30 years later: Mystery identity of Mount Everest climber ‘Green Boots’ is finally solved
The mystery of ‘Green Boots,’ an unidentified hiker who died while climbing Mount Everest, has been solved.
While 600-1,000 people attempt to summit the highest peak in the world annually, unfortunately, some don’t survive the climb — with an average of five to seven people passing away while climbing Everest every year.
Given that Everest is, quite literally, the top of the world, anyone who dies there is left behind — with some bodies actually becoming macabre ‘landmarks’ to show how high up you’ve gotten.
The mystery of ‘Green Boots,’ an unidentified hiker who died while climbing Mount Everest, has been solved. Pic: Maxwelljo40 via Wikipedia
One of the most infamous ‘landmarks’ is ‘Green Boots,’ a climber who died in 1996 while attempting to summit the mountain. The body has since been frozen in the ice, and the climber got the nickname because of the luminous green boots they were wearing.
Now, the identity of the late climber has finally been confirmed as that of Dorje Morup, a 47-year-old Indian man.
While many mountaineers believed that ‘Green Boots’ belonged to Tsewang Paljor, 28, it has since been confirmed to be that of fellow Indian Dorje Morup.
Mount Everest. Pic: Getty Images
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) confirmed that Green Boots was, in fact, Mr Morup, as a push has been made to recover his remains from the mountain’s notorious ‘death zone.’
Mr Morup was part of a six-member ITBP expedition that attempted to climb Everest via the northern face on May 10, 1996.
A sudden blizzard near the summit meant that three people turned around, although Mr Morup decided to continue to the summit. The trio all died while summiting the mountain, with Green Boots’ body left 26,246ft above sea level.
Pic: Getty Images
The trio, who continued, radioed their team to say they had summited the mountain, although poor conditions meant they were never able to confirm they had reached the summit. The trio may have been as far as 400ft below the summit.
They were last seen alive just above the Second Step, at an altitude of around 28,000ft above sea level, when two headlamps were spotted.
A new high-altitude rescue mission is set to take place later this summer, to hopefully recover the remains of Mr Morup.
