The first woman that climbed Mt.Everest
Teased as a child for being a “weakling,” Junko Tabei turned that weakness into her greatest strength. Weak lungs made Tabei seem “sickly” as a child. As an adult, Tabei only reached a height of four feet, nine inches. But her lack of height has little to do with her stature. Tabei was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 16, 1975. And that after surviving an avalanche. Born in Japan May 23, 1939, Tabei discovered her love of climbing during a school outing. Tabei accompanied a teacher climbing Mt. Nasu when she was only ten years old. It may have even been that her small physique gave her an advantage over other children when it came to climbing, but Tabei found that she enjoyed climbing and especially enjoyed the fact that it was not a competitive sport. Tabei graduated from Showa Women’s University with a degree in English literature in 1962. She began her career in earnest after graduation and formed the “Ladies Climbing Club: Japan (LCC) in 1969. By 1975, she had already climbed a number of mountains, and set her sights on Mount Everest The highest mountain in the world, Everest stands 29,029 feet above sea level. Until 1975, the summit had not been reached by any woman.