OrCCCa: Welcome Everyone! The Talk City Network (tm) and ZineZone.com (tm) welcome you to chat tonight with Arlene Blum. Head of the first female American team to scale Nepal's Annapurna, Arlene Blum traded the risks of climbing for the rewards of running her own thriving leadership consulting business and being a Mom! Without further ado ...Arlene Blum, Welcome to ZineZone & Talk City!

SueDM: You've accomplished so much already in your life - have you always been such a super-confident person?

ArleneBlum: Well, I don't think of myself as super-confident. I think of myself as a dreamer who's always thinking up crazy things I can do. I don't think of myself as super-confident when I do them!

BeBe_wannabe: What did you think you wanted to be when you were growing up?

ArleneBlum: Hmmm ... a kindergarten teacher! I was actually told that girls couldn't do science or math, and I believed it! I never planned to ever study things like science, and then the Sputnik went off when I was in the fifth grade and it was decided that everybody who did well in school would become a scientist, so I actually ended up getting a doctorate in chemistry, which was quite different from what I expected!

DoloresJ: Do you feel closer to God when atop a mountain? I think I would!

ArleneBlum: Well, I feel wonderful. It's a real high. I've never really thought about it in that way, but I feel part of the universe, and at peace.

kapil: Do you have a web-site?

ArleneBlum: Yes, I do! My web site is www.arleneblum.com and at the site I talk about my leadership courses which are based on what I learned leading expeditions, and also my inter-cultural classes, and working with India. It also has a place to buy Annapurna videos and books and Himalayan language tapes. Thanks!

renner: When you first ascended a mountain, how did your expectations differ from the reality?

Arlene Blum: Well, I think Denali was my first big mountain. It's the highest mountain in North America. When I applied to climb Denali, it was back in the time when I was told that women didn't have the physical strength to climb it. We could stay in base camp and cook! So I organized a women's expedition and it was a big adventure, because we didn't know if it was true or not, if we could actually climb it! But, of course, we succeeded :-)