After 30 years... the identity of the owner of the "Green Shoe" on Everest was revealed, and efforts were made to recover his body

Bright green shoes shine amidst the white snow on Everest. In a video clip dating back to 1996, a smiling man appears wearing winter clothes, fixing metal spikes in his shoes, preparing to climb the highest mountain in the world. He did not know that those moments would be among the last things he recorded before he died in a severe snowstorm.

This climber remained anonymous to most people for three decades, although his frozen body became a famous landmark on the path to the summit of Everest. Climbers called him “Green Shoe” because of his shoes, which remained sticking out of the snow at an altitude of about 300 meters below the summit.

Today, after a secret operation carried out by a group of Sherpa guides, his identity was officially revealed. He is Dorji Morup, an Indian climber who died in 1996 at the age of 47, during a mission to climb Everest from the northern side via Tibet.

Morup was a member of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the specialized force responsible for protecting the mountainous border between India and China. In the spring of 1996, he joined an Indian expedition aspiring to achieve a historic achievement: reaching the summit of Everest via its more difficult northern route.

He was accompanied by climbers Tse Wang Baljor and Tse Wang Samanla, both from the mountainous region of Ladakh in northern India. Their colleagues described them as first-class climbers, with a close, family-like relationship with Morobe.

Rare recordings obtained by CNN show the expedition members laughing and eating inside the tents, and exchanging conversations about the dream of reaching the summit.

The mission leader, Harbhajan Singh, who is now 70 years old, remembers his three colleagues as strong, tireless men. He says they continued to make tea and help others even after long days of climbing.

He described Morobe as a quiet, hard-working man with exceptional artistic skills and physical fitness, who always volunteered for difficult tasks, such as fixing ropes.

The last hours before the disaster

After weeks of grueling climbing, a group of six climbers, led by Singh, reached an altitude of 8,300 metres, just over 500 meters from the summit.

On May 10, 1996, their mission was to secure the route to an area known as the “Second Grade,” an almost vertical rock wall about 40 meters high, one of the most difficult parts of the Northern Route.

But Singh noticed clouds forming over the mountain, despite the positive weather forecast. He considered this a warning of an approaching storm, so he decided to return and advised his colleagues not to continue.

However, Morobe, Balgor and Sammanla insisted on climbing.

Singh remembers seeing them for the last time drinking tea and fixing ropes, and he thought they would return safely.

At six in the evening, a wireless message arrived at the camp confirming that the three had succeeded in reaching the summit. Joy spread among the members of the mission, but it did not last long.

A violent storm struck Mount Everest, trapping a number of climbers on the Nepalese and Tibetan sides. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 8 people, and later became the subject of the book “In Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer.

From the Indian camp, the expedition members saw the light of two lamps moving in the darkness during the descent, before they suddenly disappeared.

Norwegian climber John Gangdal explains that winds at these altitudes may reach speeds of 150 to 200 kilometers per hour, while temperatures drop to between 60 and 80 degrees Celsius below zero.

In light of the lack of oxygen and extreme fatigue, trying to descend turns into a challenge that may be more dangerous than the ascent.

Baljur and Sammanla disappeared, and their bodies have not been found with certainty. As for Morobe, he was able to descend a certain distance before he died near a small limestone cave, where his green shoes remained visible to the climbers.

Over many years, thousands of climbers passed near Morup's body, and for them it became a marker that determined their location on the path to the summit.

But behind the nickname "Green Boots" there was a human life, and a family waiting for their son's return.

Dawa Stephen Sherpa, CEO of Asian Trekking, says that mountaineering professionals have known for a long time that the body belongs to Morobe, but proving this scientifically required a precise process.

So the company sent a small team of Sherpas on a secret mission to collect samples of the corpse's hair and nails.

The operation was risky, because the team members depended on oxygen cylinders and could not stay in that deadly area for long.

After carefully transporting the samples to prevent contamination, an Indian laboratory confirmed that the DNA matched Morobe's identity.

The Indian government is now seeking to recover Murup's body and give him a farewell worthy of his sacrifice.

But the task is very complex, as the body has been frozen for three decades, and it is difficult to move it without causing damage to it.

Dawa believes that a team of about eight Sherpa guides can carry out the operation using a special stretcher and protective materials that allow the body to be pulled over rocks and ice.

However, the mission also requires diplomatic approvals from China, given that the body is located on the Tibetan side of the mountain, amid ongoing border tensions between the two countries.

The Indian authorities expect to carry out the operation during the climbing season in April and May 2027, provided that the necessary approvals and preparations are completed.

However, the ethical question remains: Should the lives of other climbers be put at risk in order to recover the body of someone who died thirty years ago?

For Morobe's colleagues, repatriating him is not just an overdue rescue mission, but a restoration of his human dignity.

Dawa confirms that returning the body and burying it properly gives the family an opportunity to say goodbye and psychological peace, and restores to the man his identity, which was overshadowed by the nickname by which he was known for a long time.

Morobe was not just the "Green Boot" on Everest, but a human being and a climber who sacrificed his life in pursuit of a national dream.