The history of climbing Mount Everest is the epitome of the human spirit of adventure and exploration. As the nation today celebrates 60 years since her first ascent, in the history of China climbing Mount Everest, one individual stands out in our memories; Gongbu.
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, with an average temperature at the summit around -29 degrees Celcius, and wind speeds of even 90 metres per second. Hundreds have died attempting the ascent but, because of the height and the extreme weather, some have gone unburied; with time’s passing, they gradually became “road signs”. While today marks the anniversary, there remain many brave mountaineers who still want to conquer the roof of the world.
Gongbu and his team were also the first in human history to successfully climb the mountain from the north side. Born in a poor family in Tibet in 1933, Gongbu joined People’s Liberation Army in 1956, and a mountaineering team with both Chinese and Soviet mountaineers in 1958.
After only 2 years’ training, in May 1960, Gongbu and more than 30 of his Chinese teammates were arranged to clim Mount Everest from the north side. This ascent of the mountain is still considered very difficult today. Back then, without modern technology, it was thought nigh-on impossible.
When the climbers arrived the foot of the second stage, there were left only four teammates. This dead zone is the most challenging part of the climb. The team was stuck; hard for them to move forward, but also hard to retreat. At last they decided to risk their lives to press on; they would rather die on Mount Everest rather than return having failed.
Facing the second stage, teammate Liu Lianman turned himself into a ladder that used his shoulder to push Gongbu and other two teammates up. The move was to exhuast Liu completely, and he had to give up the climb. Finally, at 4:20 a.m on 25 May, 1960, Gongbu and his two teammates, Wang Fuzhou and Qu Yinhua, stood successfully atop Mount Everest.
During the climb, two teammates had been sacrificed, 20 had got frostbite, and one finger on Gongbu’s right hand was also frost bitten.
Upon their return, Gongbu personally met with Chairman Mao Zedong, reported CCTV in a 2009 Gongbu exclusive that has been redated yesterday, 24 May, 2020.
While successfully ascending the north side was considered a miracle of the time, Gongbu didn’t stop there. He began to work on establishing a discovery team to climb all 14 peaks of the world over 8,000 metres high. This team achieved the aim in 2003. Gonpo proudly said, “This is a feat of humanity, a miracle in the history of the world mountaineering, and no other country in the world has done such a collective climb”.
This anniversary is particularly special as 2020 is also the year that China will again measure the true height of Everest. The last two measurements were taken in 1975 and 2005, with recorded heights of 8,848.13 and 8,844.43 metres, respectively. In order for their readings to be internationally accepted, Nepal must concur with China as the border between Tibet and Nepal traverses the summit of Everest.
Now Gongbu is 87, he is unlikely to climb mountains again, but he still insists to write books to record his love and passion for mountains, saying, “My happiness is given by mountains, and every mountain is in my heart”.
