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comes a necessary hurdle, and Blum fi nds herself acting as an “authentic army general”
in order to control the expedition (29). Blum actually terms the siege style more
“pragmatic” (21), and eventually justifi es the inclusion of the Sherpas not just over the
Sherpanis, but also over other female team members: “Having a Sherpa on the summit
team would be less of logistical burden than having an additional member who would use
oxygen for the last day” (76). In disregarding the contributions of her own team in order
to ensure success, Blum has subscribed to the familiar ideals of the military framework.
The fi nal lines of Blum’s account are yet another reiteration of Herzog’s metaphysical
conclusion, as she directly quotes the French expedition leader’s phrase. But
if Herzog claims that there are other Annapurnas in the lives of men, Blum adds that
there must be other such challenges in the lives of women as well (232). In adding
onto Herzog’s statement, Blum has not quite avoided the issues of dominating a mountain
through reaching the summit, but expanded the number of participants. The use of
Herzog’s words to conclude the account also reinforce his ideals, especially as he was
asked by Blum to write an introduction to the account. Overall, Herzog is quite supportive
of the expedition and rails against the sexism of the climbing community and society
at large which would prevent such opportunities for women. But this emotional diatribe
to prejudice becomes limiting and even damaging when Herzog writes “why shouldn’t
women be chiefs of state, Nobel prize winners, heads of multinational corporations” (Blum
xi). This perspective refl ects a troubling expectation similar to Blum’s, with regards to
the Sherpanis. Rather than have women achieve success on their own terms, which
was one of the ideals of the expedition, Herzog defi nes success as women being able to
reach the same level as men. In supporting this conventional defi nition of success, Blum
has compromised her own ideals and reiterated the importance of the military framework.
Although my analysis reveals the extent to which the accounts of later expeditions
were ideologically compromised through a capitulation to past frameworks, other
aspects of the expeditions of Blum and Bonington do stand as challenges to the martial
framework. First, a willingness to share the account through the inclusion of the voices
of other climbers, such as Haston, disrupts the monologue of Herzog’s narrative voice.
Second, the recognition that there are alternatives available aside from the military model
of organization indicates that mountaineers are aware and critical of the ideals inherent
in past accounts. Finally, the expeditions of Blum and Bonington were only compromised
when the summit, and conventional success according to the subculture, became the
30 transverse