The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has initiated a formal process to recover the body of a climber known as “Green Boots” from Mount Everest’s death zone, marking a rare and complex high-altitude recovery mission nearly three decades after the climber’s death. The agency has floated a tender to hire a specialist organisation capable of conducting technical recovery operations at extreme altitudes above 8,000 metres, where oxygen levels are critically low and survival conditions are severe.

According to officials, the planned recovery operation is expected to be carried out between June and September this year, depending on weather conditions and logistical approvals. The mission would involve an elite team of Sherpas experienced in high-altitude rescue and recovery work. Their objective would be to retrieve the remains from the upper slopes of Everest and carefully transport them down the mountain before completing repatriation procedures through Nepal.

The tender document reportedly outlines several complex requirements, including permissions from Chinese authorities in Tibet, coordination across the Tibet–Nepal border, and compliance with legal formalities for repatriation. It also specifies the need for specialised preservation techniques to ensure the respectful handling of remains that have been exposed to extreme sub-zero conditions for decades in what is known as Everest’s “death zone” above 8,000 metres.

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The climber known as “Green Boots” has remained one of the most recognisable and haunting landmarks on Everest for nearly 30 years, identified by the lime-green footwear visible along a frequently used climbing route. While the identity of the climber has never been conclusively confirmed, it is widely believed to be one of six Indian climbers from a 1996 expedition that ended in tragedy during an attempt to summit via the north ridge route.

Among the names associated with the remains are Lance Naik Dorje Morup and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor, though differing accounts continue to fuel debate within mountaineering circles. Reports from the 1996 expedition suggest that several climbers reached close to the summit before being forced to turn back under extreme conditions. None of them survived the descent, and the incident remains one of the most tragic episodes in Everest climbing history.

Experts estimate that around 200 bodies remain frozen across different sections of Mount Everest, many located in the death zone where recovery is extremely difficult. With changing climate conditions gradually altering the mountain’s ice and snow cover, some remains are becoming more visible over time. The planned ITBP mission underscores both the technical challenges and the emotional sensitivity involved in retrieving climbers who have long become part of Everest’s frozen landscape.

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