I can’t imagine having a hobby that involves passing by, and in some cases climbing over, the exposed remains of others who died doing that same activity.
A good friend of mine is a professional alpinist who focuses only climbing eight-thousanders with no supplementary oxygen. Through him I’ve met others and learned about this whole community. A number of people are as weird and eccentric as us here in computer-nerd circles; one is inclined to armchair-diagnose some as autistic and climbing as their fixation, so something like Green Boots or the death of peers won’t stop them. (I envy them that their fixation gives them the physique of a Greek god and stories that can impress any listener, so they often manage to be very socially successful in spite of their quirks.)
Yeah and also knowing if something happens your team will definitely leave you
FTA:
Known simply as 'Green Boots' because of his distinctive bright green mountaineering footwear still protruding from the snow and ice, the remains have now been identified as Indian climber Dorje Morup, 47.
For decades, many mountaineers believed the body belonged to fellow Indian climber Tsewang Paljor, 28. The DNA comparison has now ended that long-running mystery.
The identification was confirmed by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) ahead of a bid to recover the body from Everest's notorious 'death zone' at an altitude of more than 8,000 metres.
Greenboots is so iconic. Other people use him as a marker. Glad he got some attention. It’s always seemed a shame that it’s impossible to give him a proper burial.
Slightly off topic, but I first heard of Green Boots in the book The Climb. I picked it up completely randomly from a used book store six states away from home and wow what a find! It is a riveting story start to finish and I recommend it to everyone who is looking for a great read. My partner got her hyper fixation on high altitude mountaineering from it despite having no interest in ever actually climbing a mountain herself from reading it.
If you haven’t yet I highly recommend checking it out.
I've only read Into Thin Air, but that book makes Boukreev (author of The Climb) seem like an unreliable narrator. I have zero interest in high altitude mountaineering (I prefer lower altitude rock climbing) but I should probably check out The Climb to get both sides.
> Indian climber Dorje Morup, 47.
Greenboots has been laying there frozen in the snow since the 90s. It even became a landmark for other climbers. Im glad they managed to at least identify the poor soul. Who knows how much longer he’s going to rest there..
That's mentioned in the article
A lot of people come to HN for the comments. It’s often useful to gauge a story by public sentiment first.
That said, you’re ultimately correct that it’s in the article, but I appreciated it. :)
I think Mallory's body was left until 1999. He died in 1924.
Conrad Anker covered his body in scree. Subsequent expeditions have been unable to locate it. There's speculation that it was secretly removed from the mountain for political reasons.
Political? That sounds odd.
The location of Mallory's body was unknown until 1999. The location of this one has been known pretty much the whole time.
I think another climber spotted him in the 1930s, but didn't mention it, because he didn't want to have a media circus.
Is this an AI generated comment?
Interesting, I always thought it was the younger guy. Here's kudos to Dorje for flossing in those bright green boots at 47.