Junko Tabei

Junko Tabei (田 部 井 淳 子Japanese, Junko Tabei, born September 22, 1939 in Fukushima Prefecture ) is a Japanese mountaineer who was the first woman on the summit of Mount Everest on May 16, 1975.

As Tabei climbed Mt Nasu at the age of ten years, this experience changed her life. She studied at the Showa University English Literature and joined the local mountaineering club at. In 1969 she founded the Japanese climbers ' Club ( "Ladies Climbing Club "). Together with her husband she mounted next to the Fuji and other Japanese mountains, as well as the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.

In 1972 Junko Tabei became known as one of the best mountaineers in Japan. The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and the television station Nippon TV decided to put together a women only team to climb Mount Everest. From hundreds of applicants for this expedition finally 15 women were selected, including Junko Tabei.

After a lot of hard training, the team traveled in the spring of 1975 to Kathmandu and turned a Sherpa team. They used the same route as the first man to climb Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. In early May, the team camped at an altitude of 6300 meters, as the camp was buried by an avalanche. The women, Junko Tabei included, were buried under snow. Junko Tabei lost consciousness for about six minutes, until they dug up a Sherpa.

Junko Tabei in 1992 was the first woman who had climbed all seven continents of the highest mountains, the Seven Summits.

On 23 May 2000 an asteroid was named after her: ( 6897 ) Tabei.