Mount Everest’s ‘Green Boots’ may finally come home as India seeks recovery team

For 30 years, the body known as ‘Green Boots’ has remained frozen near the summit of Mount Everest, its bright lime footwear serving as a grim landmark for climbers. India is now seeking a specialist high-altitude recovery team to retrieve the remains, believed to belong to Dorje Morup, an Indian climber who died in 1996.

Morup was a 48-year-old lance naik in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. He was part of a six-member expedition attempting the first Indian ascent of Everest from the Chinese side. Three members turned back due to a snowstorm, but Morup and two others reached the 8,849-metre summit. A blizzard killed all three during their descent. Two bodies were never found. The third, known as ‘Green Boots,’ has lain on the mountain for three decades. For years, it was assumed to be fellow climber Tsewang Paljor, but surviving members’ testimony and the location of the last radio contact have led authorities to believe it is Morup.

Recovery will be complex and dangerous. The body lies in the death zone, where temperatures can plunge to -40C and oxygen levels are about a third of those at sea level. The north side is steeper and lacks the helicopter evacuation support available on the Nepalese side. Climbers say it would take 10 to 12 summit-capable people just to fix ropes, and the body would then need to be carried down to an altitude where a helicopter or yaks could collect it. Frozen bodies encased in climbing gear often weigh much more than a typical man, and the terrain is extremely steep. One Indian climber emphasised that Sherpa lives should not be put at risk for a dead body.

The ITBP, which is funding the mission, wants the body returned by September. DNA testing would confirm the identity. Morup’s wife, now around 75, said she never stopped hoping he would come home. His son says the family would hold a funeral in Leh and keep the green boots as a symbol of his legacy.