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As the highest peak in the world, Everest stands at 8848.86 meters and is considered the ultimate challenge for countless mountaineers. However, the climate in the Everest region is harsh, with extreme cold and lack of oxygen, leading many to perish in the journey to conquer the summit and ultimately remain there forever.
According to statistics, from 1921 to 2021, a total of 305 people lost their lives while climbing Everest. Among them, one of the most famous victims is known as 'Green Boots.' For over 20 years, many mountaineers have seen 'Green Boots' on their way to conquer Everest, but no one has ever brought him down from the mountain.
'Green Boots' is not the real name of the victim, but he was given that name because when he died, he was wearing a red climbing suit, blue climbing pants, and green climbing boots, with his hands clasped in front of his chest and his legs curled up into an arc with white snow covering him.
The mountaineer appears as though he is asleep. He lies slanted to one side, sheltered under the shadow of a rock. He has pulled his hat up to cover his face, with his hands clasped in front of his chest as if to ward off the cold.
Regarding the true identity of 'Green Boots,' he has not been officially recognized by any country. However, for a long time, the outside world has often believed that 'Green Boots' is the 26-year-old mountaineer Tsewang Paljor from India.
Tsewang Paljor was born at the foot of the Himalayas and grew up to become a border police officer. In 1996, Tsewang Paljor used his savings to buy mountaineering gear, joined a professional mountaineering team, and began the challenge of conquering Everest's summit.
Initially, the mountaineering group followed a fixed route, and everything went smoothly. However, at an altitude of 7,000 meters above sea level, Tsewang Paljor became exhausted. Due to lack of systematic physical training, Tsewang Paljor's physical exhaustion was normal.
However, while his teammates moved faster and faster, Paljor's pace slowed down, and before long, he was lost from the group. Past experiences have shown that losing teammates on the journey to conquer Everest often leads to disastrous consequences.
Indeed, shortly after getting lost, Paljor was caught in a snowstorm. The snowstorm buried the path ahead, and the extreme cold temperatures left Paljor exhausted. He could only find a spot to stand under a cliff, firstly to avoid the snowstorm, and secondly, to rest and regain strength.
He tucked his feet up, hugged his chest, trying to maintain body heat as much as possible. However, he was too tired and wanted to rest for a while.
Surprisingly, after sinking into this sleep, Paljor never woke up again. Due to Everest being covered in snow all year round and the extremely low temperatures, Paljor's body remained remarkably well preserved.
For over 20 years, every summer, a large number of mountaineers pass through here. When they see 'Green Boots' here, they can only silently pray for him in their hearts, unable to do anything for him.
Can't they bring him down the mountain when they descend?
In reality, the harsh environment on Everest surpasses human imagination. At an altitude above 7,000 meters, the air is extremely thin, about 30% less than normal ground level. In the extreme cold environment, 'Green Boots' has truly turned into an ice block, and the weight may have exceeded when alive by a significant margin. In such harsh conditions, many people even find it difficult to breathe normally, let alone carry a body turned into ice heavily down the mountain.
From a practical perspective, if you want to bring 'Green Boots' down the mountain, you need to establish a professional mountaineering rescue team and bring along professional equipment to complete the mission. However, such an operation requires a very large sum of money, and who is willing to proactively spend this amount of money?
The permit to climb Everest costs $11,000 for foreigners and 75,000 Rupees for Nepalese. Mountaineers have to pay from $50,000 - $90,000 in expenses to climb Everest. An experienced mountain guide can earn up to $12,000 in a 45-day mountaineering season.
It is said that many years later, Paljor's brother learned that his younger brother had died on Everest, and he had also considered bringing his brother's body down the mountain. However, as soon as he realized that just the climbing costs alone were a huge sum of money, he had no choice but to abandon this idea, simply because ordinary families couldn't afford such high expenses.
Besides 'Green Boots,' there are two other famous bodies on Everest, one is the 'Sleeping Beauty' on the north slope, and the other is 'Rester' on the south slope.
The 'Sleeping Beauty' is an American mountaineer named Francys Distefano-Arsentiev. In 1998, she and her husband climbed Everest, but during the descent, she lost the ability to move due to exhaustion. Francys's husband decided to continue the journey alone to bring back supplies to rescue his wife. However, Francys couldn't wait for her husband to come to the rescue, as he unfortunately fell into a crevasse on the way back. Eventually, Francys peacefully slept there forever.
'Rester,' real name Sharp, was a passionate British mountaineer. In 2006, Sharp carried two 4-liter oxygen cylinders to climb Everest. Normally, mountaineers should carry five oxygen cylinders with the same specifications. When he was 300 meters from the summit, Sharp suffered from oxygen deficiency and difficulty breathing. At that time, 40 people passed by him but none offered a helping hand. In this way, Sharp perished due to lack of oxygen.
