[1] While working in a factory, Phanthog was chosen to be part of the Chinese female mountaineering team at the age of 20 because of her excellent physical condition.

Her 1959 ascent of Muztagh Ata in Xinjiang, with an elevation of 7,509 meters (24,636 ft), broke the record for the highest altitude reached by a female mountaineer.

[1] After summiting Everest in 1975, Phanthog served as a deputy in the National People's Congress for five terms and became vice director of the Wuxi Sports Administration in 1981.

Although two other women had climbed to 8,300 meters (27,200 ft), they began suffering from altitude sickness and had to be evacuated (along with seven men), leaving Phanthog as the only woman remaining in the team.

"[6] Phanthog was married to Deng Jiashan, the political commissar of the Chinese national mountaineering team and later a middle school headmaster in Wuxi.