India is seeking a specialized recovery team to retrieve the body of Indo-Tibetan Border Police Sergeant Dorje Morup from Mount Everest.
The body has remained frozen in snow and ice under a rock overhang at 8,500 meters since 1996. Climbers knew the remains for three decades as Green Boots due to the bright lime-green boots Morup wore.
Indian authorities now believe the famous body belongs to Morup rather than another climber. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police force is funding the operation itself to return his body home by September.
In 2014, a Chinese expedition secretly moved the body to a less visible location on the mountain after public reactions over its exposure. Indian search teams now plan to recover the body from that location.
1996 Everest Expedition
Morup was 48 years old in 1996 when he joined an Indian expedition attempting the first Indian ascent of Everest from the dangerous northern Chinese side. Before leaving, Morup promised his wife Kunzang Angskit that he would return as a hero and asked her to wait at the airport with their children.
A blizzard hit the mountain during the ascent, causing three of the six team members to turn back. Morup and two companions, Tsewang Smanla and Tsewang Paljor, pressed on to the 8,849-meter summit.
A Chinese government certificate confirms Morup reached the summit at 17:30 on May 10, 1996. Disaster struck during the descent, killing all three climbers. Two of the bodies were never recovered.
For years, people assumed the frozen body belonged to Paljor. Testimonies from expedition survivors, last radio contact locations, and equipment details later allowed an officer from the border force to confirm the body was Morup. The unnamed officer told the BBC that the force never forgot Morup and that recovery was only a matter of time.
Everest High Altitude Body Recovery
High-altitude body recovery is extremely dangerous and rarely attempted. The recovery site sits in the death zone, where temperatures drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius and oxygen levels fall to one-third of sea level.
Nepalese climber Tshering Jangbu Sherpa said weather and snow conditions will dictate the outcome. He noted the Chinese side has fewer crevasses than the Nepalese side, but lacks helicopter rescue systems if trouble occurs.
Local guides stated that 10 to 12 experienced climbers are required just to fix safety ropes to the site. Rescuers must carry the body down steep slopes to lower ground where a helicopter or yaks can transport it.
A body locked in frozen gear weighs multiple times more than a living human. Indian climber Kundal Joisher described the first kilometer of steep, rocky descent as the most dangerous portion of the mission.
Recovery operations cost between 40,000 and 80,000 dollars, making them unaffordable for most families. Most teams choose to move bodies out of view, as occurred with explorer Francys Arsentiev in 2007, but Indian officials want Morup brought home.
Family Preparation in Ladakh
In Ladakh, Angskit, now around 75 years old, recalled having a strange premonition the night before Morup left. She described sleeping with the hope that he might knock on the door. Although the family conducted a cremation ceremony at home after the storm, she wept because she never saw his body and could not accept his death.
Morup's family keeps his medals, adventure photos, and the official Chinese summit certificate at home. His son, Phuentsok Dorjay, told the BBC that the family will hold a funeral near Martyrs' Park in Leh if the recovery succeeds.
Dorjay said his father gave his life for his country and deserves to be remembered as a hero along with his fallen companions. The family plans to display the green boots at home beside the summit certificate as a symbol of return.
