mountain to climb，though not at all easy.Thirteen groups of climbers had tried in the past，but only four had succeeded.Eight men had reached the summit but another nine had lost their lives on the dangerous mountain.When she returned to America，Arlene could not forget Annapurna.She talked about it to two good friends in San Francisco，Vera Watson and Irene Miller.

　　Vera Watson was forty­six and a computer scientist.She had been climbing high mountains for many years.She did not look tough，but she was a woman with a very strong character.She had climbed Aconcagua in Argentina alone，and she had always wanted to climb in the Himalayas.Irene Miller was also a scientist，and the mother of two daughters.She knew that the expedition was dangerous and that she could be killed；but she also knew that，at forty­two，she would probably not get another chance to climb to 8，000 metres.Both Vera and Irene were enthusiastic about Arlene's idea.

　　Their first job was to choose the other members of the team.They needed women who were strong physically and mentally；women who would not stop when they became very cold，very hungry，or very tired.They needed a doctor to take care of the mountaineers if they became ill or were hurt high on the mountain.They also needed someone to make a film of the climb，so that the world could learn about it later.Most important of all，they needed women who had climbed high mountains before.They put an advertisement in a climbing magazine：

　　WOMEN CLIMBERS WANTED

　　Would you like to join an all­women's expedition to Annapurna？You must be an experienced high­altitude climber，strong，enthusiastic and a hard worker！If you think this is for YOU，please contact：

　　Arlene Blum，Berkeley，California，USA

　　Many women wrote to them from all over the world，but they could only choose ten.When the final team was chosen，the youngest was twenty years old，the oldest was fifty.

For Arlene，finding the climbers was only the first step.The team needed another important thing：money.There were long talks at Vera Watson's house，when they discussed how to make the 80，000 dollars they would need for the expedition.With the