The Body on Everest That Climbers Used as a Landmark for 30 Years Finally Has a Name

Records & People DNA testing in 2026 named ‘Green Boots’, the climber who marked Everest’s north route for 30 years. The 1996 storm behind him, and the plan to bring… By Dawa Sherpa · Aug 2, 2026 Read the full story

For thirty years, climbers on Everest's north side stepped past a pair of green mountaineering boots sticking out of a limestone alcove at 8,500m, just below the First Step, and kept walking. Everyone called him Green Boots. Almost nobody knew his name. In… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Who he was

Morup was one of three Indo-Tibetan Border Police climbers — alongside Subedar Tsewang Smanla and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor — who reached the summit from the north side at around 3:45pm on May 10, 1996, already dangerously late in the day. A blizzard… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Thirty years as a waypoint

British filmmaker Matt Dickinson filmed the body for his documentary Summit Fever the same year Morup died, and from then on, guides used the green Koflach boots as an unofficial altitude marker on the North Ridge route — climbers reported passing him roughly… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Why bringing him down needs Nepal

The recovery itself is where this story becomes ours as much as India's. ITBP's 2026 tender calls the mission a Phase II retrieval operation and specifies that the winning contractor must field at least six Sherpas experienced in technical work above 8,000m… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What this means for trekkers

What this means for anyone curious about Everest Roughly 200 bodies remain on Everest — recovery above 8,000m is so dangerous that most families choose to leave their climbers where they fell. Morup's case is now the exception: a name restored, and a mission… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

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