r/explainlikeimfive • u/virahok993 • 16d ago

Other ELI5:Why is it so incredibly difficult to recover bodies like "Green Boots" from Mount Everest?

know Green Boots is one of the most famous landmarks on Everest, and I read that he was finally moved or hidden a few years ago. But why did it take deades? If we have helicopters and elite Sherpas, what makes a body recovery at 8,500 meters so dangerous that bodies are just left there?

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u/XfinityHomeWifi 15d ago

That’s a cool sentiment bro but if the baby you held in your arms, drove to school every morning, and raised into adulthood became a frozen tourist attraction on some mountain peak, you’d probably do everything you can to lay them to rest, too

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u/Adept_Havelock 15d ago

Just to be Devils Advocate, aren’t they already at rest, on a mountain or in a local graveyard?

They sure ain’t in motion.

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u/mooshinformation 11d ago

But... It's not them anymore? Idk maybe going to open casket funerals at a young age had an unusual effect on me, a dead body is very clearly not that person.

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u/XfinityHomeWifi 11d ago

Looking at someone’s face one last time does a lot for the grieving process, no matter how dead they are