She Summited Mount Everest After Being Buried Under an Avalanche
"I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest -- it's only a mountain." Junko Tabei
Happy Wednesday, friends! Today marks one year since I started this newsletter! I’m honored that all of you read my weekly excited ramblings about women the world should know about. Thank you, dear readers! I literally couldn’t do this without you. To celebrate my one-year anniversary, please send this newsletter to someone you think would enjoy it! Or send it to your enemies to annoy them, I’m really not picky. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming!
Junko Tabei
Our woman of the week is Junko Tabei. She’s the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and climb the Seven Summits (the highest point on every continent). Ironically, she would hate that I introduced her that way as she preferred to be called the 36th person to climb Everest. But, as the Adventure Journal points out, not referring to her gender leaves out the sexism she faced and cultural expectations she defied as a woman climbing mountains.
Tabei was born in Japan and started climbing at ten years old. Even though she enjoyed climbing, her family could only afford to send her on a few climbs during her childhood. During college, she got back into climbing when she joined a men’s climbing club (there were no women’s climbing clubs, pause for shock and awe). She faced a lot of fragile male egos in this club (again, pause for shock and awe). Some refused to climb with her as they thought she was just in the club to get a husband. Which… (1) who cares, (2) don’t flatter yourself, and (3) she certainly won’t want to marry you now so no need to worry, you ignorant pricks! Thankfully, some of the older men in the club were friendlier and she formed great relationships with them. Another reason I will never date a man under 30 as long as I live.
Dealing with the sexist jerks in her climbing club led her to start the first all-woman climbing club in Japan called the Ladies Climbing Club (Joshi-Tohan). Under her leadership, the club was the first all-female group to summit Annapurna III in Nepal. However, this didn’t come without hardship. To climb the Himalayas, her club had to apply to be a part of the Japan Mountaineering Association and they were rejected the first time they applied.
Over the years, Tabei made a name for herself as she climbed several notable summits including Mount Fuji. After she successfully led her club in climbing Annapurna III, she set her sights on climbing Mount Everest. Tabei created the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition, a 15-person all-female group led by Tabei to summit Mount Everest. This was essentially unheard of in Japan. They could barely find people to sponsor the trip because some of the women, including Tabei, were mothers and the investors told them they should be at home taking care of their kids instead of climbing mountains. They had such a hard time finding funds they saved jam packets from their kid’s lunches to take with them on the expedition.
In 1975, the group started to make their ascent of Mount Everest. All was well and good until an unexpected avalanche hit their tent while they were sleeping. Tabei was BURIED under the snow, knocked unconscious, and couldn’t walk for two days afterward. She was sure she was going to suffocate to death until the Sherpas pulled her out. Even after that traumatic event, she kept going. Twelve days later, Tabei was the only one in her group to make it to the top. After climbing Mount Everest, she went on to climb the Seven Summits (the highest point on all seven continents) and climb to the highest mountain in 76 different countries. This is truly unfathomable to me as I complain almost daily about living on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator.
Even while battling cancer in her 70s, Tabei still had an infectious and abundant love of climbing. In her last interview with Outside in 2016, she said “I am now 76, and have scaled the highest peaks of 76 countries. I am suffering cancer but I would like to keep going my way and climb mountains.”
Good News Corner
Despite the dumpster fire and shit show combo meal the world is offering these days, women are doing some cool stuff lately (and always).
· The Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized after it lapsed in 2019.
· New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a law providing tuition-free college for the majority of New Mexican students.
· Domee Shi, director of Pixar’s latest film “Turning Red”, is the first woman to solo-direct a feature film at Pixar. She’s also known for directing Oscar-winning Pixar-short “Bao.”
· The only all-Black female unit to serve overseas in World War II was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
That’s all for this week. See ya next Wednesday!
Citations
“Junko Tabei: Pioneer, Revolutionary, Adventuress” Adventure Woman
“Junko Tabei: the First Woman to Climb Everest and the Seven Summits” Adventure Journal
“Japanese Climber Junko Tabei, First Woman To Conquer Mount Everest, Dies at 77” NPR