First women on Annapurna

From left to right: Sherpa Chewang, Irene Miller now Irene Beardsley, Sherpa Mingma

In 1978 Arlene Blum organized a team of eleven women to climb Annapurna in Nepal which, until then, had been climbed by only eight people (all men). It was called American Women's Himalayan Expeditions - Annapurna. They raised money for the trip in part by selling T-shirts with the slogan "A woman's place is on top". The first summit team, comprising Vera Komarkova and Irene Miller and Sherpas Mingma Tsering and Chewang Ringjing, reached the top at 3:30 p.m. on October 15, 1978. The second summit team, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz and Vera Watson, died during this climb. After the event, Blum wrote a book about her experience on Annapurna, called “Annapurna: A Woman's Place”. (Quoted from Wikipedia.org)

Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm