Kathmandu, May 16 -- Many events are planned this year for the 75th anniversary of the first ascent of Annapurna, and the 70th anniversary of the first successful expeditions on Kangchenjunga and Makalu.

But there is much less fanfare about Junko Tabei, the first ever woman to climb Mt Everest on 16 May 1975 as part of a female Japanese expedition.

I was a 14-year-old girl in a small town in western Japan 50 years back as news about Tabei's climb made global headlines and became a source of great national pride.

Junko Tabei NT LEADING WOMEN: Junko Tabei on the summit of Mt Everest on 16 May 1975 Japanese expeditions had been showing remarkable organisational and mountaineering skills, along with sheer determination, on Himalayan peaks ...