Vera Komarkova
Vera Komarkova () (25 December 1942 - 25 May 2005) was a prominent Czech-American mountaineer and botanist. Credited as a pioneer of women's mountaineering, she was the first woman to summit Annapurna and Cho Oyu. Early life Komarkova was born in Písek and at the age of 16 she got to the Charles University in Prague to study botany, from which she eventually graduated. There, she discovered climbing and began making first ascents in the Tatras and other Carparthians. Climbing Alaska In 1976 she climbed Denali and the next year she opened a new route on Mount Dickey. These exploits impressed Arlene Blum so she invited Komarkova to her Annapurna expedition in 1978. Annapurna The expedition was organised by Arlene Blum after she returned from an Everest expedition "marred by male chauvinist traits". Irene Miller recommended Komarkova immediately as they had ascended Mount Doonerak together and her Alaskan exploits were well known. To raise funds for the 1978 expedition, the team sold T-shirts with the slogan "A woman's place is on top". The T-shirts sales raised $60,000, which was over 75% of the estimated costs of the expedition. They were also sponsored by ob tampons, which Komarkova noted was "the