In the summer of 1975, Junko Tabei, barely 1.47m tall and weighing little more than a full backpack, was part of an all-woman team to Everest. One night at Camp 2, an avalanche hit them and she was buried in the snow and suffocating till the sherpas pulled her out.

In an interview with Outside magazine, the remarkable Japanese climber revealed that the camp doctor asked them to return to Base Camp. A shaken Tabei, who was unable to walk for two days, refused. Twelve days later she became the first woman to summit Everest.