Green Boots

Green Boots is the body of a formerly unidentified climber that became a landmark on the main Northeast ridge route of Mount Everest. There were several theories regarding the body's identity; the most popular claiming the body belonged to an Indian member of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition (ITBP) who died as part of the 1996 climbing disaster on the mountain wearing green Koflach mountaineering boots. All expeditions from the north side encountered the body curled in the limestone alcove cave at until it was moved in 2014. Prior to this, the body was widely believed to have been of fellow climber Tsewang Paljor.

The ITBP announced a plan to retrieve Morup's body by October 2026.

History The Three Steps on the north route is marked alongside the cave which is marked with a †2. The first recorded video footage of Green Boots was filmed by British filmmaker and climber Matt Dickinson in May 1996. The footage was included in the Brian Blessed documentary Summit Fever. The film's narration describes the unidentified climber as from India.

Over time, the corpse became known as a landmark on the north route. In 2006, British mountaineer David Sharp was found in a hypothermic state in Green Boots' Cave by climber Mark Inglis and his party. Inglis continued his ascent after radioing for advice on how to help Sharp, which he could not provide. Sharp died of extreme cold some hours later. Approximately three dozen other climbers would have passed by the dying man that day; it has been suggested that those who noticed him mistook Sharp for Green Boots and, therefore, paid little attention.

In 2014, Green Boots was moved to a less conspicuous location by members of a Chinese expedition—likely by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, which manages the north side of Everest.

Possible identities Dorje Morup A 1997 article titled "The Indian Ascent of Qomolungma by the North Ridge" published by P.M. Das in the Himalayan Journal, states that the body was that of Lance Naik Dorje Morup. Das wrote that two climbers had been spotted descending by the light of their head-torches at 19:30, although they were soon lost from sight. The next day the leader of the second summit group of the expedition radioed base camp that they had encountered Morup moving slowly between the First and Second Steps. Das wrote that Morup "had refused to put on gloves over his frost-bitten hands" and "was finding difficulty in unclipping his safety carabiner at anchor points." Green Boots was commonly believed to be Indian ITBP climber Tsewang Paljor, who was wearing green Koflach boots on the day he and two others in his party attempted to summit. The ITBP was led by Commandant Mohinder Singh and was the first Indian ascent of Everest from the east side.

On 10 May 1996, Subedar Tsewang Smanla, Lance Naik Dorje Morup, and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor were caught in a blizzard just short of the summit. While three of the six-member team turned back down, Smanla, Morup, and Paljor decided to go for the summit. At around 15:45 Nepal Time, the three climbers radioed to their expedition leader that they had arrived at the top. They left an offering of prayer flags, khatas, and pitons. Here, the leader, Smanla, decided to spend extra time on religious ceremonies and instructed the other two to move down.

There was no radio contact after that. Back at the camps below, team members saw two headlamps moving slightly above the Second Step, at . None of the three returned to high camp at .

Controversy later arose over whether a team of Japanese climbers from Fukuoka had seen and potentially failed to assist the missing Indian climbers. The group had left their camp at at 06:15 Beijing time on 11 May, reaching the summit at 15:07. Along the way, they encountered others on the trail. Unaware of the missing Indians, they believed these others, all wearing goggles and oxygen masks under their hoods, were members of a climbing party from Taiwan. During their descent, which began at 15:30, they reported seeing an unidentifiable object above the Second Step. Below the First Step, they radioed in to report seeing one person on a fixed rope. Thereafter, one of the climbers, Shigekawa, exchanged greetings with an unidentifiable man standing nearby. At that time, they had only enough oxygen to return to C6.

At 16:00, the Fukuoka party discovered from an Indian in their group that three men were missing. The Japanese team denied that they had abandoned or refused to help the dying climbers on the way up, a claim that the Indian-Tibetan Border Police accepted. Captain Kohli, an official of the Indian Mountaineering Federation, who earlier had denounced the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had reported meeting the Indians on 10 May.

The Morup identification had historical support predating the 2026 announcement. In a 1997 account published in the Himalayan Journal, P. M. Das, deputy leader of the 1996 ITBP expedition, described encountering Morup during the descent from the summit area. Das reported that Morup was moving slowly and having difficulty handling his climbing equipment because of frostbite. A subsequent party encountered Morup's body under the shelter of a boulder near the expedition's descent route, close to Camp 6. The account provided an alternative to the longstanding attribution of Green Boots to Paljor.

The body became known as Green Boots because of the distinctive green mountaineering boots associated with it. For many years, it was regarded as a landmark on the northeastern approach to the summit, at an elevation of approximately 8,500 metres. The identity was widely attributed to Paljor, who was also reported to have been wearing green Koflach mountaineering boots when he disappeared during the 1996 expedition.

The 2026 identification was accompanied by plans to recover Morup's remains from the northern side of Everest. The ITBP sought specialist high-altitude climbers for the operation, which presents significant logistical difficulties because the body is located in the so-called death zone, where low atmospheric pressure, extreme cold, steep terrain and limited rescue options make work particularly hazardous. The recovery plan was reported as part of a wider effort to bring the remains of Indian climbers home after decades on the mountain.

The proposed recovery has renewed attention to the difficulties of removing bodies from the upper slopes of Everest. At extreme altitude, transporting a body can require a large team of experienced climbers and exposes rescuers to many of the same environmental hazards that caused deaths on the mountain. The Guardian reported that the recovery operation would require a highly skilled team and was subject to logistical and ethical considerations concerning the treatment of human remains on the mountain.

Reporting on the planned recovery has also drawn attention to Morup's family and the prospect of returning his remains after approximately three decades. The recovery effort therefore has significance beyond resolving the identity of Green Boots, as it could provide the family with the opportunity to conduct funeral rites with his remains.

Green Boots in perspective Green Boots is among the roughly 200 corpses remaining on Everest by the early 21st century. It is unknown when the term "Green Boots" entered Everest parlance. Over the years, it became a common term, as all the expeditions from the north side encountered the climber's body curled up in the limestone alcove cave. The cave is at and is littered with oxygen bottles. It is below the first step on the path.

Another fallen climber who earned a nickname, "Sleeping Beauty", is Francys Arsentiev, who died in 1998 during an unsuccessful descent from Everest after summiting. Her body remained where she fell and was visible until 2007 when it was ceremonially hidden from view. Yet another named corpse is that of Hannelore Schmatz, who, with a prominent position on the south route, earned the moniker "the German woman"; she summited in 1979 but died at altitude during her descent. She remained there for many years but was eventually blown further down the mountain.