Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173429 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Booklist
In hiker's parlance, the person who "breaks trail" is one who leads others across difficult terrain, creating a path as they go. This aptly describes Blum's role, not only in her experiences as a climber, but also as a scientist doing innovative, groundbreaking work. Blum, whose previous book recounted the first women-only climb of Annapurna, here covers a cross section of her life as a climber, from her first experience, as a college student in 1964, to 1993, when she semiretired. Through climbing, she experiences a wide range of emotions, from exhilaration at success to grief over the death of friends. Interspersed between the climbing stories are scenes from her childhood that do much to explain the person she became. This is an engaging, well-written adventure that also serves as a social history of women's roles. It 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. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"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

Review
"This splendid book is much more than just a "climbing life." Arlene Blum has the courage -- and the literary skill -- to aim for new heights. Few such autobiographies have mentioned the fragile relationships that exist among high-level mountaineers, including the sexual conflicts that arise when young women and men get together in the wild. On yet another level, Blum delves into her early life to try to discover what led her to become a first-rate scientist and a pathbreaking mountaineer."

-- Steve Roper, author of Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber and other climbing books.

"Breaking Trail is an inspiring and affecting story of struggle and triumph. It is fluent and highly readable and keeps you turning the pages until the very end."

-- Peter Gillman, co-author of The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory

"A warm, sensitive account of an extraordinarily adventuresome life. Arlene Blum's life and her writing are indeed an inspiration to both men and women. This book is a must read for those who wish to reach the highest level of personal fulfillment."

-- Helen Thayer, author of Polar Dream: The Heroic Saga of the First Solo Journey by a Woman and Her Dog to the Pole

"Breaking Trail shows that Arlene Blum's persistence and determination over time have won out and opened the way to countless other women to excel at climbing around the world."

--Ann LaBastille, author and ecologist

"I stand in awe, respect and gratitude for Arlene Blum's story as recounted in Breaking Trail. Her memoir is aptly named for her pioneering adventures in the surprisingly recently male-dominated world of high altitude mountaineering. I took for granted my right to pursue my climbing dreams and passions until I read of her determination, struggles, and conquests."

-- Sharon Wood, first North American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest

"This is an extraordinary memoir. I was constantly astonished by Blum's achievements - overcoming a difficult family background to become a sane and compassionate human being; achieving academic success in the girl-unfriendly world of the hard sciences; and making an end run around mountaineering sexism by organizing (among other climbs) the successful all-women conquest of Annapurna, one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. I simply inhaled this book."

-- Sherry Ortner, anthropologist and author of Life and Death on Mt. Everest

"Arlene Blum's Breaking Trail is a magnificent and compelling story. Blum's leads the reader into beautiful, exciting, and terrifying world of mountain climbing. Her writing soars. She beautifully conveys the drama, mind set and courage that it takes to go to places where few have ventured, and where fewer have survived. Her story is inspiring. It's as much about leadership, as it is living life fully, and forging through, over, and around obstacles to reach one's goals in life. It's a great book."

--Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to Antarctica

"Breaking Trail is a compelling memoir by one of mountaineering's most remarkable pioneers. Arlene Blum offers a poignant and riveting personal account of a life of adventure and companionship in exploring and summiting many of the great peaks of the world."

-- Michael Useem, Director, Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton Business School, author of The Leadership Moment and Leading Up

"Good climbers are rare; good climbing stories are even more rare. So this book is a gem: a pioneering climber tells her story with grace and courage and in it she emerges heroic and utterly human. Gripping and heartbreaking, this is a story that will galvanize every reader. "

--Susan Fox Rogers, author of Solo: On Her Own Adventure

"Breaking Trail follows Arlene's route from her childhood, to the halls of academia, to the roof of the world with insightful and inspirational prose. The reason why we climb is never an easy question, yet Arlene searches her soul for her own motivations and in doing so provides a picture (story) that spans her childhood and career as a physicist."

--Conrad Anker, author of The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest

Customer Reviews

Simply A Great Book About a Fascinating Life
This book became an instant favorite--Arlene Blum's story is amazing. I don't usually like autobiographies, and I'm not a mountain climber, but this book had me hooked from the first few pages.

Somehow, the author has managed to weave elements of her childhood, her career in science, rememberances of her family, and her love of mountainclimbing into a coherent and engaging story. I was fascinated by the author's tales of mountain expedetions, of lost loves and friendships, of tragedies, and prejudices, and of small triumphs.

A great book about a fascinating life.

Must read for all Jewish Women
Arlene is a trail blazer. She is courageous on the trail, bold in her life choices, and works tenaciously to right the injustices of the world. And (here is the icing on the cake) she is also a beautiful writer.

I like to keep a couple copies of this book in my office. It is the perect gift for women who come to me wanting to understand more about the convergence of Judaism and outdoor adventures. Arlene is the best role model I know!

- Rabbi Jamie Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, author God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors with the Adventure Rabbi

One of the most amazing women I have read about
From the moment Arlene Blum begins to tell her story, I was hooked. She does an exceptional job of structuring the memoir so you understand who she is as a person... and how she became an adventurer. Nothing stops her as a young child or an adult for breaking new ground for women and for her spirit. I was enthralled. Marcia