1996 Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition to Mount Everest

Expedition to Mount Everest in which 3 people died August 2019 thumb| Photo of the body of Dorje Morup, commonly nicknamed Green Boots The 1996 Indo-Tibetan Border Police Expedition to Mount Everest in May 1996 was a climbing expedition mounted by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The first party of the season on the Northeast face, it fixed climbing ropes and broke trail for subsequent parties. Three members of the ITBP expedition continued on to the summit; none returned, adding three deaths to five among two commercial parties spread over the Southeast and Northeast routes up the mountain that became known as the 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster. The expedition was led by Commandant Mohinder Singh and is credited by some as being the first Indian ascent of Everest from the North Side.Everest: The First Indian Ascent from North Singh, Mohinder Delhi Indian Pub. 2003 xvi 978-81-7341-276-9 The expedition On 10 May 1996, Subedar Tsewang Samanla, Lance Naik Dorje Morup, and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor were part of a six-man summit attempt from the North Side. The summit team did not have any sherpas to guide them. They were the first team of the season to go up the North Face. It would be their responsibility to fix the ropes during ascent and break the trail to the top. The team was caught in the blizzard above Camp IV. While three of the six members turned down, Samanla, Paljor, and Morup decided to go for the summit.Krakauer Jon Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster 1997 1997 Doubleday 978-0-385-49208-9 239 registration https://archive.org/details/intothinairperso00krak/page/239 Samanla was an accomplished mountaineer who had summited Everest in 1984 and Kanchenjunga in 1991.http://itbpolice.nic.in/mtn.htm mountains call by ITBP 2015-10-06 https://web.archive.org/web/20060507141903/http://itbpolice.nic.in/mtn.htm#Adventure 2006-05-07 dead The first group was Paljor, Samanla, Morup, Jodh Singh, and Harbhajan Singh. Frostbitten, Jodh Singh and Harbhajan Singh returned to their base camp, and Samanla, Morup, and Paljor remained. At around 18:00 (15:45 Nepal Time), the three climbers radioed to their expedition leader that they had arrived at the summit.https://books.google.com/books?id=FattUWiYu80C&q=tsewang+samanla&pg=PA23 American Alpine Journal The Mountaineers Books 9781933056449 5 December 2010 28 August 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230828062707/https://books.google.com/books?id=FattUWiYu80C&q=tsewang+samanla&pg=PA23 live While the Indian camp was jubilant in their celebrations, some of the other mountaineers at Base Camp had already expressed their reservations about the timing, which was quite late in the day to be on the summit. There is also a dispute whether the three had actually reached the summit. Jon Krakauer claims that the climbers were at 8,700 m (28,550 ft), roughly 150 m (500 ft) short of the topmost point.This is based on the interview given by a later Japanese team to Richard Cowpens of the London Financial ExpressFebruary 2024 Due to bad visibility and thick clouds which obscured the summit, the climbers believed they had reached the top. This also explains why the climbers did not run into the teams that summited from the South Side.September 2015 The three climbers left an offering of prayer flags, khatas, and pitons. Samanla, the summit team leader, decided to spend extra time for religious ceremonies and instructed the other two climbers to begin their descent. There was no radio contact after that. Back at the camps below, anxious team members saw two headlamps moving just above the second step (8,570 m/28,120 ft). None of the three managed to come back to high camp at 8,320 m (27,300 ft).September 2015 Possible sightings by Japanese climbers On 11 May 1996, on the morning after Samanla, Paljor, and Morup had made their push for the summit and encountered the blizzard, a Japanese team from the Fukuoka expedition started its final ascent from the north side. The Fukuoka climbers would report seeing other climbers during their summit push—not unexpected given the number of climbers camped or climbing on the final 550 m on 3 of the mountain that day. (All Times Beijing Time) 06:15 Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa (Fukuoka first attack party) departed Camp 6 (8,300 m/27,230 ft). Three Sherpas had left in advance. 08:45 Radio call to Base Camp to report nearing the ridge. Just below the ridge they met two climbers coming down a fixed rope. On the ridge another climber appeared before the first snowfield. They could not be identified, because all were wearing goggles and oxygen masks under hoods. The Fukuoka party, having no knowledge of the missing Indians, thought they were Taiwanese party members. In Krakauer's account, the lone climber (either Paljor or MorupP. M. Das The Indian Ascent of Qomolungma by the North Ridge 1997 Himalayan Journal https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/53/7/the-indian-ascent-of-qomolungma-by-the-north-ridge/ 53 6 October 2015 1 December 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181201005018/https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/53/7/the-indian-ascent-of-qomolungma-by-the-north-ridge/ live ) was still moaning and frostbitten from exposure over the night. The Japanese climbers ignored him and set out for the summit. After ascending the second step, they ran into the other two climbers, probably Samanla with either Paljor or Morup "[one] apparently close to death, the other crouching in the snow," Krakauer writes, "no words were passed, no water, food or oxygen exchanged hands. The Japanese moved on ..." 11:39 Radio call to Base Camp to report passing the Second Step (8,600 m/28,220 ft). They then saw two climbers at a distance of about 15 m from the ridge. Again, identification was impossible. 15:07 Hanada, Shigekawa, and three Sherpas reached the summit. 15:30 Start descent. After passing the triangle snowfield they saw some unidentifiable object above the Second Step. Below the First Step, they saw one person on the fixed rope. Shigekawa therefore stopped and radioed Base Camp. As he started moving again he met someone, who had possibly been on the fixed rope, standing nearby. They exchanged greetings, but Shigekawa was still unable to identify him. The Japanese climbers' oxygen was just enough to return to Camp 6. 16:00 (approx) An Indian party member told the Fukuoka ABC that three men were missing. The Fukuoka party attempted to dispatch three Sherpas from Camp 6 to rescue the Indians, but disappearing daylight prevented their departure. Their request to Indian party members at Camp 6 to join a rescue was refused. Also, their offer of a radio so that the Indian party could talk to their leader in ABC was declined. Initially, the apparent indifference of the Japanese climbers was dumbfounding, as the Indian expedition leader said later, "The Japanese had initially pledged to help the search for the missing Indians. But hours later, they pressed on with their attempt to reach the summit, despite bad weather." India probes Everest deaths, questions Japanese team Reuters http://outside.away.com/peaks/japan.html 19 August 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201024/http://outside.away.com/peaks/japan.html 27 September 2007 The Japanese team reached the summit at 11:45 (Nepal Time). By the time the Japanese climbers descended, one of the two Indians was already dead, and the other near death. They could not find any trace of the third climber further down. The Japanese team denied that they had ever encountered the dying climbers on the way up.Hiroo Saso Misunderstandings Beyond the North Ridge January 2002 International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation http://www.uiaa.ch/article.aspx?c=226&a=120 19 August 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20050224103225/http://www.uiaa.ch/article.aspx?c=226&a=120 24 February 2005 Captain Kohli, an official of the Indian Mountaineering Federation, who earlier had denounced the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had reported meeting the Indians on 10 May. "The ITBP accepted the Fukuoka party statements that they neither abandoned nor refused to help the Indians." The ITBP's director general "commented that a misunderstanding arose from communication difficulties between Indian attack party members and their Base Camp." Green Boots The body nicknamed Green Boots, which was long-believed to be the remains of Indian climber Tsewang Paljor, served as a marker for subsequent climbers alongside the limestone alcove where it had lain. In 2014, Green Boots was moved to a less conspicuous location by the Chinese.Alan Arnette What's Being Done About Trash (and Bodies) on Everest This Year https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-dead-bodies-trash-removal/ Outside Online 23 April 2019 28 August 2023 28 August 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230828062529/https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-dead-bodies-trash-removal/ live Nuwer, Rachel, "The tragic tale of Mt Everest's most famous dead body", BBC Future (8 October 2015). In 2026, Indo-Tibetan Border Police announced that DNA-based testing and survivor accounts identified Green Boots as Lance Naik Dorje Morup.Mohnot Tarang 2026-08-12 Who Was Green Boots? Inside the Life of Dorje Morup and His Everest Dream. https://www.climbing.com/news/green-boots-dorje-morup-everest/ 2026-09-04 Climbing en2026-08-08 Bringing 'Green Boots' home 30 years after climber died on Everest https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz05xn35xj7o 2026-09-04 www.bbc.com en-GB See also List of Mount Everest expeditions List of Indian summiters of Mount Everest List of Mount Everest summiteers by frequency List of Mount Everest records of India List of Mount Everest records List of people who died climbing Mount Everest References External links Mohinder Singh Sangha 5 April 2018 Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTR3Jq_wTAM&t=3s Category:Mount Everest expeditions Category:1996 disasters in Asia Category:Mountaineering disasters Category:Natural disasters in Nepal Category:Natural disasters in India Category:1996 in Nepal Category:1996 in India Category:1996 disasters in Nepal Category:1996 disasters in India Category:May 1996 in Asia