The wind up there doesn’t just blow; it screams. It’s a physical weight that tries to shove you off the side of the world. In May 1975, a 35-year-old mother from Japan named Junko Tabei was feeling every bit of that pressure. She wasn't just fighting the thin air or the freezing cold. She was fighting a global consensus that women simply didn't belong on the highest point on Earth. When we talk about the first woman to climb Mount Everest, we’re usually looking for a name and a date. Junko Tabei. May 16, 1975. But the story is so much messier, scarier, and more impressive than a simple trivia answer.
Tabei was tiny. Seriously. She stood just 4 feet 9 inches tall. In the 1970s, the climbing world was essentially an all-boys club where gear was sized for large men and "traditional" wisdom suggested women were too physically fragile for high-altitude mountaineering. Tabei didn't care. She had already founded the Ladies Climbing Club in 1969 because she was tired of how male climbers treated women. Her club's motto was "Let's go on an overseas expedition by ourselves."
They did exactly that.
The Avalanche That Almost Ended It All
Most people think the hardest part of Everest is the final summit push. For the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition, the real nightmare started at Camp II. On May 4, 1975, the team was sleeping at roughly 6,300 meters. Suddenly, a massive avalanche roared down the slope. It didn't just hit the camp; it buried it.
Tabei was pinned under the snow. She couldn't move. She was losing consciousness. Think about that for a second—being buried alive in the dark, miles above civilization, while your lungs are already starving for oxygen. Her Sherpa guides eventually dug her out by her ankles. She was battered, bruised, and could barely walk. Most people would have called for a helicopter. Most people would have quit.
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Honestly, she probably should have quit. But twelve days later, she was crawling toward the peak.
Why Junko Tabei Still Matters Today
The 1970s weren't exactly a progressive era for female athletes in Japan. Tabei was frequently told she should stay home and raise her children. When she was trying to find sponsors for the Everest trip, companies told her she was "just a housewife" and that the mountain was no place for her. She eventually got some funding from the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and Nippon Television, but the women still had to chip in a massive amount of their own money.
They made their own sleeping bags. They recycled old jam jars for storage. This wasn't a corporate-sponsored luxury climb like you see today in 2026. This was grit.
- Height: 4' 9" (145 cm)
- Team: 15 women, mostly working professionals
- The Final Stretch: She climbed the final ridge on her hands and knees because the wind was too violent to stand.
When she finally stood on the summit, she didn't feel a rush of ego. She later told reporters that her first thought was, "Oh, I don't have to climb anymore." It was pure, raw relief. She had become the first woman to climb Mount Everest, but she hated being a celebrity. She preferred to be known as the 36th person to reach the top, not a "female pioneer."
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The Hillary Step: A Moment of Pure Terror
If you've ever seen photos of the Hillary Step (before the 2015 earthquake changed its shape), you know it’s a vertical rock face near the summit. For Tabei, this was the moment of truth. She had to traverse a razor-thin ridge of ice where one slip meant falling thousands of feet into Nepal on one side or Tibet on the other.
She described it as the most terrifying experience of her life. She felt "infinitely small." This is the part people get wrong about Everest—it’s not a hike. It’s a series of near-death experiences stitched together by sheer willpower. Tabei’s success proved that the "biological limitations" men had cited for decades were essentially a myth.
Breaking the Seven Summits
Tabei didn't stop at Everest. That’s the wild part. She went on to become the first woman to climb the "Seven Summits"—the highest peak on every continent. She climbed until the very end. Even after being diagnosed with peritoneal cancer, she continued to lead youth expeditions up Mount Fuji.
She passed away in 2016, but her legacy isn't just a record in a book. It’s the fact that today, hundreds of women attempt Everest every year. They use better gear now, sure. They have GPS and better weather forecasting. But they’re all walking in the footsteps of a woman who was told she was too small and too "housewife-ish" to stand on top of the world.
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What the History Books Miss
We often frame this story as a solo triumph. It wasn't. The success of the first woman to climb Mount Everest was a massive logistical feat by an all-female team. They managed the base camp, the supplies, and the navigation.
It's also important to acknowledge the Sherpas. Ang Tsering Sherpa was with Tabei when she reached the summit. Without the local expertise of the Sherpa people, these early expeditions would have been impossible. Tabei was always the first to credit her team and the mountain itself, rather than her own skill.
Essential Takeaways for Aspiring Mountaineers
- Preparation over Pride: Tabei spent years on smaller peaks like Manaslu before hitting Everest.
- Ignore the "No": If she had listened to her critics in Tokyo, she never would have left Base Camp.
- Respect the Mountain: She became an environmental advocate later in life, disgusted by the trash left on Everest.
If you're looking to follow in those footsteps, start small. Mountaineering isn't about the summit; it's about the technical skills you build on the way up. Tabei’s life proves that physical stature is secondary to mental toughness.
Next Steps for History and Adventure Buffs:
- Read her memoirs: Look for Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei for the unvarnished version of the 1975 climb.
- Research the Seven Summits: Check out the work of Reinhold Messner and Richard Bass to see how Tabei’s timeline overlaps with the greats.
- Support sustainable trekking: If you visit the Himalayas, use operators that prioritize "Leave No Trace" ethics, something Tabei fought for until her death.
- Verify the records: Explore the Himalayan Database, the gold standard for mountaineering records, to see the stats of the women who followed Tabei.
The summit of Everest is a graveyard of egos, but for Junko Tabei, it was just the beginning of a life spent proving people wrong. She didn't just climb a mountain; she dismantled a ceiling.