Mount Everest, a climber known only as ‘Green Boots’, and the mission to solve a 30-year mystery

For decades, after his death in a cave high on Everest in a deadly blizzard in 1996, ‘Green Boots’ has been stitched into Everest lore. Composite: Guardian Design

Thirty years after he perished in a small limestone cave near the top of Mount Everest, the body of the climber known only as “Green Boots” may finally be heading home.

If successful, the mission into Everest’s notorious “death zone” will also lay to rest any doubts about the identity of Green Boots.