American Women's Himalayan Expedition

The all woman nature of the expedition was designed by Blum and Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz during a 1972 expedition on Noshaq. Blum, who having previously been rejected from high altitude expeditions as a woman[2] stated “Few American women ever get a chance to climb that high, to lead, or even to participate in a major expedition. No American woman [had] ever climbed to 8000 meters, and only seven women from any country [had] ever climbed that high. We [hoped] this climb [would] give a number of women sufficient experience so that they can be invited on mixed expeditions, or organize their own."[3]

Led by Blum, they underwent psychological tests and individual training programs.[4] The counter culture of the 1970s led teams to rebel against the military inspired siege style mountaineering. As the first female team, many of the women were especially determined to forge their own leadership methods and styles independent of the male lead expeditions before them.[5]

At the time, Annapurna had been climbed by eight people, via three different routes.[7] Annapurna has since emerged as one of the most dangerous mountains in the Himalayas with a 32% fatality to summit ratio.[8] It is extremely avalanche prone, which was not fully appreciated at the time.[7]

They approached the mountain siege style, leaving Pokhara with more than 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) of supplies, a team of porters, 13 women and 6 Sherpas. Blum had wanted to employ female low-altitude porters and train them to be climbers, but ran into difficulties with the Sherpas' union and the women hired were not strong load carriers.[7][3]

They arrived at base camp on August 26, and pushed up a rib towards the north to camp 2. From there the route choice was between most recent ascent of the mountain The Dutch Rib which was direct and technical and a new variation of the Spanish Route which appeared easier. They settled on the Dutch Rib after watching several avalanches on the Spanish Route.[3]

They waited until the mountain was opened at a prayer-flag raising ceremony, and began upwards towards camp 3 on September 12. On September 19 Komarkova and Chewang were forced to retreat to base camp due to multiple avalanches.[3]

On the 27th Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, Liz Klobusicky-Mailänder, Chewang, and Lakpa established camp 3, and another near avalanche miss cleared the rib making it more passable. The same day an avalanche made it 3 km down to camp one, with the wind from it flattening tents.[3]

They had reached camp four by October 8, and planned to set up a final camp before the summit.

Initial reports from The New York Times called the climb an inspiration to women, noting that women's mountaineering in America had 'come of age',[11][12] and it was symbolic and relevant to second wave feminism.[5] Blum's book on the expedition, Annapurna: A Woman's Place, was cited by Kitty Calhoun as an inspiration to later mountaineers.[7]

At the time, the expedition received some criticism by men, including David Roberts, for having Sherpas forge a path to the summit on an all women's expedition and for perceived poor decision making leading to the deaths of Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz and Watson.[13] This was denounced by Blum as hypocritical, since there were no objections to Sherpa forged paths on recent all-male expeditions and that (at the time) there had been one death for every summit on Annapurna.[14]