A soldier.
A mountaineer.
An Indo-Tibetan Border Police climber.
And now, an official Government of India eProcurement record linked to ITBP identifies the recovery subject as Late Dorje Morup “Green Boot”. The tender is for a Phase-II retrieval operation from the Mount Everest Tibet side during June–September 2026, under DG, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force.

This is not merely an Everest mystery. It is the story of a soldier whose identity was buried under a nickname — and the effort to return that identity with dignity.

He was not on Everest for adventure

Dorje Morup did not go to Mount Everest as a private tourist chasing a photograph. He was part of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a force whose relationship with the Himalayas is not casual.

The Himalayan Journal describes ITBP as a mountain force working close to the Greater Himalayan range, where rock climbing training was treated as essential and selected personnel received higher mountaineering training.

That background matters.

For ITBP personnel, mountains are not only scenery. They are training grounds, operational spaces and tests of endurance. A climber from such a force carries discipline, national pride and institutional responsibility into the snow.

Dorje Morup’s name also appears in an older ITBP mountaineering record. In 1973, he was listed among the summiters of Kakstet in the Pangong range, a 6,442-metre peak recorded as a first ascent.

So before the world ever called him Green Boots, Dorje Morup already had a mountaineering past. He was not a nameless figure on Everest. He was a trained Indian soldier-climber who had stood on difficult Himalayan ground long before the tragedy.

The 1996 Everest expedition

In 1996, an Indian ITBP expedition attempted Mount Everest from the North Ridge, the Tibet side. The Himalayan Journal records it as the Indian ITBP expedition to the North Ridge of Everest, where three climbers died after their ascent on 10 May 1996, while four others reached the summit later on 17 May 1996.

The first summit group included T. Smanla, Dorji Murup and Chewang Paljor, along with other members. On 10 May, the team was above Camp 6, moving through some of the most dangerous ground on Everest. The weather was closing in, the start had been late, and the men were climbing in the altitude zone where even trained bodies begin to fail.

Some members turned back near the First Step. But Smanla, Dorji and Paljor continued. They cleared the Second Step, moved toward the summit, and at around 1830 hrs Smanla radioed that the three had reached the top.

That moment should have been remembered as achievement.

But Everest does not end at the summit.

By 1900 hrs, a storm was raging over the summit section and radio contact was gone. At around 1930 hrs, two head-torches were seen moving in the darkness. Then the lights disappeared.

Three Indian climbers never returned safely to camp.

How a soldier became “Green Boots”?

After the tragedy, one body on Everest’s north-east ridge route became famous in the climbing world because of its visible green boots. Over time, climbers began using the body as a route marker. The Guardian reported that Green Boots became a landmark near a rocky alcove around 8,500 metres on the north-east ridge, used by climbers to judge progress and timing on the route.

That is the painful part.

A man who once had a name, a rank, comrades and a service record became a point of reference.

People no longer said, “We reached the Indian climber.”
They said, “We reached Green Boots.”

The mountain did not only take his life. It slowly took his identity from public memory.

Why the identity remained confused?

For years, Green Boots was widely believed to be Tsewang Paljor, another ITBP climber who died in the same 1996 disaster. But the latest ITBP-linked government tender identifies the recovery subject as Late Dorje Morup Green Boot.

This confusion was not difficult to understand.

Three Indian ITBP climbers were lost in the same storm. Their bodies were not recovered for a formal identification process at normal ground level. The location was in the death zone, where every movement is dangerous. The world identified one visible body by a feature — the green boots — and over the years, that nickname hardened into public belief.

The Guardian also reported that the new plan identifies Green Boots as Dorje Morup, not Paljor, while noting that both men died near the summit on the same day. It also said the document refers to a prior verification process, though public details are limited.

So the responsible line is clear:

For decades, Green Boots was widely believed to be Tsewang Paljor. The latest ITBP-linked government tender, however, identifies the remains as Late Dorje Morup “Green Boot.”

Until a separate official document publicly confirms DNA or another specific method, it is better not to claim DNA confirmation as a verified fact.

Why it took nearly 30 years?

The delay was not simply neglect. Everest’s death zone is one of the hardest places on earth to bring anyone back from.

Above 8,000 metres, oxygen is dangerously low. Weather changes quickly. A living climber can barely move. A frozen body in heavy climbing equipment can become almost impossible to shift without risking more lives.

The Guardian reported that about 200 bodies remain on Everest and that bringing bodies down is often too hard, too expensive or too dangerous, with helicopters unable to safely operate at such extreme altitudes.

That is why many climbers who die on Everest remain there. The mountain becomes their grave because recovery can create another tragedy.

In Dorje Morup’s case, the difficulty was even greater because the body is on the Tibet side of Everest. The recovery is not just a climbing operation. It involves high-altitude expertise, cross-border coordination, preservation of remains, legal formalities and safe transportation.