WEBVTT - 526 - Virginia Slim Minute 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.480 Hello, and welcome my favorite murder. 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:20.520 That's Georgia Hardstar. 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.560 That's Karen Kellgera. This is a solo episode, and you 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:24.480 know what that means. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.040 Makeup tips, makeup tips. 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:28.480 I don't know how it happened. 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.239 We're just like, let's start solo episodes with another one 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:33.040 of our passions. 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.000 Yeah, what's it called when you say you should try something? 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.960 Recommendation? Thank you? That's right, recommendations and like a beauty 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.400 stuff we talk. Yeah, it's like fun stuff. 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:44.560 Do you want to go first time? 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.640 Sure? I can never find the correct color of foundation. Sure, 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.640 because my base color is red with green. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.000 You're also like, you seem like you should be pale, 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:54.680 but your tan. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.360 Yes, right, I get people put pale makeup on me 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.080 all the time, and then I look like it's cool. Right, 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.280 there's a little brown under there and also a lot 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.600 of red that reads is brown. The redness is a 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:08.240 real problem. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:09.479 Sounds fun anyhow. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.640 There's a TikToker who I adore named Tyler Mars who 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.280 she she has rosetia, so she's always giving these recommendations 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.640 of like a tough down the red. It's just like 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:22.480 I just look up if I need to get something 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.800 So anyhow, there's a foundation that I found on TikTok 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.640 of course, of course, and it's the brand is R. E. M. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.400 And it is the best foundation I've worn to date. 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.440 Is it like is it red correction foundation or it's 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.000 just foundation that that just works that way. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.200 It's like a it's a foundation color that somehow addresses 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.480 all of the things that need to be covered without 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.680 making me look like either a vampire or like I 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.880 looked in high school with my one color of cover 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.160 Girl just clowny, clowny. 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.520 Have you smelled that recently? The like cover Girl powder? 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:57.520 Oh my god, it'll bring you back. 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.320 Like immediate bawling. And I just want to say, I 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.880 have bought every other foundation. So it's like people are like, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.120 you've got to try it, our money, blah blah blah. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.320 And it's like, sure, except for that, for some reason, 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:09.560 on me, it turns out orange. 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:11.200 It's so about what it works for you. I use 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.720 Charlotte Tillberry right now, but in three weeks it might 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.360 not work anymore for me and look terrible. 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.120 Yeah, So it's real high stakes and also let a 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.760 panic decision making. So like now we're on camera again. 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:23.760 Now we're on camera again, so I want to get 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.360 it right. Arim's getting me there. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.280 I think mine is also like a face one. It's 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:32.799 I got. We got our makeup done recently, and whenever 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:34.760 I get my makeup done, I end up with tons 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.640 of notes of what to buy because I don't fucking know, 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.280 and the makeup artist is great. So the thing that 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.680 I bought this time around, there's a drag queen named kim. 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.200 Chi Kimchi, yeah. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:47.880 Who was on The Fine who was a finalist on 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.880 Season A to RuPaul's drag Race. Kimchi has a makeup 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:55.920 line and kim Chi's puff puff pass setting powder. I 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.120 got in two collars, like one for under eye and 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.639 one for my skin. I am obsessed with. 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.480 It, okay, because you have been looking very like perfectly. 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.640 Blurred, like maybe you need to get your checked. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.760 I mean exactly, you can't see I've been puff puff 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.720 passing to myself right before the show starts. I'm going 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:16.560 to try that for sure. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.760 Yeah. It's called puff puff pass setting powder. And you 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.440 know it comes in such a like cute fun packaging 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:25.440 that you're like, this isn't gonna do anything, you know 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.840 what I mean, Like, yes, my brain if that's how 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:31.119 it works. But if the makeup artists hadn't like used 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:32.760 it on me, I wouldn't have tried it. And now 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.480 it's like I used two different types of powder, which 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:37.920 is like, so not me. I'm so lowing. 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.720 You're very advanced. I think this living in the cultural 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:46.320 world of drag queen dominance has benefited and like it's 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:51.240 raised all boats, because yeah, I care about makeup, but 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.200 do I have that kind of time to be like 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.880 bake it in with a triangle pad or whatever where 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.040 it's like, okay, but maybe you're a. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:03:59.560 Drag queen, like you have to do that. 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.080 You have to be like you know all the tricks, yes, 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.120 all the tricks, and it has to stay on for 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.000 like twelve hours through sweating all. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.840 The day things. Well as you and I always say, 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:09.840 we must listen to drag queens more. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:15.080 Please always listen to drag Let them pass uh puff puff? 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.200 No, I was gonna say, past legislation, that's the one. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.080 Let them pass legislation please. That's right. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.080 Well, what a perfect intro into my solo story for today. No, 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.680 but why actually terrible? Okay, but why not? Well only 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.120 in kind of in that it's about a woman, okay, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:41.040 who's a trailblazer who's doing it all for herself, much 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.640 like kim Chi and the rest of the Rubaul Dragway cast. Yeah, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:50.280 shout out Katya. You covered the deaths on Mount Everest 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.360 in our episode one seventy four. 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.279 One of my favorite stories to cover of all time. 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:55.159 Yeah, it was good. 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:55.960 Don't think about it. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.360 We titled that episode rough Winds and high Water. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:04:59.960 That's funny. 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.760 So we've talked about it before. When you think of 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.960 Mount Everest, and I know you think about it a lot, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.400 the first name that usually pops into your head or 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.239 anyone's head is Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man, along 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.760 with Hisshrpa Tenzing Norgate, who got to the top of 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:15.640 Mount Everest. 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.919 In nineteen fifty three. First ones to do it, first. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.960 Two to do it, Okay, and it was in fifty three. Today, 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.600 I'm going to tell you about the boundary breaking, trailblazing 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.480 first woman to climb Mount Everest. This year marks the 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.640 fiftieth anniversary of her achievements. But like many of the 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.960 great historic women that we talk about on this show, 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.560 you've probably never heard her name. Writer Jenny Hall reported 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.680 on her for CNN writing quote, her bravery helped her 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:44.560 lead record setting all women expeditions and overcome the mountain 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.159 of sexism in this male dominated space. Yet very few organizations, 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.800 even in Japan, have thought to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.760 of the first ascent of Everest by a woman. Well, 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:58.840 then fine, I'll do it. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.360 It falls on Karen again. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.880 Once again, I'll do it. I'll celebrate women on Everest. Today, 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.000 I'm going to tell you about an athlete who refused 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.000 to take no for an answer, who defied strict cultural expectations, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.440 and who was so unstoppable even an avalanche couldn't keep 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.760 her down. Say this is the story of Japanese mountaineer 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:19.440 Junko to Baye. 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.560 Amazing it Like, yes, I want to hear that. It 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.320 never crossed my mind? Right? Perfect? 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.320 Okay. Sources from this story that Marin used are a 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:32.640 twenty seventeen Outside Magazine article by Brad Furnett entitled a 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.760 Final Interview with Junko to bay E and a nineteen 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.320 ninety six Sports Illustrated article by Robert Horn entitled No 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.440 Mountain Too High for Her. How Junko to Baye defied 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.160 Japanese views of women to become an expert climber amazing. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:48.599 The rest of the sources are in our show notes. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.239 So we begin in September of nineteen thirty nine when Junko, 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.479 at the time her last name was Ishi Bashi, is 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.080 born in a small town in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture. A 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.920 prefecture is based a state, got it, But I love 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:02.880 the word prefecture. 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:04.200 The word is it? Yeah? 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.640 I do do oh sorry, while we're here just because 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.280 of that word. If you haven't watched Blue Eye Samurai 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.400 on Netflix, it's an anime series and it is like 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:19.240 an Oscar winning film. It is unbelievably made, great great. 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.160 Fukushima Prefecture is one of the country's largest prefectures. I 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.080 keep saying it stretch from the Pacific coast inward to 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.880 the mountains. We all have heard of it from the 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.760 devastating twenty eleven earthquake and then tsunami and then nuclear disaster. 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.280 Very horrible time. But this is a stunning part of Japan, 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.560 complete with ski resorts, hot springs, cherry blossoms, volcanic lakes, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.120 and beautiful places to hike. So it's no surprise that 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.200 even as a little girl, Junco is captivated by the 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.000 nature around her. When she's just ten years old, her 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:57.520 teacher takes her class on field trips to two nearby mountains, 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:02.560 both around six thousand feet in elevation, which aren't you huge, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.239 but they're not small either for kids especially, and Junko 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.320 isn't the type of kid anyone would say was adventurous. 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.400 She's very tiny. As a child, she endures multiple bouts 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.800 of pneumonia, and even as an adult she only ever 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.040 gets to four foot nine and about ninety pounds, So 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.720 she's a tiny lady. But Junko says that because of 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:29.120 her stature, she's quote stamped as a weak child. But 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.520 something clicks for her on these mountain field trips, and 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.440 her life is never the same after. She will later 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.199 remember quote, I was so surprised by the rocky, dry 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.679 hills and a stream of hot water that came from 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.120 a hot spring. I was shocked to feel a little 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:44.880 chilly while we were at the top of the mountain 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.400 because it was summer. I realized that there were so 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.800 many things in the world which I have never encountered, 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.080 and that it is fun to see and learn directly 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.679 through one's own experiences. I became determined to go wherever 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.640 I could go. Wow, So this is just a child 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.199 being like I love life. I'm into this. Although if 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.840 I saw a hot spring in a Japanese mountain, I 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:07.959 think I would lose it. 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.920 Yeah, for sure, so cool you can see in palm 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.760 springs and it's still amazing iron is. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:14.840 But of course being a little girl with an interest 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.360 in the outdoors comes with its challenges. It's post World 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:22.200 War two Japan, so many people are struggling financially. The 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.240 country as a whole is just trying to get his 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.560 bearings after a horrible war. And of course, with hiking, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.320 by the time you invest in a pair of good 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.960 boots and transportation to the trail, it could be considered 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.400 expensive by some people and frivolous to spend money to 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.880 basically just hike around a mountain in really tough economic times. 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.160 But more than that, Junko is a girl, and at 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.439 the time, Japan has very rigid social conventions for men 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:52.720 and women, and hiking, climbing, and adventuring is squarely something 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.240 men do. As Robert Horns reports for Sports Illustrated quote, 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.199 despite Japan's tradition of explorers and ventures, many of those 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.120 who dared to strike out on their own paths, especially women, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.280 risked the fate foreseen in the Japanese adage quote the 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.520 nail that sticks up will be hammered down. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:12.360 Yeah, Oh my god, what a time. 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.720 Yeah, And adventurers dreams were often not considered appropriate for 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:22.439 a young Japanese woman. So that's end quote. So after 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.720 those formative grade school field trips, Junko never looks back 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:31.040 because she doesn't care. She is not for some reason, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:32.680 and I would love to know it. Was it just 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.200 her personality did she have like a badass mom, But 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:40.000 like these incredibly strict kind of rules and expectations just 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.800 don't FaZe her. By the time she's in high school, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.680 she plans hiking trips whenever she can. It's almost a 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.040 meditative practice for her. She says, quote, it wasn't like 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.440 a competition. If you go slow, you can make it 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.080 to the top, or if you must, you can quit 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.680 in the middle. But Japan was very poor at the time. 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.600 I couldn't think about climbing mountains or any kind of leisure. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.840 We had to worry about what we would eat. So 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.920 Junko eventually enrolls in an all women's college in Tokyo, 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.160 where she studies English literature and plans on becoming a teacher. 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.720 Unlike her fondness for outdoor activities, this is considered a 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.480 respectable path for young women. All the while, Junko is 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.520 dreaming about climbing, though. She manages to find a like 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.480 minded female friend at school and they train together during 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:25.400 the week. On the weekends they head out to the mountains, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.160 and by the time Junko graduates in nineteen sixty two, 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.640 she's become an experienced mountaineer, so as any other climber 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.760 with her skill level would do. Junko goes right ahead 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.440 and joins several alpine clubs. The thing is, these are 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.320 understood to be for men at the time. Nothing like 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.760 an alpine club exists for female climbers, and the reaction 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.400 to Junko's membership is mixed. A few of the men 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.440 respect her skill and her sense of adventure, but others 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.200 outright refuse to climb with her, and many think that 0:11:55.280 --> 0:12:00.240 she's only hanging around to find a husband. Okay, did 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.880 you go Yeah, it's not gorgeous, no Japanese mountains. You 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:04.560 like hiking, but you. 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:05.720 Don't think women like hiking? 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.800 Okay, yeah, you like it just fine. Yeah, and that's fine, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.920 but Junko stays focused, and by her mid twenties, she 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.760 summoned every one of Japan's most prominent peaks. 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:16.199 Wow. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.839 This includes Mount Fuji, which is about twelve four hundred 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.959 feet above sea level. And she's funding these climbs by 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.960 working as an editor for an academic journal and giving 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.560 piano and English lessons. She does it all, I mean, 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:30.720 and she's tiny. 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:31.160 Yeah. 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.559 She spends most of her downtime either climbing or training 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.720 with the hopes of summoning larger and larger peaks. And 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.560 then in nineteen sixty five, Junko meets a man named 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.960 Masu Nobu Tabei. He's a seasoned Japanese mountaineer in his 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.880 own right. So she falls in love with another mountaineer. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.120 That's romantic. I gotta find someone who at least who 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:53.680 likes yourself supports your hobby. 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.160 Yeah. They fall in love and they're married the next 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.760 year when Junko is twenty seven years old. But her 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.760 parents don't approve of this marriage because Masunobu doesn't have 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.640 a college degree, but Junko marries him anyway. She doesn't 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:09.960 give a shit about anything. She's like, oh is that 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.080 your opinion about my life, I'll see you later. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:12.560 Enjoy it. 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.040 And the two have a daughter together, who they named Noriko, 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.200 and later they have a son named Shinya. So now 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.840 is she not only the rare female mountaineer in nineteen 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.520 sixties Japan, she's also a working mother. When she's in 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.599 her early thirties, Junko says that she quote began to 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.600 dream about going to the Himalayas with a team of 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:36.000 only women. Woo to make that happen, she does something 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.080 that's never been done before in Japan. In nineteen sixty nine, 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:44.440 she forms the country's very first women's climbing organization. Its name, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.679 translated into English, is sometimes reported as Ladies Climbing Club 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.520 and sometimes reported as Women's Mountaineering, depending on how people 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.640 feel about it. Yeah, and the group's slogan is quote, 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.400 let's go on an overseas expedition by. 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:05.640 Ourselves translation yes, let's let's. 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:09.959 Around fifteen women join Junko's group, each united by a 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.000 dream to climb the world's tallest mountains, but finding time 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:17.480 to train is not easy. Like Junco, these women have jobs, 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.960 or families or both, and Japan's standard vacation time is 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.200 just two weeks a year, which many people don't feel 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.720 empowered to fully take because of Japan's intense work culture. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.440 So you have it, but you kind of aren't supposed 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.200 to go on it. This is complicating in and of 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.560 itself because these expeditions require time off for training and 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.440 for travel, and on top of that, devoting time to 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.760 a masculine hobby like mountaineering is stigmatized. In the nineteen seventies, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.080 the women face judgment for not wanting to devote their 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.080 entire beings to their husbands and their children, to which 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.680 Junko has said, quote, I am a housewife. I just 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:57.040 climb mountains because I love it, and if people want 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.600 to call me that crazy mountain woman, that's okay, cool 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.080 love her. Eventually, Junko and her group plan an expedition 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.600 to Anna Perna three in Nepal, which is nearly twenty 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.360 five thousand feet in elevation. This is Junko's first time 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.800 traveling outside of Japan, and she leads the climb. The 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.440 group travels up a new route to Anna Perna three's summit, 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.360 and they successfully reach the top on May nineteenth, nineteen seventy. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.680 Karen Kilgerrett is eight days old. It's her first week 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.640 in the world. She's loving it. She's loving this energy. 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.800 So they, on May nineteenth, nineteen seventy, become the first 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.320 women ever to climb Anna Purna three. 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:38.360 Wow. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.760 And now their slogan is, let's be the first woman 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:42.680 to climb Anna Purna three by ourselves. 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:44.720 That's not true. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.280 It's there on the summit of Anna Purna three that 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:52.040 Junko experiences another sort of spiritual awakening. Robert Horne reports 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:56.120 and Sports Illustrated quote, the ascent profoundly changed her. There 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.160 would be no more slaving in the late hours to 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.560 prove that she was her company's most loyal worker, no 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.920 more fears about speaking her mind, no more concerns about 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.440 what people said behind her back. 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:07.200 Wow. 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.640 It's also in this moment that Junco really starts to 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.000 consider climbing Mount Everest. Because she did that, Yeah, you 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:15.040 might as well do this. Fine. 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:15.680 Yeah. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.960 She brings the idea to her climbing club and they 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.960 begin to mobilize with that goal in mind. But Junko says, quote, 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.520 most of the men in the alpine community were against 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.240 our plan, saying that it would be impossible to go 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:32.040 to Everest on a woman's only expedition. Why they're just 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:32.680 so negative? 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.000 God, can we get a little positivity? How about or 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:36.880 just shut up? 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.160 Or you show it if you can't zip it. So 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.360 Junco and her crew set out to prove them wrong. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.160 They don't need us saying this, they're already doing it. 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.960 It already happened. But getting to Everest is not easy. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.480 Of course. The women first need permission from Nepal's government, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.320 so they apply in nineteen seventy one, but then they're 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.200 told that there's no space for their expedition and there 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.240 won't be until nineteen seventy five five, so that would 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:04.080 be upsetting. You have to wait four years to the 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.360 average person, But they're not discouraged. They just figure it. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.040 It will give them more time to train, and Junko 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.600 uses this long waiting period to help the group nail 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:17.040 down sponsorships. But of course finding financial support is tricky. 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.679 As Junko puts it, quote most companies reaction that was 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:25.960 for women, it's impossible to climb Mount Everest. No vision, Yeah, 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.479 why aren't you the company that goes? But if they 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.159 do it totally will all. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.320 Be And even if they don't, they'll still get fucking 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.879 yeah average like eyes on the prize. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.440 Yeah, we just have come. We truly have come a 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.840 long way baby in marketing. Yes, and then we both 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.200 smoke because now it's the Virginia Minute. 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:45.760 Yeah. 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.840 Plus, in the early seventies, Japan experiences a years long 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:55.080 oil related economic crisis, so there's just less sponsorship money 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.840 to go around. Fortunately, the group locks down two sponsorships, 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.199 one from a major Upanese newspaper and one from a 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.320 TV station, but the budget's relatively small. The mail groups 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.840 often raise hundreds of thousands of dollars when they do 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.080 their climbs, and they raise it in Japan and elsewhere. 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.879 Junko's group only manages to raise about seventy thousand dollars. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.480 So to pick up the slack, each member has to 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.160 come up with an additional approximately five thousand dollars each, 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.359 and it's one point five million yen that they have 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.400 to come up with, and it's worth do you want 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:28.560 to guess in today's money? 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:30.680 He said, they have to come up with five thousand 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:34.199 dollars in the seventies, which in today's money would be 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:36.280 twenty eight. 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:41.680 Thirty thousand, so close. So finally, nineteen seventy five rolls 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.919 around it's time for the women to head to Nepal. 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.240 Years later, Outside magazine reporter Brad Frenette will ask Junko 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.320 if she ever felt hesitation as the climb date approached. 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.199 She says, quote, no, I never thought of giving up 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:58.440 once we had worked so hard to obtain the climbing permit. Yeah, 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:03.479 she got the paperwork. No, she's not going anywhere. So 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.080 that spring the women set out. Junko is thirty five 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.080 at the time, and she serves as co leader for 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:13.280 the fifteen woman expedition. They're accompanied by six experienced Sherpa guides, 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.600 and together they embark on the most difficult, grueling climb 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:20.560 of their lives. Any ever's climb is punishing, and Junko's 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.840 is no exception. But by May third, nineteen seventy five, 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.760 her group has steadily made it more than twenty thousand 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.640 feet and they have about nine thousand feet to go now. 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.399 Around this point they encounter terrible weather, which is a 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.840 reality climber's face of course, as they go up Everest, 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.640 especially the closer they get to the top, So these 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:43.920 gals set up camp. They try to get some rest 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:49.040 before continuing on but it's not a lovely bucolic spot. 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.159 It's freezing cold. They're in tents that are being whipped 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.320 around by these terrible winds. Hours later, when they're sleeping, 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.040 not long after midnight on May fourth, Junko is awakened 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.680 by an extremely loud, low rumble, and she instantly knows 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.960 what it is. It's an avalanche barreling down the mountain. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:13.080 I saw a video recently of an avalanche, and I. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.280 Like, no, no, no, no, no no. 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:15.560 It's terrifying. 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.879 It's horrible. So before she can even react, Junko is 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.800 swept up by a wall of snow and ice. She 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.720 is tangled in her tent with the some other climbers. 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.320 So they are tumbling down the mountain, getting knocked all 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.600 over the place and against each other, and it's really 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.600 violent and chaotic, of course. And then once it ends, 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.359 they're buried in the snow, still in the tent. Yeah, 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.640 while wrapped up. When it all comes to stop, Junko 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.600 is an extreme pain. She worries she's going to die. 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.200 She then has a vision of her daughter Narko playing 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.400 outside their home back in Tokyo, and then she blacks out. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:53.160