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Kathmandu (dpa) - Women Everest climbers are to meet in the Nepalese capital in October for a party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first climb of the world's highest peak by a woman, the English language daily Himalayan Times reported Saturday.
According to the newspaper, the gathering of women Everest summiteers is being organised jointly by Japan's Himalayan Adventure Trust and Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Junko Tabei, a Japanese housewife then aged 36, became the first woman to scale Mount Everest on May 16, 1975, 22 years after the peak was first climbed by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in May 1953.
According to the newspaper, Japan's Himalayan Adventure Trust is scheduled to hold a reception on October 31 for all women Everest climbers while Nepal Mountaineering Association will organise its programmes on November 1.
Japan has set up a Women on Mount Everest 30th Anniversary Secretariat. Tabei and the secretariat are sending e-mails across the world to let other women Everest climbers know about the event, the Himalayan Times said.
According to the newspaper, the reunion expected to be unique and spectacular. It is not expected to be a large one because even though over 2,000 people have climbed the peak since Tenzing and Hillary's 1953 feat, only about 100 of them are women.
Despite six deaths on the Everest slopes this year, 2005 proved to be one of the best years for women climbers with several of them reaching the peak, including two Iranian women, who became the first Muslim women to reach the top of the world, the Himalayan Times said.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
