EverestHistory.com:
Gongbu aka Konbu aka Gombu, aka Gonpa

Tibetan Konbu aka Gonbu (also known as Gonpa) is credited as being the 8th person to Summit Everest, and the first from the North (Tibet-Chinese) side. He was the first Tibetian to Summit Everest.

Gongbu was born in 1933 and became a child serf herding sheep at the foot of the Himalayas.  Gongbu's mountain climbing started in October 1958 when he was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) serving as a bodyguard for the 10th Panchen Erdeni in Xigaze.  One of Gongbu's deputy platoon leaders decided to join an expedition consisting of Chinese and Soviet mountaineers and asked Gongbu to join them.  After medical and physical tests, Gongbu and 20 of his peers went to Lhasa and changed their army uniforms for mountaineering garb.  This was Gongbu's first day as a new member of New China's mountaineering team.

The months to follow included intensive training and workouts at the foot of the Nyainqentanglhi Mountains.  In 1959, however, Lhasa was caught in an army rebellion and the training for climbing was halted as fighting the rebels began.  The Soviet climbers also had to pull out of the expedition for political reasons.

Despite the many problems--both man-made and natural--China decided to move forward with their plan to climb Mount Qomolangma to "show the world that the Chinese could do it."  The State earmarked funds for the expedition and plans were made to learn techniques necessary to conquer peaks over 8,000 meters.  Betwen 1958 and 1960, Chinese scientists studied weather, geology and geography of the Qomolangma area.  Gongbu was in charge of building roads and transporting materials.  When the assault group failed at a height of 8,300 meters, they were forced to retreat.  When a new team was formed, Gongbu became part of it. The rest is now history as the Chinese are credited by most today with the first summits on the North Side of Everest.

1960: Chinese and Tibetan team of 214 men and women, led by Shih Chan-chun, makes the first summit of Everest via the North Col and Northeast Ridge. Long doubted by Western mountaineers because of the lack of a summit photo and the claim of summiting at night, the photos and film the Chinese did release reveal that they at least climbed the Second Step, the key to the route (although Reinhold Messner claims he possesses documentation proving they didn't climb it, so far this evidence has not been produced). The final assault party of Wang Fu-chou, Liu Lien-man, Chu Ying-hua, and the Tibetan Konbu aka Gonbu (also known as Gonpa) assaulted the final 15 foot (5 meter) Second Step headwall using pitons and team tactics. After Liu Lien- man repeatedly falls off attempting to lead the pitch, Chu Yin-hua takes off his boots and socks, and using a shoulder stand climbs the last vertical pitch in bare feet! Exhausted by his effort, Liu Lien-man is forced to halt at 28,600 feet (8,700 meters), but the remaining three climbers make it to the summit where they purportedly leave a plaster bust of Chairman Mao by a rock outcrop.

And in 2001 he was interviewed by People's daily (Chinese News Agency) which spelled his name Gonpu (he was 68 at the time according to them.) The Chinese ascent which was "discussed" for several years is accepted today as the first ascent from the North side. The Chinese attributed their success to the Chinese political system emphasizing the fact that they prevailed on the route that the British failed at.

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