Junko Tabei (田部井 淳子 Tabei Junko, 22 September 1939 – 20 October 2016) was a Japanese mountaineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and the first woman to complete the Seven Summits by climbing the tallest peak on every continent.

Early climbing history

After obtaining a degree in English literature from Showa Women's University, where she was a member of the mountain climbing club, Tabei formed the Ladies Climbing Club: Japan (LCC) in 1969. During this time, she climbed mountains such as Mount Fuji in Japan and the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. By 1972, Tabei was a recognized mountain climber in Japan.

1975 Everest expedition

Tabei's LCC contained a team known as the Japanese Women's Everest Expedition (JWEE), headed by Eiko Hisano, that would attempt to summit Mount Everest. JWEE contained 15 members, mostly working women, including teachers, a computer programmer and a juvenile counselor. Two of them, including Tabei, were mothers. After Tabei and Hiroko Hirakawa successfully summited Annapurna III on May 19, 1970, LCC decided to tackle Mount Everest.

Although they obtained last-minute funding from the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and Nippon Television, all the members still had to pay an amount that was almost equal to Japan’s average salary. To save money, they would use recycled car sheets to sew up waterproof pouches and over-gloves. They also purchased goose feather from China and made their own sleeping bags. Students at school collected unused packets of jam for their teachers.

After a long training period, the team began the expedition early in 1975 when they traveled to Kathmandu. They used the same route that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay took in 1953.

In early May the women were camping at 6,300 meters when an avalanche struck their camp. The women and their guides were buried under the snow. Tabei lost consciousness for approximately six minutes until her sherpa guide dug her out. Twelve days after the avalanche, Tabei became the first female to reach the summit of Everest.

Later activities

In the 1990-91 season, Tabei reached the summit of Mount Vinson, Antarctica's highest mountain. On June 28, 1992, she summited Puncak Jaya and became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits.

Tabei had a goal to climb the highest peak in every country in the world and worked on ecological concerns. Tabei was the director of the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, an organization working on a global level to preserve mountain environments.