Honouring High Places

An English-language collection of Junko Tabei's memoirs and reflections, tracing Everest, the Seven Summits and the life of the first woman to climb Mount Everest. Honouring High Places brings together personal stories and reflections that Junko Tabei considered important, inspiring and revealing about mountaineering culture. Previously available only in Japanese, these writings introduce English-language readers to the experiences, values and challenges that shaped one of the most important women in twentieth-century climbing. The collection opens on Mount Everest, where an all-women's expedition survives disaster and continues toward the summit. It then returns to Tabei's childhood as a physically frail girl in rural Japan, her growing passion for mountains, and the cultural expectations that made a serious climbing life unusually difficult for women of her generation. Tabei reflects on female climbers on Everest, the deaths of fellow mountaineers, expeditions including Mount Tomur, her cancer diagnosis, and her work with young people affected by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The result is a portrait of a climber who combined extraordinary achievement with family life, environmental concern and a persistent belief in the value of time spent in the mountains.

Helen Y. Rolfe is a professional writer and editor, and the author of Women Explorers: One Hundred Years of Courage and Audacity. She lives in Canmore, Alberta.