| Junko Tabei: (Japan) became the first woman to reach the summit of Everest on 5/16/75 via the South-East Ridge route.
Junko was born Fukushima Prefecture JAPAN - 1939, when to Showa Women's University and is married with 2 children. She says she was attracted to mountain climbing by the experience of climbing Mt. Nasu with a teacher when she was 10 years old. She began climbing around 1962 after graduating from Showa Women's University where she studied English literature. She formed women's mountain climbing club "Ladies Climbing Club: JAPAN (LCC)" in 1969. Junko became the first woman to reach the Everest peak in 1975. Since then, she have climbed many mountains all over the world, and is the first woman to have achieved the summits of the highest peaks on all seven continents.
She still climbs at least 3-4 mountains per year. She currently is the director of Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan (HAT-J), an organization dedicated preserving the mountain environment. |
Japan