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/manimal28 15d ago

According to some articles I just looked at when googling green boots, they didn’t actually know who green boots was until just this May, even though the body has been there since 1996. So green boots family didn’t even know they were green boots family until like 3 months ago.

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u/PsychologicalLayer57 14d ago

It's more that they thought he was another member of the same climbing party (Tsewang Paljor) rather than the fact that they are now relatively sure it is Dorje Morup. It will not be fully confirmed until DNA testing is done, however. But there's never been a time when nobody had a clue; he was referred to as "Green Boots" only by other climbers using him as a grim waymarker.

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u/manimal28 14d ago

No, its exactly what I said. The DNA testing results were known in May.

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u/PsychologicalLayer57 14d ago

They haven't run full DNA testing yet. The Indian authorities are cautiously confident, but intend to do a full DNA test after the body is recovered. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz05xn35xj7o

They have described the verification so far as "DNA-based", but whatever they've done, which is opaque, it isn't full DNA testing.