The first woman to conquer Mount Everest, Junko Tabei of Japan has passed away. She was 77. <br/><br/>Quoting her family, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News said, Tabei died of peritoneal cancer on Thursday at a hospital in Saitama, north of Tokyo. <br/><br/>She conquered Mount Everest in 1975, the first by a woman. She went on to conquer soaring peaks in several continents – Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount McKinley in the United States and the Vinson Massif in Antarctica – heralding the era of women climbers.