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https://theconversation.com/fifty-years-ago-junko-tabei-became-the-first-woman-to-summit-everest-why-do-so-few-people-know-her-story-248800>
"It was May 4 1975. The Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition team had been
living at a high altitude for six weeks, and were less than a week away from
their scheduled bid for the summit of Mount Everest. Exhausted, having
established camp five at just below 8,000m on the south side of the mountain,
Junko Tabei and her team descended to camp two at 6,300m to rest.
Then – avalanche!
In the early hours, tons of ice and snow engulfed the camp, burying several of
the teammates. Crushed by the snow and ice, Tabei was unable to move. It took
the strength of four Sherpas, the elite Nepali climbing guides assisting the
expedition, to pull her out. Suffering severe bruising, Tabei argued that she
did not need to be returned to base camp to recover, and would remain at camp
two.
“There was no way I was leaving the mountain,” she later recalled in her
memoir.
It had taken five years for this group – the first all-women team – to get to
Everest. The pressure on them to succeed was immense, given the limited number
of annual international permits to climb Mount Everest issued by the Nepalese
government. If they gave up, they might have to wait several years to make
another attempt.
Meanwhile, on the Tibetan side of the mountain, Tabei’s team had competition. A
200-strong Chinese team was also working to place a woman on the summit at the
same time."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
