMBING LIFE
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For a holiday present, consider an autographed copy of Breaking Trail, available on my website at http://www.arleneblum.com/breaking_trail.html , from Amazon.com, or at your local independent bookstore. If the store doesn't have it in stock, they can easily order it.

PRAISE FOR BREAKING TRAIL: A CLIMBING LIFE
"Disarmingly honest...refreshing. Provides the requisite bits of grace, glory, strength and pain: the stuff of all worthy ascents."
-- New York Times Book Review, October 2, 2005
This is an engaging, well-written adventure should be required reading for young women of today who haven't experienced the closed doors and closed minds that Blum conquered as a women student, scientist, and climber.
--Booklist
Mountain climbing drama comes to life as mountaineer, biochemist, and author Arlene tells the story of how she got to be a climber, moving from an overprotected Chicago childhood to reach some of the highest mountains on Earth. Each chapter starts with a memory from her early life, which serves as a starting point to trace an element which contributed to her becoming a climber. A fascinating account.
-- Midwest Book Review
"Breaking Trail is a magnificent and compelling story. Blum leads the reader into beautiful, exciting, and terrifying world of mountain climbing. Her writing soars. She skillfully conveys the drama, mind set, and courage that it takes to go to places where few have ventured ."
-Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to Antarctica
"Arlene Blum's gripping and intensely personal narrative of her life among the enchantingly beautiful, but dangerous, high peaks is a profoundly encouraging story for all of us who battle to climb our own inner mountains.
--Royal Robbins, pioneering climber, businessman
Breaking Trail reinvents the climbing memoir. It is not simply the story of "one damn peak after another"; rather, it is the record of a woman's experience of the social upheavals of the 1960s and beyond as they were played out on the world's highest terrain.
--Maurice Isserman, Mountaineering Historian, Professor of History, Hamilton College.
"Why we climb is never an easy question. Arlene searches her soul for her own motivations and in doing so tells with insightful and inspirational prose a story that spans her childhood, career as a scientist, and brings her to the roof of the world."
--Conrad Anker, author of The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest
A more than worthy sequel to Arlene Blum's Annapurna, this is by far the best mountaineering book I've ever read -- and I've read hundreds of them--Janet Brown

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THE TRIP: TIBET OR SIKKIM
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TIBET TREK 2006 TO MINYA KONKA IN KHAM
In April 2006, I'm planning a three-week Tibet trip. It will including 14 days of trekking in the Minya Konka range of eastern Tibet (called "Kham" in Tibetan), and visits to Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and cultural sites. Co-leader Pamela Logan speaks Tibetan and Chinese, has extensive knowledge of this region, and founded the Kham Aid Foundation, which operates charitable programs for Tibetans. Part of the trek fee will support Kham Aid's charitable programs.This rugged high altitude trip starts in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, and features trekking in the high and spectacular terrain west of Mount Minya Konka, at 24,935 feet. The highest pass we will reach is Buchu La, at 16,000 feet. Horses will carry the baggage and be available for occasional riding. An optional week in Lhasa will follow.

HIMALAYAN TREKKING TRIP in SIKKIM, November 2006
Sikkim is an area which I have wanted to explore ever since walking across it during the Great Himalayan Traverse. This comfortable and moderately paced trekking trip includes views of Mount Khangchendzonga and Mount Everest, forested river valleys, high ridges, ethnic hamlets, diverse - Lepcha, Bhotia and Nepali people, terraced cultivation, Buddhist temples, and a lot more. Please let me know if you might be interested in joining us and would like more information.

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THE GOOD DEED: A LETTER TO STOP THE DARFUR GENOCIDE
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My final suggestion is for a mitzvah or good deed that can help stop the genocide in Darfur. Annalise is planning to organize a campaign to write letters after her return to the US in January, so please do send her a message if you'd like to help, or know others who would like to at annalise_blum@yahoo.com. . Here's Nicholas Kristoff's complete column from NYTimes.com:

What's to Be Done About Darfur? Plenty

In 1915, Woodrow Wilson turned a blind eye to the Armenian genocide. In the1940's, Franklin Roosevelt refused to bomb the rail lines leading toAuschwitz. In 1994, Bill Clinton turned away from the slaughter in Rwanda.And in 2005, President Bush is acquiescing in the first genocide of the21st century, in Darfur.
Mr. Bush is paralyzed for the same reasons as his predecessors. There is nogreat public outcry, there are no neat solutions, we already have our handsfull, and it all seems rather distant and hopeless.
But Darfur is not hopeless. Here's what we should do.
First, we must pony up for the African Union security force. The singlemost disgraceful action the U.S. has taken was Congress's decision, withthe complicity of the Bush administration, to cut out all $50 million inthe current budget to help pay for the African peacekeepers in Darfur.Shame on Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona - and the White House - forfacilitating genocide.Mr. Bush needs to find $50 million fast and get it to the peacekeepers.Second, the U.S. needs to push for an expanded security force in Darfur.
The African Union force is a good start, but it lacks sufficient troops andweaponry. The most practical solution is to "blue hat" the force, making ita U.N. peacekeeping force built around the African Union core. It needs more resources and a more robust mandate, plus contributions from NATO orat least from major countries like Canada, Germany and Japan.
Third, we should impose a no-fly zone. The U.S. should warn Sudan that ifit bombs civilians, then afterward we will destroy the airplanes involved.
Fourth, the House should pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. Thislegislation, which would apply targeted sanctions and pressure Sudan tostop the killing, passed the Senate unanimously but now faces an uphillstruggle in the House.
Fifth, Mr. Bush should use the bully pulpit. He should talk about Darfur inhis speeches and invite survivors to the Oval Office. He should wear agreen "Save Darfur" bracelet - or how about getting a Darfur lawn sign forthe White House? (Both are available, along with ideas for action, fromwww.savedarfur.org.) He can call Hosni Mubarak and other Arab and Africanleaders and ask them to visit Darfur. He can call on China to stopunderwriting this genocide.Sixth, President Bush and Kofi Annan should jointly appoint a special envoyto negotiate with tribal sheiks. Colin Powell or James Baker III would beideal in working with the sheiks and other parties to hammer out a peacedeal. The envoy would choose a Sudanese chief of staff like Dr. MudawiIbrahim Adam, a leading Sudanese human rights activist who has been pushingjust such a plan with the help of Human Rights First.So far, peace negotiations have failed because they center on two groupsthat are partly composed of recalcitrant thugs: the government and theincreasingly splintered rebels. But Darfur has a traditional system ofconflict resolution based on tribal sheiks, and it's crucial to bring thosesheiks into the process.
Ordinary readers can push for all these moves. Before he died, Senator PaulSimon said that if only 100 people in each Congressional district haddemanded a stop to the Rwandan genocide, that effort would have generated adetermination to stop it. But Americans didn't write such letters to theirmembers of Congress then, and they're not writing them now.
Finding the right policy tools to confront genocide is an excruciatingchallenge, but it's not the biggest problem. The hardest thing to find isthe political will.
For all my criticisms of Mr. Bush, he has sent tons of humanitarian aid, and his deputy secretary of state, Robert Zoellick, has traveled to Darfurfour times this year. But far more needs to be done.As Simon Deng, a Sudanese activist living in the U.S., puts it: "Tell mewhy we have Milosevic and Saddam Hussein on trial for their crimes, but wedo nothing in Sudan. Why not just let all the war criminals go. ... When itcomes to black people being slaughtered, do we look the other way?"
Put aside for a moment the question of whether Mr. Bush misled the nationon W.M.D. in Iraq. It's just as important to ask whether he was truthfulwhen he declared in his second inaugural address, "All who live in tyrannyand hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore youroppression, or excuse your oppressors."
Mr. Bush, so far that has been a ringing falsehood - but, please, make it true.

Please contact us if you would like your name to be taken off this e-mail list or would like more information about Arlene Blum's lectures, leadership or intercultural classes.

To see photo essays from Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life, go to http://www.arleneblum.com/photo_album.html.
To read about Arlene's book tour and Annalise's gap year, go to http://arleneblum.blogspot.com/http://annalisesgapyear.blogspot.com

With Patti Kenner, Ruth Gruber, and Annalise at Patti's wonder book party for Breaking Trail in Manhattan

2005-12-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Hiking outside Seattle with Val and the Weltis in October

2005-12-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Saturday , December 10 Kura Buri Thailand

2005-12-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

It is very early morning and I’m sitting on the porch above the river back in the little cabin above the river where Annalise has been living, listening to a symphony of frogs, crickets, and night birds interrupted by occasional loud squeaks from the gecko resident in the walls.
The dive trip to the Similian and Surin Islands and Richalieu Rock was one of the best of my many years of diving and an amazing introduction to diving for Annalise at age 18. The Thai food at meals was delicious, the boat (with large Buddha eyes painted on the bow) comfortable, and Sea Dragon Divers who ran the trip were extremely competent. The trip had to be well-organized with 20 divers, a dive staff of five and a crew of six on a not so big boat. I would recommend this live-aboard trip as an excellent one at an affordable price.
http://www.seadragondivecenter.com/about.htm for more information.
We made more than a dozen dives and saw lush coral reefs full of brilliant tropical fish, moray eels peering our of the rocks, lionfish with their outrageous fluted and striped fins, turtles and larger fish calmly swimming by, and the whole range of invertebrates from tiny nudibranchs in brilliant colors to giant clams. We also saw lots of other divers on these popular reefs, very different from my early dives where a buddy and I would have a reef to ourselves.
Today we will visit a village where Annalise taught English to say goodbye. Her class today was cancelled as most of the villagers are out fishing for jellyfish.
Tomorrow evening I will do a book event in Yangon, Myanmar.
Amazon #17,587 in Books

Sunday Leeches in the Jungle

2005-12-05T04:48:00.001-08:00

It’s three in the morning and I’m back on the platform above our treehouse in the canopy of the Thai jungle listening to the river and the symphony of cicadas and other creatures of the night. The waterfall hike yesterday turned out to be hot, muddy, and, to Annalise's horror, full of leeches. We had much drama finding three fat leeches attached to her legs at our lunch stop, but she survived. We didn’t actually see a waterfall but I swam in a beautiful clear pool in the river. There shouldn’t be leeches now as this supposed to be the dry season, but it is still raining here which is extremely unusual according to the locals. More climate change?

Today is the birthday of the king of Thailand and there are many festivities planned. Annalise has a refresher dive class and we’ll leave tonight for our four day dive trip to some of the best dive spots in the Andaman sea. More of a treat than our waterfall hike I trust.

We went for a dive this morning. After a lot of organising gear, driving and boating, the water was rough, my ear hurt, and I felt claustrophobic and sea sick. Sigh. I hope the dive trip is better.

#10,027 in Books

Sunday Leeches in the Jungle

2005-12-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

We went for a dive this morning. After a lot of organising gear, driving and boating, the water was rough, my ear hurt, and I felt claustrophobic and sea sick. Sigh. I hope the dive trip is better.

#10,027 in Books

Sunday Dec 4 on a platform about a treehouse in the rainforest in Tahiland

2005-12-04T04:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting writing on the roof of the treetop in the jungle where Annalise and I are staying. She planned an amazing week in Thailand for us. Yesterday I met the some of the other young people who are Noth Andaman Tsumani Relief and then we set off for the jungle where we floated down a wild beautiful tropical river with limestone cliffs looming about us and just enough rapids to make it interesting. Today we will do a long hike to a waterfall and tomorrow begin five day diving trip in the Andaman Sea.

Amazon rank #9,797 in Books

Friday Dec 2 Kuraburi Thailand with Annalise

2005-12-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

I'm in Kuraburi Thailand with Annalise wiriting from the office of NATR, North Andaman Tsumani Relief, a great group of Thai and Westerners helping several villages rebuild and preserve the environment and their culture. It's a great project and a wonderful opportunity for Annalise who has designed an English teaching curiculum in five Moslem villages impacted by the tsunami.

We are just leaving for Our Jungle House in KHao Soke where we will go hiking tomorrow and then go for four days on a dive boat. It really fun to share Annalise's life here. She'll teach some more English classes next weekend and then we will head for Myanmar.

November 30 On the Way to Thailand

2005-11-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been very busy getting ready to meet Annalise in Thailand. Yesterday I made a one day trip to San Diego to give a lecture at the Del Mar library and spend time with Barbara Gottfried, who was my best friend in high school. It was all fun but a little too much with leaving today and not being completely better. Annalise and I will be home on Dec 23

And meanwhile here's my publicity schedule for the next few months:

BREAKING TRAIL PUBLICITY SCHEDULE for Winter 2006

MONTCLAIR
Thursday, January 5th at 7:00 p.m.
A Great Good Place for Books 6120 LaSalle Ave Oakland CA 94611

SAN FRANCISCO
Wednesday January 11 7:00 pm.
A Clean Well-lighted Place for Books

Thursday January 12 7:00 pm.
Signing and lecture at Sports Basement in the Presidio

Thursday January 19, 2006 at 6:30 p.m
San Francisco Jewish Community Center "Breaking New Trails for Women."
With Irma Herrera, executive director of the Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) on the topic,

Boston

January 28, 2006

AMC Annual Meeting keynote

SALT LAKE CITY January 30 7:00 pm

Outdoor Retailers Women’s Association Panel

Jan 31

Salt Lake City REI talk 7:00 pm

Feb 2

Sandy Utah REI talk 7:00 pm

San Francisco

Feb 7 or 8

Talk for USF Center for the Pacific Rim, 2130 Fulton Street

PALO ALTO
February 16, 2006 - Palo Alto
Wallace Stegner Lecture
Contact: Anne Sharman, Director of Communications, Peninsula Open Space Trust
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts located at 500 Castro Street

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 7:30pm,
Capitola Book Café Reading

February 23
Saratoga REI
7:00 pm REI Store, 400 El Paseo de Saratoga

Black Oak Books has requested at talk in February or March

Feb 28
Book Party in Aspen, CO ??

March – Pasadena
Reschedule 7:00 pm Vromans Book Store 695 E. Colorado Blvd Pasadena, CA 91101

March 25, Saturday – UK – TBKFestival of Mountaineering Literature at the University of Leeds, Bretton Hall Campus, UK

May 2006 Professional Business Women of California?

Telluride CO
May 27 to 29
Telluride Mtn Film Festival

The Amazon rating went to 2000 on Sunday when a good review came out in the SF Chronicle.

Today I singed aobut 40 books for when I'm gone
BT is #5,323 in Books

Arlene

Gifts for our family, friends, and planet

2005-11-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

Since this is the biggest shopping weekend of the year, I’d like to suggest alternatives gifts that conserve our natural resourses.

We in Western countries make up 20% of the world population, but we consume 80% of the earth’s resources. The average American consumes 30 times more than an Indian.Consider sometimes donating to a favorite charity in a friend’s name rather giving objects that use up our planet's natural resources. Some ideas for holiday gifts that are easier on the environment follow:
GIVE A GIFT OF YOUR TIME: Make a coupon for a gift of your time for such things babysitting, helping to paint a room at their house, shoveling snow, garden work in the spring, making a meal, food shopping, or teaching a skill. You show you care about your friends and don’t burden them with things they might not want or need (their tenth sweater, jacket, or small electronic device).
GIVE AN INTANGIBLE GIFT Give dancing lessons, tickets to the theater, invite friends to a movie or play with you, or give a certificate for a massage. Your gift won’t end up in a landfill.
MAKE SOMETHING: Take a course to learn to paint pictures, throw pots, knit scarves, or make other items that you can give as gifts.
BUY LESS Consider exchanging fewer presents Do you and your friends actually need more things? People may be surprised at this suggestion, but you can explain that the planet needs people to stop buying things they don’t need that use up our forests, water, and other natural resources.

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,452 in Books

Thanksgiving message HOW YOU CAN SAVE LIVES IN THE PAKISTAN HIMALAYA

2005-11-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving,

I'm working on my e-newletter and in case you don't get it, my message for Thanksgiving begins with this opportunity to help the survivors of the Pakistan earthguake.
Please email me if you'd like to get on my e-list for occassional messages.

Heavy snowfalls have begun in the mountains of Pakistan where Himalayan villagers need food, shelter, and clothing to survive the winter. While the tsunami was well funded in terms of relief; this disaster is seriously under-funded. Here are two organizations on the ground in the Pakistan Himalaya that will get donations directly to the high mountain people who desperately need them:

Abdul Sattar Edhi’s Foundation was among the first to reach the earthquake- affected areas and is trusted for its integrity and effectiveness in a country rife with corruption. Donations can be made through www.developpakistan.org (click on the earthquake donations link and follow it to donate to the Edhi Foundation.)

Edhi, who has been compared to Mother Teresa, won the Balzan Foundation's "special prize for humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples": http://www.balzan.com/en/preise/preisverleihung2000.cfm
The Edhi Foundation website is http://www.paks.net/edhi-foundation/

Another effective way to help is through Greg Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute who do outstanding educational and humanitarian work in the mountains of Pakistan. For updates on their work and how to donate go to: http://www.ikat.org/Earthquake_update.html

Wednesday Nov 23 Annalise on Channel One

2005-11-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

Annalise sent me the URL for an interview with her and the other NetAid award winners on Channel one, a teen channel. To see it , go to http://www.channelone.com/video/.
Click on Nov 23 Pop quiz::Netaid awards::One Step Minute
The section with Annalise and her friend Kat is about 2/3's of the way through the program.
Today I saw the doctor who put me on antibiotics and had an interview with Alaska NPR. Only after the interview was over with no mention of my book or website did I realize I need to think in advance about what should be in interview and make sure it gets mentioned.
This is another perfect warm sunny california day. Can it be climate change?
Books signed: 1
Amazon 7,569

Tuesday November 22 A Mountaineer with a Message

2005-11-23T05:49:00.000-08:00

After doing my Ashoka foundation talk where I focused more on the environmental, social,l and political aspects of my travels, I realized this is a much more interesting story for me and the audience also. Much of this material is in the footnotes to BT, so I m can find this part easily.
I was talking with my good friend Carolyn Said about media last night and she suggested phoning West coast Live. I did and suggested what I think is a more interesting take on the book, especially for programs with an interest in politics. And West Coast Live was interested.

A Mountain Climber with a Message
AB has led trekking and climbing expeditions to the mountains around the world for decades. Now she wants to educate people to better understand the environmental, social, and political issues in the mountainous countries where she had climbed and explored.

Maybe this would be a better angle to get more PR, more in line with the tiems and my current interests.

Books signed 20 to get ready for being gone for three weeks
Amazon 6,240
For some unaccountable reason, it seems to be doing better.

Nov 21 At home

2005-11-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

I had a long talk with my book agent Felicia with the conclusion that I still need to keep doing book PR. I thought the silver lining of the fact that I had so little publicity during my book tour was that I had lots of untapped media possibilities for the paperback but Felicia said there wouldn’t be a paperback unless the hard cover did better. And even if there were, the bookstores wouldn’t want to carry it unless they had sold appreciable hard covers.
To date Breaking Trail has sent about 12K copies to the stores, but they need to sell those books by Christmas or they could well send them back to the publisher. This is not enough copies to warrant their printing a paperback version.
Since Annapurna sold 100K copies, there are likely many people out there who would be interested if they knew about the book, but I don't know how to reach them. Felicia said my editor at Scribner was happy with how the book was doing, although it wasn't well enough for a paperback.
After doing talks and media several times a day for most of the last months, I have succumbed to a bad cold and laryngitis. I have eight days at home to get better before heading for San Diego for my last book event of the year and then to Thailand and Burma.

Sunday Nov 20 Party in Marin

2005-11-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

Going to LA with my cold seems not a good idea, so I reluctantly cancel my lecture at Vroman’s bookstore in Pasadena. I did manage to give my talk at the book party in Marin this afternoon. Bill Joost did a great job of organizing the party on a beautiful afternoon. I was especially delighted that Dave Graber, who was part of the Endless Winter in 1972, and his family made a surprise visit. Since I could barely speak, I shortened my talk, and didn’t mention Dave in the talk. I wished I’d seem Dave in the audience with his family and talked more about his contribution to the Endless Winter in the trip.

Books signed 15
Amazon #5,790 in Books

Saturday Party in Palo Alto

2005-11-20T05:56:00.000-08:00

After a day of unpacking, packing, putting gear away, trying to get my business and office stuff together, shopping for food and garden things, making business cards, and a short wak with Joan, I headed for Paula Stout’s house for a traditional Sherpa mean and book party. Thanks to Heidi and Sandra for driving me and helping out in so many ways. Paula had done an amazing job of assembling a large group of climbers, Buddhists, and other supportive folks, one of the most enthusiastic audiences to whom I ever spoke. She also had a powerful microphone, quite necessary as I now have a cough and chest cold and my voice is going. Sigh.
Books signed 65
Amazon #20,650 in Books

Friday Nov 18 Media in San Francisco

2005-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

My first day at home, I awoke with a bad sore throat feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, and stumbled about the house trying to put my life and the house back in order, birdseed in the feeder, catfood, litter, clean the water bowls, laundry, pack for today. All the while, I was drinking hot ginger lemon tea and hoping my voice could make it through the next few days of interviews and lectures.
First was a crisp and informative phone interview with Peter for National Geographic World Talk radio. I rushed to shower, dress, and choke down some food when Naomi Epel arrived to drive me to my KQED interview. The host, Josh Kornbluth, is the brilliant actor we heard at Berkeley Rep. Full of creativity and enthusiasm, he found details of my book no one had noticed before. Sarah Gerhardt, the other woman on the program was a world-class surfer, with a PhD in PChem, and a very challenging childhood. Her story aligned with my theory that women who choose life threatening endeavors often have had unusually difficult childhoods.
Elisabeth Pepin, the producer made a film about Sarah called One Winter Story and wrote "Sarah is the first woman in the world to do tow in surfing and to surf Mavericks. You can read more about her on our film website at: www.frankfilms.net."
Then Naomi drove me around to sign books at SF bookstores which was fun. My throat was hurting as we made our way to Sinbads by the water to give an evening talk to the Explorer’s Club, an adventurous group including many women. I told the story of the founding of the Society of Women Geographers, back in the days when women couldn’t belong to the Explorers Club. Lee, the local Chair, graciously urged me to join.
Books signed: 65
Amazon ranking Friday #9,823 in Books

Thursday November 17 Home at Last

2005-11-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Annalise called early to discuss the details of our trip to Thailand and then I got a happy call that my camera was found at Patti’s apt in NYC. Yeah!!
I visited Hannah at the Geographic, who lived in Pakistan and is very concerned about the plight of the victims of the earthquakes as winter approaches. We discussed the possibility of suggesting to MoveOn that they send out an appeal to donate to an outstanding nonprofit she knows in the region. Then I visited Rebecca who heads the Expeditions Committee to discuss the possibility of the Geographic supporting my retracing the GHT in a year of so. And finally I spent and enjoyable half hour chatting with Kojo Nmandi, a great host on NPR in DC. Miraculously I caught an earlier flight than planned and am heading home. I’m ready.

Books signed six
Today: #7,974 in Books

At Horace Mann School in DC

2005-11-18T08:29:00.001-08:00

Wednesday at the National Geographic

2005-11-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

The day began with a circuitous drive to Horace Mann School for presentation to 60 third to sixth graders. The children had been well prepared by their teachers and knew an amazing amount about about mountains and geography. And they asked me some of the best questions ever. The Q and A went on a long time and was totally fun. After grabbing some sushi for lunch, we headed to Silver Springs MD and Bill Thompson’s Eye on Books, a nationally syndicated radio program.

Rain was sheeting down by the time I walked to Geographic for my talk. It had sold out weeks ago and was really fun in a great space. Based on suggestions from the Ashoka folks, I included a lot more about social and scientific issues in my talk at the Geographic and it was very well received. Indeed Greg, who heads the lecture series invited me to come back, saying it was refreshing to have speaker who had broader interests than just climbing peaks. From now on, I'll include more about social issues in all my talks, which I do think is more interesting and important.
Books signed: 50

#8,567 in Books

Tuesday in DC

2005-11-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

After a 6:00 am flight from Portland Maine to DC, I checked into the Rouge Hotel, very interesting, comfortable, and red. After lunch, I spoke at the Ashoka Foundation, which does amazing work in supporting and funding outstanding social entrepreneurs all over the world. They suggested ideas for my proposed new work informing people about the hazards of flame retardant and other halogenated hydrocarbon chemicals. Then, I had a relaxed dinner with friends of Luree Miller from the Society of Women Geographers. I so wish Luree were here to share my book and adventures.
Books signed 8
Amazon #8,567 in Books

Monday in Maine

2005-11-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

Today I had a quiet day working on Tibet and Sikkim itineraries in the comfortable Maine farmhouse of my trekking friends Kari and Bob Suva. In the evening I spoke to students and community at St Joseph’s College, located in a beautiful location on the shores of Sebago Lake, Maine's second largest lake.

Books sold 15 BT and 5 AAWP
Monday : #9,517 in Books

Beans and Bowdoin on Sunday in Maine

2005-11-14T04:39:00.000-08:00

It was quieter today at Beans, but they did have a microphone this time, which I have now learned is essential. In the evening I spoke to an enthusiastic group from the Bowdoin College outing club and am spending the night at the old Maine farmhouse home of Kari and Bob Suva, friends who trekked with me twenty years ago.
Books signed fifty
#6,909 in Books
(I am wondering if there was some media today I don’t know about that led to the books being sold. Maybe it was the Saturday radio program in NYC.)

November 12 Saturday at LLBeans

2005-11-14T04:32:00.000-08:00

Today I enjoyed a beautiful flight all along the coast from New York to Maine and an interesting busy afternoon of signing books at LL Bean. I’m enjoying Mary Yeo’s hospitality once again The only problem is there was no microphone when I spoke to forty or so people and my throat is hurting. A worry when I’ll be doing talks and media every day for the next ten days.

Books signed twenty
#15,485 in Books

The five winnders of the Net Aid Global Action Award

2005-11-14T04:09:00.000-08:00

November 7 to 11 Annalise's Global Action Award in New York

2005-11-12T03:33:00.000-08:00

For the last week, I've been in New York with Annalise while she received her Netaid Global Action Award. You can read about it and see photos at
http://www.netaid.org/global_action_awards/

It's been great spending time with her again, riding the Merry Go Round in Central Park, seeing old friends, and learning about global philanthropy. Even though I've not done much book signing, speaking or media, it's been busier than ever and since this is a blog aobut my book tour, I'll just summarize these past days.

Monday
I was up to catch the 5:00 am airport bus to Calgary to get flights to Toronto and New York. Air Canada is much more comfortable, friendly and spacious than the US airlines. After traffic delays landing, I headed toward the hotel where Annalise had bought half price tickets to the Phantom of the Opera. We both were so exhausted we slept through much of the performance.

Tuesday
After a radio interview for Saturday Morning Show with Ed Walsh on WOR Radio and a leisurely brunch where Annalise shared with me her visions of how to get more young people in the US involved in helping the world, we had a wonderful romp through Central Park, followed by a memorable tour of the New York Times. We met the other Net Aid award winners, a fantastic group of young people.
http://www.netaid.org/global_action_awards/2005/

Wednesday
We began our day with another interesting walk in Central Park with Arthur and his daughter and then Annalise had a series of media interviews. The ceremony was held in the amazing Jazz room at Lincoln Center with huge windows framing a dramatic view of Manhattan. The food and music were great and I knew the room was full of amazing people. Annalise looked beautiful and I’m very proud of her for her care for the world.
http://www.netaid.org/global_action_awards/

Thursday
After another walk in the park, we invited the award winners and their parents and friends to lunch in a Chinese restaurant. We sat around a round table, got to know each other better, and shared experiences.

Annalise had a stomach ache and rested at my friend Patti Kemerer’s lovely Park Avenue apartment while I got our visas at the Burmese Consulate nearby. Patti then had a wonderful book party for me where I met spoke about Breaking Trail to a group of her interesting friends. Most memorable was Patti’s amazing friend Ruth G, who said between me and Annalise at dinner and shared viivid accounts of of hearing Hitler speak in Germany, meeting Virginia Wolf several times, and her work with Iccles, FDR's Secretary of the Interior. Ruth is still writing books at age 94.
Books signed: forty
#13,886 in Books

Friday
Happily back in New Rochelle with our dear friends Scott and Stacy Miller, we went back to Manhattan for the day so Annalise could go to a conference and talk with the President of Netaid about her ideas for getting more American teens to care about the world (I seem to have lost my camera with my photos for this blog. So sad.)
Friday: #17,462 in Books

Sunday Nov 6 The end of the Banff Mountain Book festival

2005-11-07T03:22:00.000-08:00

During another day of good conversation, walks, and films, I gave my thanks to the dream team who put on this Festival. Every detail was perfect. I made many new friends and begin to feel a bit on an insider rather than an outsider, a welcome change.At the final awards, I was delighted that my appreciation of the program was mentioned on stage during the program.

Books signed 10
#7,732 in Books

Saturday Nov 5 The 1957 Broad Peak Expedition Controversy

2005-11-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

At breakfast I sat down next to Qader Saeed an articulate ex-Pakistani army officer who, at age 24 had been the liaison officer for Broad Peak trip, Fritz Wintersteller, who made the first ascent of Broad Peak, the sons of Marcus Schmuck, who was the expedition leader and Fritz’s partner on the climb, and Richard Sale who had written a book and presented a talk yesterday about the climb. They told me in great detail their interesting and well documented story about that climb which is recounted on their website at www.broadpeak.org which says
The ascent of Broad Peak, the world's twelfth highest mountain in 1957 was one of the most important climbs in the history of climbing on the great peaks. A team of four Austrians, carrying their own equipment and dispensing with bottled oxygen, took the climbing ideas of the European Alps to the Himalayas / Karakoram, an advance in tactics which laid the foundation for many of the great ascents which followed. As well as being a landmark, the expedition also resulted in the death of Hermann Buhl, at the time the most famous climber in the world.
They are all embroiled in a bitter controversy with Kurt Diemberger, another member of the expedition, who has a different account of the climb.

I passed on their contact information to Maurice Isserman for his history of Himalayan Mountaineering, with the hope that his writing an unbiased and historically accurate account might calm their conflict with Kurt Diemberger. Apparently Diemberger, in his accounts, downplays the fact that Schmuck and Wintersteller, organized the trip, led to the summit of Broad Peak, and that he climbed Chogolisa without permission. When Sale wanted to include this information in a previous book, Diemberger apparently had Sale’s book changed without his permission. This led to a lot of bad feeling and Sale researching and writing an entire book about the trip.
Then I had another books signing and took part in a panel
12:30 Hot Issues Noon-Hour Seminar - Near Misses Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Arlene Blum, Timmy O’Neill, Geoff Powter, and Steve Housediscussing the close calls that are a part of adventure, and what they’ve learned fromtheir experiences. This will be filmed for TVI ended up taking two quick walks partway up a local hill, one with Jennifer Lowe Anker, who is writing a memoir, and a second with a young woman working on an Imax film about glaciers and climate change. In both cases I tried to offer helpful advice for their projects.

20 books signed
Amazon about 10,000

Friday Nov 4 Sparks flew during the panel

2005-11-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

Hunter and Fanny Bullock Workman who pioneered new routes in the Karakoum

The darned TV alarm went off at 6:00 am for the second day in a row. I’ve got to unplug the TV. I felt some anxiety about the early morning three person panel on writing memoir which included David Roberts who wrote the critical and inaccurate Outside article about women climbers.
9:00 10:10 Book Festival Seminar V Writing a Memoir — Arlene Blum, Andy Cave and David Roberts
I wandered into breakfast, sat down at a random table, and saw to my horror Roberts was sitting across from me. Looking down intently at my plate, I tried to gobble my breakfast and flee, but people kept stopping by to congratulate me on my talk last night, and finally Roberts left, so I could relax and finished my breakfast.

Then on to the panel on writing the memoir. All went smoothly at first and indeed Bill Buxton, the moderator, made an interesting comparison between a dramatic fall I took on the North side of Mt Hood and an almost identical one Roberts took on an Alaskan peak. I was worried about being criticized as a woman out-stepping her ability, but Roberts had no such concerns

Based on this comparison Charlie Houston asked me:
Women like Miraim Underhill, Fannie Workman, Barbara Washburn, and Annie Peck did not experience sexism. Why do you think you did when they didnt?
(Charlie later told me he had long faulted me for my extreme paranoia on the subject of sexism).
I admire Charlie and wanted to explain the difference to him as best I could. I told him that women who were married to people in the establishment did not tend to experience sexism, but Annie Peck certain did. As it turned out, Fannie wrote about experiencing severe discrimination in "in the lofty circles".
I told the story of how when I was researching Annapurna I discovered that all the women who had attempt 8000 meter peaks before me had the same name in a listing of mountaineers: “And his wife.”
Then I found myself repeating the quote from Grant Barnes that anti-Semitism was also a component of my ill-repute of the AAC . Charlie denied it vehemently. David Roberts started a long tirade about their being no anti-Semitisim in the club. I was able to stop him by saying this was not appropriate for the panel and we could discuss it further later.

Then Bill asked David about his Outside article on the failure of womens climbing. David said it was just the title the magazine put on his thoughtful and nuanced story. I could not contain myself and said that to the contrary, the title did reflect his story which inaccurately blamed me for Vera and Alison's deaths. I said his story was poorly researched, hurtful, and I had been avoiding him for twenty years. His only response was to say that that wasn’t true.

To my relief, Chick Scott, one of the festival founders, asked what our favorite climbing book was. Mine has long been Lionel Terray's biography. David Roberts answered first citing the same book as his favorite. I wanted to remind him that a few years earlier he had written his favorite climbing book was Maurice Herzog's Annapurna, that was until he wrote his hurtful expose on Herzog.

I was so sorry that I had used the Grant Barnes quote and anti-Semitism had come up, but I was sincerely trying to explain to Charlie what I had learned about the antagonism the AAC had exhibited towards me. And I also regretted my sharp words with Roberts.
In the wrap I said I was sorry these unfortunate topics had been included. However for the rest of the day, dozens people came up to me saying that it was very important to say what I had said and that I had handled a difficult situation very well.
I later explained to Charlie Houston that I knew he wasnt sexist or anti-Semitic but these things did exit in the AAC. He told me I had long seemed paranoid about women's opportunities to climb. I tried to explain that it indeed wasn’t paranoia and thing he might have heard with me.

As luck would have it that night for the opening of the film festival there were assigned seats and mine was next to Dave Roberts. I said we needed to have the outside article he wrote in front of us before we continued our conversation. He again began a rant about there being no anti-Semitism in the club. We exchanged more adversarial words about this subject and I didn't return after the intermission.

Then I had a fun conversation with Annalise who is overnighting in luxury with our cousins in LA on her way from Thailand to receiving her NetAid Global action award at Lincoln center in NY next week.

15 books signed
Today: #14,999 in Books

Thursday November 3 The Banff Mountain Book Awards

2005-11-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

Today, I had a couple of media interviews and met lots of interesting people. I especially enjoyed a walk around town with Bill Buxton, the moderator for my panel tomorrow on writing a memoir.
At a literary lunch, I began to understand more about David Roberts, who wrote the inaccurate and hurtful Outside article on the Failure of Women's Climbing, when he read an excerpt from his memoir about finally looking up the family of his dead climbing partner decades later after the tragic accident. He was focused on his own experience and feelings with little apparent regard for the emotions of the family members that he was finally contacting after 39 years.

I spoke tonight to about 600 people tonight after the the Banff Mountain Book awards were announced. I was thrilled that the grand prize winner was Being Caribou, a book I'd hoped would win and thus become better known. It's a remarkable story dramatizing the importance of preserving the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

Then I signed books for over an hour.
40 books signed
Amazon #13,820 in Books

Wed Nov 2 BART to the airport

2005-11-03T00:11:00.000-08:00

My two days at home were a blur of unpacking, laundry, cleaning, phone interviews, photo requests, packing, and several more bookings as the next weeks get busier.
I decided to try BART to the airport which seemed an easy way compared to driving in a car or taxi during rush hour. In spite of two changes of train with my 50 pound of carry on luggage, all was well until I arrived at the airport. After a small epic taking the little train to Air Canada I discovered my flight actually left from United which was a three minute walk from where I’d started a half an hour ago, so I jogged back with all my baggage. And then had some problems persuading the security agent to let me on with my mammouth carryon. I was drenched in sweat and trembling with exhaustion by the time I stumbled on my flight.
But the flight was empty, comfortable and arrived half hour early so I will mange to catch the 10:30 bus to Banff which will get me there by 12:30. the next one is from 12:00 to 2:00, an unpleasant possibility. There’s snow on the ground here and people are relaxed and down-to- earth here. A different energy from Berkeley.

Later.

I’m in my luxurious room at the Banff conference center looking out at the dark snowy landscape thinking that this is a great place to relax and for a few days rejoice at last that Breaking Trail is finished and born into the world..

No books signed

Amazon #12,187 in Books

Sunday October 30 The ferry to Bainbridge Island and the Outdoor Book Award

2005-10-31T00:29:00.001-08:00

On a flat gray Seattle day, I walk aboard the ferry to Eagle Harbor bookstore on Bainbridge Island. An animated crowd of fifty jammed the bookstore and I received invitations to visit other islands and to return here again. I like commuting by ferry

The ferry had connectivity so I went on line and got the welcome news that Breaking Trail had won an Outdoor Book Awards:
http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/books/books05.htm
Outdoor Book Award
History/Biography Category
Honorable Mention. Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life. By Arlene Blum. Scribner, New York. ISBN 0743258460
Arlene Blum is truly one of the pioneers of climbing, leading the way and clearing a path for women in expeditionary mountaineering. This is her story, told in her own words: her drive and determination in overcoming barriers; her dreams, achievements and disappointments in life; and the triumphs and tragedies amongst the high peaks of the world.

Afterwards I flew from Seattle to San Francisco. Great to be home with my beloved kitties Midnight and Micou for a couple days after three weeks on the road.
Books signed: 25
Amazon: #5,555 in Books

Saturday October 29 A free day in Seattle

2005-10-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a day off to relax and catch up on this blog, email, and make some decisions about future plans. Valerie LaBreche, a dear friend of Luree Miller, joined the Welti’s and me in a pleasant hike and told me the dramatic story of her life. Then, Cynthia and I joined some amazing women friends of hers in a special evening for women.
Books signed: two
#11,396 in Books

October 28 Friday Meeting Mike from Denali and Nancey from Bhrigupanth again

2005-10-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

Our Bhrigupanth team at Base Camp. From left, standing: Nancey Goforth, Rekha Sharma, Barbara Drinkwater, Penny Brothers, Christy Tews. Front: Rajkumari Chand, Susan Coons, Piro Kramar, and me

The day began early with an interview on “Conscious Talk” radio show. The hosts were fantastic and it was a totally positive experience. After a break Diane picked up for an interview on Evergreen radio, a service for the blind, and then we signed books at several chain stores. My books are in the mountaineering section and I’m wondering if memoir might not be better.

After a quick sushi dinner, we head to the University of Seattle bookstore for my evening talk. Mike Bialos, who had helped with Grace’s rescue on Denali in 1970, attended along with his wife and I was able to publicly thank him for his help.

I was delighted that Nancey Goforth and her 14-year-old daughter Haydi came also and gave me a ride back, giving us a chance to catch up a little.

Books signed: forty
Amazon: #4,361 in Books

Thursday October 27 Meeting the noted artist and map maker Dee Molenaar at my Seattle Mountaineers talk

2005-10-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

Dee Molenaar’s sketch map of Mt Everest

Since the Welti’s sold their house and are temporarily in a small apartment, I slept out on the porch which was somewhat colder and noisier than I’d anticipated. The next morning I was groggy when Diane Duthweiler picked me up to give me a ride to a news program that I thought was radio cable news. I was shocked to learn I was going to be on TV. Signing books at the local Band N, we met a manager at the bookstore with a Tibetan husband.

Back at the Welti’s, I’d fallen asleep again when Piro Kramar from our Annapurna expedition came by for a hike. Walking up Tiger Mountain, I was interested to learn about the good work Piro and Barbara Drinkwater, the physiologist who came with us to Bhrigupanth, do to rescue lost and abandoned animals on Vashon Island.

Then I rushed to get ready to speak for the Seattle Mountaineers I was thrilled that Dee Molenaar was in the audience. Dee is an artist and climber who nade many of the maps in Breaking Tail and also was on the famous 1952 expedition to K2. The crowd of 100 or so climbers was very enthusiastic and all the books were sold our once again.
Books signed: Forty
Amazon: #3,776 in Books

Wednesday October 26 Seattle Where have all the glaciers gone?

2005-10-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

Two thousand years ago the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy said glaciers on the Mountains of the Moon, shown above, were the source of the Nile.

After an easy flight to Seattle, I had a peaceful afternoon with my friends the Welti’s and then spoke at Elliott Bay, a wonderful Seattle bookstore. The audience was small, about twenty people, but included two people with surprising information. An old boyfriend of Rekha Sharma, with whom I’d climbed Bhrigupanth, told me about some of their adventures together and also that Rekha had been the first woman to climb Nanda Devi, India’s highest peak.
When I showed the photo above of the Ruwenzori, the amazing glaciated peaks straddling the border of Uganda and Congo, a woman in the audience who’d climbed there two years ago, told us that these incredible glaciers on the equator are all gone now. If anyone doubts the reality of climate change, this is visible and tragic evidence that we must reduce our emissions of fossil fuels.
Books signed: Thirty
Amazon Today: #3,369 in Books

Tuesday October 25 The LA Times and Powells

2005-10-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I awoke early to find the LA Times article on the web today. There were more than two thousand words about me and two photos, but only one mention of Breaking Trail.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-blum25oct25,1,6036381.story

http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-os-blumside25oct25,2,264425.story

There was nothing about my November talk in Pasadena:

November 21 – Pasadena 7:00 pm, Vromans Book Store, 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena,

After an enjoyable brief appearance on AM Northwest, the woman who escorts writers suggested that since I didn’t have any further publicity bookings, we spend an hour signing books in the various local bookstores. Signed books sell better and it’s good to meet the people who work in the bookstores. During a two hour long driving trip I signed only a dozen books. It sure didn’t feel like a good use of time but the signed books will be placed in a visible place in the stores I hope.

Then George Cummings and I had an enjoyable lunch with Annie and Orton Hall, John Hall’s parents. As usual, we spoke of their beloved son and felt again the sadness of his death in an avalanche at age 26.

In the evening, I spoke at Powells, a large and wonderful Portland bookstore.
Books signed 35
Amazon: #9,524 in Books

Monday October 24 Which books will be on the front table?

2005-10-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Today I had an interesting long phone interview with Andrea Hoag, a reciewer for the Seattle PI, who has young children and is very interested in the issue of body burden of toxic chemicals in children. I took a walk with Ann Allen from Corvallis and then signed books at Barnes and Noble. It was a pleasant surprise that Brian and Sonia Hollander from Katmandu came to my talk.

Dan from Borders gave me more insights into the important question of getting books placed in the bookstores so that people notice them. Stores do have an area where employees can select books to display, but according to Dan, “It’s mostly a corporate decision, based on cooping money paid by the publisher, which books will be on front tables.”

Today fifty books signed

Amazon : #5,874 in Books

Sunday October 23 Reed College signing

2005-10-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

With Kristi Hiatt and Karen Shedd in Portland Oregon

Kristi, Karen, Diana, and I enjoyed a hike through a Portland park with huge ferns and moss covered trees. Then we went to Reed for my talk there. I always love returning to Reed which continues to look bigger and better than ever. Angela Ayres showed me a happy photo of her son Freddy, his lovely wife from Peru, and new baby, all very happy.

After my well attended talk at Reed, an attractive young woman introduced herself as the daughter of Toby Wheeler from the Endless Winter and a sophomore at Reed, quite a surprise indeed. I was pleased and relieved when she said my characterization of her father was accurate.

I enjoyed dinner, along with family and political discussions, with my second cousin Jim Crane, his wife Karla Forsythe, and George Cummings with whom I’m staying. George, a most hospitable host, first taught John Hall to climb at Reed in 1962.

Books signed 30
Amazon Today: #6,909 in Books

Saturday October 22 A hike and a signing in Fort Collins CO

2005-10-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

I expected for a good turnout today as there a good article with many photos in the Fort Collins paper.
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/ ENTERTAINMENT06/510160301&SearchID=73223665008703

Cousin Steve and I drove to Horsetooth Rock State Park in Fort Collins Colorado where I met up with some of my best friends from the two years we lived there. (first and second grade for Annalise). We enjoyed a fun hike part way up to the Rock and a delicious pot luck lunch at Pat Hafford’s house.

Indeed there were lots of people at the talk and I stopped getting an extra security check when I flew from Denver to Portland.

Books signed: forty

Amazon rank #5,704 in Books

Friday, October 21, Breaking Trail is invisible in Denver or How to get placement in the stores?

2005-10-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

The Marketing Manager for Border’s in Portland where I’ll be speaking, phoned me this morning and told me I got a great interview in the Portland Oregonian Friday:
http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/
entertainment/112937405780310.xml&coll=7

I asked his advice about the problem of my book being on a back shelf out of sight when I signed books at Borders and Barnes and Noble in Boulder. He suggested I appeal to my publisher about getting better placement in the stores in strong markets like Colorado and the Northwest. My publisher was sympathetic, but said it was up to the stores where a book was placed. The stores told me that which books got placed on the front tables and displays was primarily a corporate decision and that publishers paid coop money, I believe is the term, to get their books well displayed in the stores. What to do?

Denver is is an area where I expect many people would be interested in Breaking Trail. But with the book not visible in the stores and no publicity at all to date here, it’s hard to know how anyone would hear about the book and buy it. Sigh.

Michael Chessler, a mtg book dealer came by with a load of books for me to sign of which forty were BT. He then kindly gave me a ride to the wonderful American Mtg Center in Golden where Brenda Porter and I were taking a walk. Just as we were leaving, I received simultaneous calls from the LA Times and the Denver Post, both of whom are doing stories on Tuesday. So people in Denver will hear about the book after all. A promising ending to the day.

About eighty people came to my talk that eventing which seemed a small audience for a large auditorium, but it was an enthusiastic group . One woman said she flew in from Wisconsin to hear me speak and buy a book, which may be a record.

Books signed Sixty five
Amazon #6,817 in Books

'A Climbing Life' notes highs, lows

Friday, October 21, 2005

JEFF BAKER

Arlene Blum's 1980 book "Annapurna: A Woman's Place," an account of how she led a team of mountain-climbing women on one of the most challenging peaks in the world, is a modern classic that has inspired countless climbers and recently was named one of the 100 best adventure books of all time by National Geographic Adventure.

After such a success, publishers and readers wanted another book. Blum wasn't ready. Her life story -- Reed College graduate, doctorate in chemistry from the University of California-Berkeley, pioneering leader of several all-women climbing teams -- was a natural for a memoir, but Blum resisted for years. It was only after she looked hard into her past and examined her motives for making the life choices she did that she was able to write "Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life" (Scribner, $27.50, 313 pages).

"It took me forever," Blum said from her home in Berkeley, Calif. "I wanted to understand why I chose to take the risks I did. I probably spent 95 percent of my time on the family sections of the book. I'd written articles for magazines about various climbs I'd done, and those sections came fairly easily, but I had to find out who I was by looking at where I came from."

Blum grew up in Chicago with her overprotective mother and grandparents and discovered mountaineering when her chemistry partner at Reed, John Hall, invited her to climb Mount Adams. It was love at first sight, even after a glissade in the dark tore the skin off her behind and forced her to sit on an inflatable toilet seat for weeks. Her senior thesis was collecting volcanic gases, which she did on Mount Hood with Fred Ayres, a Reed professor and an outstanding climber.

Hall died in an avalanche in 1971. He was one of many climbing friends who died over the years; each time, Blum was devastated but kept going back to the mountains.

"There was always a reason," she said. "I'd get invited to go on a climb, or something would come up. Part of it was wanting that sense of community and family that you feel when you're on a climbing team, and part of it was that I'm a strong optimist and always believed you could do it safely. Looking back, some of that might have been a little foolish."

Two women made it to the top of Annapurna on the trip Blum led, but two others died on the mountain. Is there any way that can be considered a success?

"No," she said. "The loss of two climbers is huge. It overshadows everything else. Everyone on the team felt awful about it, and still does."

Blum still gets around the mountains and climbed Mount Hood earlier this year "but nothing life-threatening," she said. "I'm through with that."

Arlene Blum reads from "Breaking Trail" at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Vollum Lecture Hall at Reed College, 3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.; at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Borders Books & Music, 7227 S.W. Bridgeport Road, Tigard; and at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St. www.arleneblum.com.

Thursday, October 20, Denver, ISET, Peak Oil, and Tattered Cover

2005-10-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Marcus and I enjoyed a very early walk in the hills where he asked me to join the board of the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition in Boulder. Marcus thought up the title for BreakingTrail and is one of my most creative friends. I am honored to work with him on ISET. Here’s the mission

First, we seek to improve understanding and elevate the level of dialogue as civil society attempts to respond to natural resource and environmental challenges in a rapidly changing global context.
Second, we seek to serve as a framework for equal collaboration between individuals and organizations in the North and South on programs that address the first mission.
There is more information at http://www.i-s-e-t.org/

Then I had a long interesting conversation with Roger Wendell at KGNU radio Morning Magazine. He invited me back to talk about environmental chemicals another time.

I signed books at Borders and Barnes &Noble in Boulder, CO where my book was not displayed. I wondered how anyone would know to find the book.

From there, we went to a signing at Wal-Mart in Commerce City where one customer came and I signed about 50 books for them to sell at other stores. I told them about my Annapurna book and they were interested. If they decide to carry it, it would definitely have been a worthwhile event.

After a second trip back to Boulder to retrieve my computer cord forgotten there earlier, I met up with my cousin Steve Vogler and we had a good dinner with my friends from Costa Rica Joan and Eric Gregerson at a brew pub owned by the mayor of Denver.

The mayor sounds fantastic. He helped set up high-level conference to discuss the impacts of a peak in world oil production that will be held in Denver, Colorado on November 10-11, 2005. The two-day forum is sponsored by the City and County of Denver and ASPO-USA.

Joan gave me the info below about Peak Oil, important to know about:

http://www.peakoil.com/
www.aspo-usa.com
Nov 10-11 conference http://www.aspo-usa.com/fall2005/

There was a small but enthusiastic audience at the Tattered Cover that evening. (No PR at all in Denver. Sigh) I sighed about 30 books for the store.

Signed books: 90
Amazon rating #5,314 in Books

Wednesday, October 19, Boulder, An Annapurna Anniversary Climb?

2005-10-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I took my laptop to breakfast and was informed that laptops were not allowed in the dining room at the posh Union Club in Chicago. I wonder how long that policy will last. Having spoken there, I'm invited to stay at the luxurious author's suite at the Union Club for free anytime I'm in Chicago.

After a straight forward flight to Denver, I was met by Tonya Riggs, a very energetic and enthusiastic young climber from Boulder, who had written me:

“I would like to recreate your climb and take a team of 13 women to Annapurna on your 30th anniversary. I have tried to wipe out the idea over and over.....many people are trying to talk me out of it and it keeps coming back into my mind. Trango, the company I work for owns Stonewear Designs...we are teaming up with the HERA foundation to raise awareness of ovarian cancer. This is part of my motive for doing something special for a very good cause. I believe your story is HUGE......and I believe the women are special. I would like to remind the world of what you did.

I do want to encourage Tonya to dream big and support the HERA foundation, but I think Annapurna I is just too dangerous.

Tonya enjoyed a quick hike in the hills and a conversation about the current truce in Nepal with my good friends Marcus and Elisabeth before dinner with Maurice Isserman who is writing a fantastic history of Himlayan mountaineering.

The Boulder bookstore was packed, very likely due to a great article in the local paper. Tonya told me of amazing paralels between her childhood and mine

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/get_out/article/0,1713,BDC_8836_4163623,00.html

No of books signed: 40 at the Boulder Bookstore

Today: #9,131 in Books
:

With Margie Rudman Cooper at the Evergreen Cemetary

2005-10-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

My Grandma's gravestone in the Evergreen Cemetary in Chicago

2005-10-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa's Gravestone in the Evergreen Cemetary

2005-10-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday October 18 Chicago

2005-10-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today might well be the most demanding day of the tour. I wake up at 5:00 for a very early flight to Chicago. After waiting in a long line for curbside check in, I am told I had been selected for a special security check. I guess my changing flights after my cancelled flight in New York on Thursday will make a potential terrorist for the remainder of my tour. So I wait in another long line and have by fourth extreme check. It’s good to know our government is vigilant to keep us safe from terrorists.

I’ve started talking about my next project, trying to wake up Americans to the fact that the toxic flame retardants and other chemicals accumulating in their bodies pose more of a threat to their health and well-being than the terrorists in the skies. People seem interested and media folks are asking me to do another interview later about this alarming subject.

My talk today is at the very proper Union Club where formal attire is required. I’m met by my delightful second cousin Marjorie Cooper and her good friend Joanne Geifman who are here to help me recover and deal with my mother’s ashes. We finally persuade the moratorium to deliver the ashes to us here as its too far to drive to get them..

Then there is a lunch time talk and I’m delighted that several old friends, especially John and Nan Wood with whom I did the Ptarmigan Traverse in the 1968 , come to hear me in these elegant surroundings. Denny Cummings, who set up this talk invites me to stay at the author’s suite at the Union club anytime I am in Chicago, which seems a great fringe benefit. I’m not sure when that will be as we no longer have any family here.

Afterwards we drive to Evergreen cemetery. But where are my grandparents gravestones? Just as the cemetery is closing Joanne finds them. I clear away the foliage and then we recite the ancient Jewish prayers for my grandparents and my mother. I sprinkle some of her ashes in this peaceful and beautiful place. The rest I will bring to California where she always wanted to go and we will perhaps have a memorial. After I good cry I take the El back to the downtown.

On the El, I notice how segregated Chicago still seems and have a good conversation about this with a friendly young woman studying art. She is interested in joining MoveOn.org which she’s never heard about before. I ask her to spread the word.

There’s barely time to check email and have a quick dinner before a fun two hour radio call in show.

Books signed: Forty
Amazon#7,386 in Books

A letter from Mt. Washington

2005-10-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Peter, our guide on the mountain, wrote me “ We've gotten almost 3 feet of solid precipitation (snow and sleet) and have had winds up to 136 miles per hour. Yes, it would have been great to have been there for that marvelous show of nature's fury, but indeed it would have been most inconvenient to have been stuck on the summit if you had previous commitments to be elsewhere.

In speaking with Observer Neil Lareau today, he noted that about 20 minutes after we left on Saturday, the temperature fell, winds picked up, and frozen precipitation started to fall. Timing is everything!

The weather - and the condition of the Mount Washington Auto Road-- is affecting our planning for our weekly shift change. Mount Washington State Park used a snow tractor on the upper part of the Road today, and suggested we should visualize January, rather than October, when thinking of current conditions.”

Monday, Oct 17 A Barking Dog in Boston

2005-10-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today was relatively relaxed as I caught up with email and stayed with my good friend and Stanford roommate Mary Fedarko Roberts and her family. My two radio phone interviews were enlivened by Mary’s dog inevitably beginning to bark loudly during the interviews. Since I could not get close to the dog to stop him barking without the racket getting even louder, I tried to huddle under pillows to block the worst of the noise .

The evening talk was in Nadick’s Morse Institute Library near Wellesley. I was delighted that several old friends came to see me including Howard Simon, my dive partner and boy friend in the late 1960’s, Jim Huston, my Stanford friend who came on part of the the GHT, and Sonia Hicks from the Wellesley Chemistry Dept who gave me a leave of absence my first semester of teaching there so I could attempt Mt Everest.

I’m not looking forward to tomorrow with a very early flight to Chicago, a late two-hour-long radio call-in and a lecture and scattering some of my mothers ashes in between if all goes well.

Books signed: 20 (More would have sold but that was all the bookstore brought)

Amazon today: #5,874 in Books

October 16 Breaking Trail book party and the Isenberg family in 1919

2005-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

We had a perfect celebration for the publication of Breaking Trail today.

When we entered the Mt. Washington Observatory Museum we learned that the winds were 108 mph and there were white out conditions on top. We were VERY glad we hadn't spent the night and were warm and dry down in the valley.

I was delighted to see a huge cake with an edible cover of Breaking Trail on the top to celebrate the books publication. An enthusiasitc audience listened to my talk and I signed about 100 copies of Breaking Trail and 25 of Annapurna.

I'm thinking that the number of books signed each day might be a better quanititative number to keep track of than the Amazon rank which seems to flunctuate wildly. The time my Amazon rank was interesting was the Sunday Breaking Trail was reviewed in the NYTimes. It went from about 10,000 to about 1,000, reaching the lowest (and best) ranking about four on Sunday afternoon and then headed back up.

My second cousin Sue French just sent me the family photo below which we used to identify the people in the other photo.

The very tall man in the back right is my great grandfather Joseph Isenberg and my great grandmother Fannie Isenbeg is on the far right next to him. My Grandfathers brother Louis Isenberg is kneeling on the far left. This photo was probably taken in Rock Island Illinois in 1919.

Amazon Today: #6,909 in Books
Books signed 100 BT, 25 AAWP

October 15, 2005 Mt Washington Climb and Book launch day

2005-10-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

We choose today for the book launch as the anniversary of the date we reached the summit of Annapurna I in 1978, a happy day for the summit and a very sad day as Vera and Alison headed up on their own summit attempt. I remember descending the Dutch rib my myself full of joy that it seemed alsomost certain we would climb Annapurna and worry about Vera and Alison.

The rain is coming down more heavily than ever making me want to stay inside where it is warm and dry, but we are all meeting at the bottom of the trail in a few hours and then we will decide what to do next.

Later:

We indeed made it to the top of Mt. Washington in the pouring rain to celebrate the publication date of Breaking Trail. I carried my umbrella almost all the way and it was invigorating and fun. We were rewarded with a party and a turkey dinner at the observatory on top, not to mention a ride down the road as there are gale force winds up there now and staying the night wasn't a good idea.

The team was

Back from left: Mary Yeo, Peter Crane, our outstanding guide, Jonathan Blum, and Danny Gordon

Beth Krusi, me, Annie Tiberio, and Anne Messer

It was a great day and we are all joining the Mt Washington observatory

For more info on how to do join the observatory, go to their website or contact:

Virginia Moore vmoore@mountwashington.org

Amazon Today: #11,505 in Books

October 14 Friday at LL Beans

2005-10-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today things went better, mostly. I was met last night by Mary Yeo who took me home to comofortable old New England home and fed me a very late but delicous supper.

Then I had three interviews in a row, two postponed from yesterday. During the TV interview I answered the questions aksed of me. Only afterwards did I realize that the book and my signing were not mentioned. Another lesson is "Alwasy mention the title of your book during an interview."

I had inadvertantly scheduled two interviews at ten am but the second interviewer read my blog from yesterday while waiting for me and was sympathetic to my having made this error.

Then I went to Beans, where we attracted some attention from the non-shopping spouses of shoppers mostly. Chatting with people was fun, but it was up to Mary to do the sales pitch which she did admirably.

After a drive in the rain we met Ann Messer and Danny Gordon for a fun dinner in Jackson. The rain grew heavier.

Ther forecast for tomorrow is for rain all day, with a front coming in at night bringinf 100mph winds and icing on top. It doesn't sound good for a book launch party on top on Saturday.

#4,553 in Books

Thursday October 13 The Flight from Hell

2005-10-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I left my hotel for the hour long flight to Portland Maine at 11:00 planning to do a TV interview at 3:30. On the way there I discovered my flight on US air was delayed so I rebooked on a Delta flight that would get me there by two thirty in good time for my interview. Having changed my flights, I was subject to the indignity of the ultimate maxim search which unnerved me so much I left my computer at the security check. Not a great idea. I got it back an hour later and decided no matter what happened from now on in, it was trivial compared to loosing my computer.

It was good I decided that. The Delta flight got delayed a couple times, but suddenly they rushed us all on a bus to the plane, stopped the bus, where we sat for an awful half hour with the motor running and told us the flight was cancelled.

Our only choice was a flight to Boston, followed by a bus to Portland. After an hour wait I recovered my luggage, took a long bus ride to the marine terminal to get the shuttle. Arrived in the pouring rain and had to carry my bags a very long way. Waited an hour for the shuttle, asked and learned the other passengers had already gone to Boston and taken the bus and they’d forgotten about the bus for us. Was selected again for the killer security check

I had a very rough flight to Boston, to discover my bags were still in NY. The bus came late and told us the vouchers Delta gave us were no good because Delta was in Bankruptcy. My hour flight stretched into a ten hour epic.

I’m writing this on a Trailways bus speeding from Boston to Portland and my spirits are not too bad. I just got a call they have my bag in Boston and was able to persuade them to deliver them by truck rather than on the flight via Cincinnati which was what they suggested. Annalise gave me an IPod with my favorite music on it and I must say at times like this, the IPod is a life saver.

I recently read that Bhutan looks at the net happiness of their people rather than the gross national production as a measure of the success of their country. The Ipod definitely increases the net happiness index even thouth the forecast for the book launch climb of Mt Washington is rain.

Amazon rank Today: #16,719 in Books

October 12 A Quiet Day in New York City

2005-10-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today was meant to be the most quiet day of the trip, but the calm was broken by more more PR opportunities including an excerpt for the LA Times to come out next Tuesday, a TV interview in Portland Maine for tomorrow night announcing my Friday afternoon book signing at LLBean, and interview on a radio program called The Business Shrink.

I met with Lisa Drew my publisher, her assistant Sam Martin, and the Scribner publicist Lucy Kenyon who are happy with how the book is doing.

Annalise called to say she’s doing well and hoping to move to a lovely cabin by the river. She’s doing her own blog of her gap year at
http://annalisesgapyear.blogspot.com

I really enjoyed a tour of my favorite paper, the New York Times, and hope to show it to Annalise when we are both back here for her Netaid Global Action Award to be presented at Lincoln Center in New York City on November 9. http://www.netaid.org/global_action_awards/

The weather had been cold and rainy and more of the same is forecast for the weekend, not auspicious for our October 15 book launch on the summit of Mt Washington. I hope to climb in spite of the rain.

Amazon rank for Breaking Trail #5,850 in Books

Oct 11: The Isenberg clan and the Explorer's Club

2005-10-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

My big story is I recently met Bob Feldman, a second cousin, who showed me this photo of my grandfathers family, the Isenberg clan, about 1917. Bob had no idea who the people were in the photo. He had been trying to identify them for years and concluded that he never would succeed. I told him I hoped to meet other cousins and identify these family members during my book trip. Bob was disbelieving and said that he thought we would never learn their identities .

Tuesday I met Sue French, another second cousin who brought along a different photo of many of the same people taken about three years later. And her photo had been identified by her elderly aunt Edith in 1982. Sue and I had a a very exciting afternoon of detective work and were able to identify most of the people in the photo above. For the first time, I know what my great grandparents and many other relatives look like. And I’m going to meet lots of other wonderful second cousins and learn more as I travel. I'm really delighted about this.

Then I spoke at the Explorers Club in New York to a very enthusiastic audience, half women. The Club has come a long way from the days when women were not allowed to join.

Amazon rank is #6,807 in Books

New York

2005-10-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

Last night I arrived in New York after along flight on American (which actually had more leg room than United fortunately as I was in a middle seat.) Please come to my Explorer's Club talk tonight if you are near New York City. It's at seven at 46 E 70th Street, with a reception at six.

I was met and am staying with my dear friend Stacey Miller, the daughter of Luree Miller of whom I wrote in the Acknowledgements to Breaking Trail:

"My loving writing mentor, Luree Miller, first suggested the idea for this book. Over the decades I struggled to write it, I wasn’t consistently grateful to her for starting me on the project, but certainly am now that it’s approaching completion. I wish I could show it to her, but Luree died in 1996."

It was great to share the book with Stacey and remember Luree together. Luree wrote many wonderful books inlcuding "On Top of the World: Five Women Explorer's in Tibet" which is published by the Seattle Mountaineers.

On Top of the World: Five Women Explorers in Tibet (Paperback)
by Luree Miller "It was the Himalayas that lured Nina into her rash venture..." (more)
CAPs: Alexandra David-Neel, Isabella Bird Bishop, Annie Taylor, Fanny Bullock Workman, Central Asia (more)

My Amazon number isn't so good today

Tuesday

Today: #9,120 in Books
Yesterday: #8,925 in Books

But there is a good new review on Amazon
A fascinating account, October 11, 2005

Reviewer:

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Mountain climbing drama comes to life in mountaineer, biochemist, and author Arlene Blum's Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life. Blum has written about climbing before in Annapurna: A Woman's Place: her latest is the story of how she got to be a climber, moving from an overprotected Chicago childhood to reach some of the highest mountains on Earth. Each chapter starts with a memory from her early life, which serves as a starting point to trace an element which contributed to her becoming a climber. A fascinating account.

Here's my schedule in New York, FYI.

Tuesday, October 11

PULSE. XMs newest morning show. Arlene will be joining us at our NY studios located at 20 West 60th Street NY, NY 10023. 10:30 am.

Meet my cousin for lunch "Sue French"
Meet Jean Taylor

Be at the Explorer’s club at 5:30

6: 00 p.m Reception Explorers Club 46 E 70th Street

7:00 slide lecture and signing

Tuesday & Wednesday staying at Millennium
Hotel Millennium Cothorne Hotels Millennium Broadway Hot
Phone:1-212-768-4400 145 WEST 44TH STREET, NEW YORK NY 10036

Wed. 7:00 am Central Park walk

11:00 am Scribner to meet the wonderful people who have worked on the book with me Lisa, Sam, Lucy, Molly

My Book Tour

2005-10-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

I am starting off on a long book tour tomrrow morning. Right now I'm sitting on the roof of my house on a warm autumn evening watching the twinkling lights of San Francisco and listening to the crickets. It is a moment of calm in a whirl of activity and I'm savoring it. Micou, my big gray cat, stopped eating. Maybe something is wrong or maybe he senses my tension. Tomorrow I'll try to take him to the vet before I leave at ten from my flight to New York.

Annalise has written from Thailand where she is having an amazing time setting up Teaching English as a Foreign Language programs in several small villages impacted by the tsunami.

I'll try to write at least a couple sentances every day of my tour and see how my the sales of my memoir benefits from all the speaking I'll be doing. Being a scientist, I am analytical so here's a somewhat peculiar number to follow, the Amazon ranking.

Today as I depart it is #3,925 in Books