Briton seeks to clear dead Indian heroes’ Everest record

KATHMANDU - Almost 15 years after they died trying to create an Indian record on Mt Everest, a British mountaineer is seeking to help the three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) heroes who remain unsung and even bereft of a last resting place.

Ian Woodall, a British climber who survived the darkest tragedy on Mt Everest in 1996 when a freak blizzard killed eight people on a single day, is returning to the world’s highest peak next summer to ascertain if ITBP climbers Tsewang Paljor, Dorje Morup and Tsewang Samla actually reached the 8848m summit on that fateful day of May 10 or were misled by the growing fog.

The three men could be the first Indians to have summited Mt Everest following the Northeast Ridge, the legendary route taken by British climber George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine in 1924 when they too vanished near the peak.

Whether Mallory and Irvine had summited the peak, well ahead of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, remains one of the biggest controversies in mountaineering history. The three Indians’ climb too remains shrouded in mystery.

The trio had radioed their team leader, Commander Mohinder Singh, that they had reached the top. Singh in turn conveyed the glad tidings to then Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, causing rejoicing in India.

Within hours, the triumph turned to tragedy as a snow storm and torrential winds engulfed the climbers, causing eight people to die of exposure.

To add to the tragedy, the Indians’ claim came into dispute.

American journalist Jon Krakaeur, whose account of the tragedy - “Into thin air” - is probably the most-read - claims they were misled by poor visibility and clouds into thinking they had reached the summit when they were still about 500m below.

Now Woodall, who was leading a South African expedition to Mt Everest in 1996, is returning to the peak to search for cameras and other personal objects that could help throw light on the issue.

The 54-year-old plans to reach 8,600m, where the body of one of the three fallen climbers lies. It is believed to be the body of Head Constable Tsewang Paljor, now known as “Green Boots” among climbers due to the fluorescent boots on his feet.

“Whether the three climbers reached the summit or not will… be determined by finding personal possessions on the body - obviously a camera would be ideal,” Woodall told IANS.

“…If they did reach the summit, then they should definitely be credited with having done so, not only for their own memory but also for the sake of the families they left behind who may find it easier knowing that before they passed away they did in fact accomplish their dream.”

This is the second time that Woodall is returning to Mt Everest not to summit but on a different mission.

In 2007, he climbed into “Death Zone” - the freezing altitude over 8,000m - to bury the body of American climber Francys Arsentiev whom he had met on the mountain in 1998 when she was dying, exhausted by her summit.

In 2011, besides ascertaining the summit claim, he also plans to bury “Green Boots”.

“Unfortunately, he is in plain sight of all the climbers who pass this way to and from the summit which is not very dignified for him or his family,” Woodall said. “When I returned to Everest in 2007 to bury (Arsentiev) it was my intention to try and move the Indian climber away from the sight of passing climbers at the same time.

“Due to some very heavy snowfall, however, we were unable to reach both climbers and had to settle on moving just the American climber as that was the original objective of our expedition.”

Since then, he says, it remained his goal to return to Mt Everest to try and make a positive identification of the Indian climber, establish whether they actually reached the summit before they died and finally to move him away from the sight of passing climbers.

Since Everest expeditions are prohibitively expensive, Woodall starts a speaking tour in the US next month to raise money.

“I have been saving since 2007 and have about half the required amount saved,” he told IANS. “In addition I will be undertaking a five month speaking tour of the USA between July and November this year with the sole aim of raising money for this expedition.”

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)