Joined China's Mountaineering Team at 19
Set a record that very year
In early 1959, China’s Mountaineering Team came to Lhasa to select female climbers. At the time, Panduo, who worked as a vegetable farmer, signed up. After more than a month of acclimatization training, she successfully passed the team’s three selection tests and became an official member of China’s Mountaineering Team.
That same year, Panduo achieved a miracle: together with her teammates, she conquered Muztagh Ata, which stands at an altitude of 7,546 meters, surpassing the world women’s mountaineering altitude record set by French athlete Claude Kogan on Mount Ganesh. This feat established the highest record in women’s mountaineering since the sport began in 1934.
Her early success did not make Panduo arrogant in the least. Two years later, she scaled the 7,595-meter-high Kongur Tagh, setting yet another new world record for women’s mountaineering.
Already a mother of three
Yet she still conquered Everest
In 1975, China’s Mountaineering Team formed the “China Men’s and Women’s Everest Expedition Team,” with Panduo serving as deputy team leader.
At 37, Panduo was a mother of three and was still breastfeeding her six-month-old daughter. Being relatively older and in poor health, she only managed to get through the training phase with extraordinary willpower and determination. On May 27, 1975, Panduo led her team to conquer Everest, becoming the first woman in the world to reach the summit from the north side.
After retiring from mountaineering, Panduo did not give up on sports. From 1981 onward, she served as Deputy Director of the Wuxi Sports Commission in Jiangsu Province and Vice-Chairman of the All-China Sports Federation. As a distinguished contributor to China’s sports endeavors, Panduo also had the honor of being one of the flag bearers for the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The other female flag bearers alongside her were Zheng Fengrong, Li Lingwei, and Yang Yang.