Junko Tabei
24 x 32 inches - Mix-media on Canvas
We were told we should be raising children instead, but we were already doing that!
The year was 1975.
The Vietnam War had ended...
Jaws had just released...
and Margaret Thatcher had been voted as Britain’s new leader.
Meanwhile, a 35-year-old, five foot tall woman, with a 2-year old daughter at home, scaled over 29,000 feet to become the first woman to reach Mt. Everest’s summit, and eventually the highest peaks of all seven continents.
Tabei did this with a 15-strong-all-female team, only 12 days after she was pulled from an avalanche which left her unable to walk.
Their tents were damaged and members were badly injured, but the women refused to give up.
They sewed up their tents and kept going!
Embarrassingly, I hadn't ever heard of Junko Tabei, and growing up, her name was somehow not a part of school trivia.
But upon learning the story of her climb and perseverance, I know her’s should be a household name, as familiar as Sir Edmund Hillary’s.
May 16, 1975
Junko Tabei at the top of Mount Everest
