Junko Tabei was a Japanese mountaineer who founded the Joshi-Tohan Club, the first women's mountaineering club of its kind in Japan. In 1970, after tackling some of the highest peaks in the world, the club formed a team of 15 women who set their sights on Everest. It was a long process to obtain permits and raise the necessary funds. Junko worked hard to find sponsors but faced significant resistance from men who believed women should remain in the home. She supplemented her income by teaching piano lessons and had to create some of her own equipment for the expedition.

In 1975, they finally made the expedition happen. During the trip, an avalanche buried Junko and a few others. Though she could barely walk from her injuries, after resting for a few days, they all continued upward. The team had planned to send two women to the summit with the help of Sherpas, but it turned out that the Sherpas could only carry enough oxygen for one woman. They all decided that it would be Junko. After traversing an extremely hazardous ice ridge, she finally completed her ascent, making her the first woman to summit Everest.

Later in her climbing career, in 1992, she became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks on every continent.