The Yeti is a large hairy bipedal creature, like a bigfoot, sometimes described
as white other times as brown haired and
seen mainly in high mountain ranges such as the Himalayas. The Himalayan
mountain range straddles the border between India, Nepal, and Tibet. The Range
includes the tallest land based mountain in the world, Mount Everest, which is
about 29,000 feet high. The high ranges are snow bound most of the year and few
people live there. The search to find the Yeti is not a modern
one, in the time of Alexander the Great, around 326 BC he set out to conquer
the Indus Valley and having heard the stories of the yeti asked to see one. Apparently,
the locals told him the creature could not survive in the lower atmosphere and
could not be brought down the mountain. Legend perhaps but reports continue.
In 1925 a
Greek photographer, N. A. Tombazi, was working as a member of a British
geological expedition in the Himalayas, when a creature was pointed out to him.
It was moving in the distance across some lower slopes. "Unquestionably,
the figure in outline was exactly like a human being, walking upright and
stopping occasionally to uproot or pull at some dwarf rhododendron
bushes," said Tombazi, "It showed up dark against the snow and, as
far as I could make out wore no clothes." The creature disappeared before
a photograph could be taken but as he went through his descent Tombazi found
footprints in the snow. "They were similar in shape to those of a man, but
only six to seven inches long by four inches wide at the broadest part of the
foot. The marks of five distinct toes and the instep were perfectly clear, but
the trace of the heel was indistinct." There were 15 prints which were 12
inches (30 cms) to two feet (60 cms) distance apart . Tombazi asked the locals
about the creature he'd seen and they said it was a demon.
In 1938
another encounter with a Yeti was reported. . Captain d'Auvergue, the curator
of the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, India, was travelling the Himalayas alone
when he became snow blind.( This is where the reflection of the snow causes
temporary blindness and is the reason people wear snow goggles these days to
cut down the glare) As he lay fearing death from exposure he was rescued. He
claimed he was found by a nine foot tall ( 3 metres) Yeti and that he/ she /it
nursed him back to health. Captain d'Auvergue was then able to descend the
mountain and return home.
In 1951
Two British mountaineers Eric Shipton and Michael Ward found and photographed
some tracks in the snow. They were on the south western slopes of the Menlung
Glacier, which lies between Tibet and Nepal, at an altitude of 20,000 feet. The
footprints were 13 inches( 32.5 cms) wide and 18 inches( 45 cms) long. Shipton
and Ward followed the prints for a about a mile before the trail disappeared on
hard ice. They have been accused of a hoax but it seems unlikely that anyone
would be walking about in those temperatures in their bare feet.
In 1953
Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, on their record ascent
to the top of Mount Everest, in 1953, saw giant foot prints on the way up.
Hillary however later said he did not believe in the Yeti. .
In 1970,
British mountaineer Don Whillans claimed to have witnessed a creature when
scaling Annapurna. Whillans was scouting for a campsite when he heard some odd
cries which his Sherpa guide said were a Yeti's call. That night, he saw a dark
shape moving near his camp. The next day, saw some large human-like footprints
in the snow, and later that same day viewed a bipedal, ape-like creature for 20
minutes through binoculars .
In 1972, footprints were found by Edward Cronin and Dr Howard Emery around
Everest base Camp. They followed these to a steep incline. They said a person
could not have climbed the slope. A mould of the footprint was taken for Jeffrey McNeely.1978 Lord Hunt, also known as John Hunt, who led the successful 1953 expedition to climb Mount Everest, took a photograph of what some thought could be Yeti tracks.
In 1984,
mountaineer David P. Sheppard of Hoboken, New Jersey, claims to have been
followed by a large, furry man over the course of several days while he was on
the southern side of Everest. No proof
has been found and a photograph proved inconclusive.
More recently :
Dec 12,
2007
(MountEverest.net)
In the
past weeks, world media have had another Yeti frenzy - with Reuters this time
breaking the news of supposed Yeti tracks found in Nepal. In a later report,
there was also news of a runaway elephant in the area. Late last week, Ang
Tshering shot over a report with his own take on current events, including the
Yeti and a stay with Everest climber Prague mayor Bem who just recently
released a book about his eventful climb.
On October 20th, 2008 seven Japanese adventurers
photographed prints possibly made by a
Yeti. The leader, Yoshiteru Takahashi claims to he saw a Yeti on a 2003
expedition, and wants to record a Yeti in action on camera.
The Yeti is also reported in Siberia and several expeditions
have attempted to find it.
So Yeti,
real or a local legend? Well the thing I find anomalous is who would be walking
about in their bare feet at those altitudes and in those low temperatures? The
Sherpas don’t normally go barefoot and wear a sort of sandal. The prints all seem
to be of a bare foot. It may be an ape or some description rather than a man
like creature but lets hope the future brings forth some more expeditions to
find the truth.
A site
with lots of info:http://www.abominablesnowman.co.uk/
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