Kei Taniguchi

Kei Taniguchi was a Japanese mountaineer born in Wakayama City on 14 July 1972 and raised in Chiba, who climbed new technical routes on mountains in Alaska, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan and China. She graduated from Meiji University in 1998, took part in the Everest Cleaning Squadron expeditions of 2002 and 2003 with Ken Noguchi, and made first climbs with her partner Kazuya Hiraide, including Golden Peak and Laila Peak in Pakistan in 2004. In 2009 she became the first woman to win the Piolet d'Or, sharing it with Hiraide for the first ascent of the southeast face of Kamet in India. Known for her alpine style without Sherpa support, and an author and conservation guide, she died in December 2015 after a fall on Mount Kurodake in Hokkaido.