What Is the Yeti? A Himalayan Enigma
The Yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman, is said to be a mysterious ape-like creature that lives in the high mountains of the Himalayas. However, there are ample legends of this man-like beast roaming in the mountain, leaving behind large footprints and occasionally attacking humans and animals. But people are skeptical about this elusive creature existence. There are questions about whether these legends are even true or are they just myths and folklore?
Some believe that it's a myth that has been passed down through generations among the indigenous communities residing in these remote, rugged terrains. Most say that, much like many other mythical creatures like the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, the Yeti too was made out of a few unknown happenings. If you trace back to Tibetan folklore, they name this Yeti as 'Meh-Teh' Where Meh means MAN and Teh means BEAR-LIKE. So it literally means a creature that looks like a mix of a man-bear breed. You may be skeptical about this elusive creature but on the other hand, it is hard to find anyone in the Himalayan communities who wouldn't believe in the yeti.
In very simple, the Yeti has been described as an elusive creature with shaggy fur which can be brown, grey or white. They resemble very close to bear like but walk on two legs like humans. They are very tall, 8/10 feet, muscularly built, has sharp teeth, and at high altitude they are ten times faster and stronger than humans.
Origin of the Yeti:
The legend of the Yeti dates back centuries to the time the Himalayan Indigenous Communities came into being. It is said that there are no ancient written records of the Yeti or of any similar creatures that would resemble it. However, the records of Yeti sightings and statements started emerging in the 19th century when Western explorers started exploring the highlands of Nepal.
Let me tell you about the incident that occurred in 1974 in Tibet. A Czechoslovakian anthropologist named Emmanuel Vlček visited Tibet around the 1970s. During his visit we was welcomed as a special guest and was given a special tour around Tibet. Vlček was keen on visiting the ancient monasteries of Tibet, and as said, his wish was granted. He was permitted to visit a few of the ancient monasteries in Tibet. On his spiritual visit, he had a chance to visit one of the monastery's ancient library, where he came across a 300-year-old anatomical dictionary. Mr Vlček was super excited, and his curiosity had no bounds.
As Vlček was going through this dictionary, he found an image of this man-like creature. However, it didn't mention the name as YETI, but the caption in the image said ‘a man-like creature and its gull is eaten to cure mental disease’. This, in some way, demonstrates that there are indeed some creature that looks much like the Yeti that exists in the Himalayas. Who knows, maybe there are accounts on this creature hidden somewhere in the ancient monasteries or buried to be searched like a holy grail.
Footprints in the Snow:
The highly talked about pieces of evidence of the Yeti’s existence are its FOOTPRINTS. In Nepal, there are stories of the Yeti sightings and the finding of its footprints. This has certainly lured adventurers, folklorists, and anthropologists to Nepal for decades.
One of the earliest Western accounts came in 1832, when British trekker B.H. Hodgson’s team sighted something hairy, tall figure in northern Nepal, which later was dismissed as chimp. Once again, in 1899, at 17,000 feet in the valley of Sikkim in India, Mr. Laurence Waddell found huge footprints 4/5 times bigger than the size of a man, but again dismissed as bear tracks.
However, there was a big breakthrough in 1951 when famous British mountaineer Eric Shipton, on his quest to Mount Everest, photographed a footprint. This photograph, which was 13 inches long and 8 inches wide, certainly stunned the whole world. It is also said that Eric Shipton laid his ice axe beside it for scale, which sparked the quest for Yeti more than ever.
Before I give you further details on the Yeti Incident, let me give you the latest footprint news that occurred in Makalu Base Camp. Makalu is the 5th highest mountain in the world and this incident took place on the 9th of April, 2019. On this very day near Makalu Base Camp, the Indian Army’s mountaineering team discovered huge footprint tracks measuring 32 by 15 inches. Much like the Rolwaling region, Makalu-Barun National Park too is quite popular when it comes to the legends of Yeti.
This incident didn’t make the headlines but one Indian Soldier, Lance Naik Prem Singh, shared a story when he noticed a flicker of movement on a nearby ridge. He grabbed his binoculars and managed to vaguely see a huge figure in brown fur moving swiftly on two legs despite the steep incline. Prem called out to his teammates, but it was too late, by which time the thing had vanished into thin air. It was later that day that they discovered the huge footprints.
The Indian Army Mountaineer tweeted photos of these huge tracks and claimed that they match the earlier Yeti theories. However, all these incidents didn’t do much commotion unless the real evidence would establish but it did keep the Yeti debate alive.
This is yet another incident that took place in the Everest region, in the valley of Khumbu at the serene valley of Thame. A team of explorers set out on an expedition to survey the untouched terrains around Thame. Among them was Dr. Maya Sharma, a passionate researcher.
As the team ascended higher into the untouched valley they stumbled upon the team stumbled upon an enormous footprints tracks. Dr. Sharma studied the huge footprints with excitement since it was much larger than any known animal. Her team measured and photographed them carefully, and the news spread like wildfire. Nonetheless, much like any other, even this incident didn’t prove the existence of the Yeti, but it did inspire more exploration for the YETI QUEST.
More stories and Legends of the Yeti to support its existence:
The 1951 Everest Reconnaissance
We have already talked about the discovery of enormous footprints by Eric Shipton during the 1951 British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. However, there is more to this incident.
It was during this Early British Everest Expedition when they were camping at 19,000 feet, a porter named Dorje awoke to a shrill scream. At first, he thought that it could be the high wind making such sounds while piercing through the narrow valley. However, he stepped outside his tent in the freezing cold to satisfy his curiosity. As he looked around, to his amazement, he saw a big, shaggy figure across the moonlit snowfield. Dorje got pretty scared and tried to wake Tashi, but the figure had vanished. They could only find a trail of oversized footprints that exited deep into a crevasse. Eric Shipton dismissed it as a trick of Hypoxia, but Dorje swore that he did see something similar to Yeti
Chris Bonington's Yeti Quests:
The name, Sir Chris Bonington, a famous British mountaineer, is not a new name in the history of Nepal Mountaineering. He is a highly respected figure in Nepal's mountaineering history for his pioneering expeditions in the Himalayas. He is best known for his successful leadership of the 1970 British Annapurna South Face expedition, 1972 and 1975 British Mount Everest's Southwest Face Expedition, and an ample other remarkable Himalayan conquests. His great contributions to Nepal's mountaineering have earned him admiration among Nepali climbers and the global climbing community.
He too was popularly known as the YETI HUNTER. It is said that in 1970, he joined a Yeti-focused British Annapurna Expedition with the hope of finding something. However, unfortunately, this Yeti Expedition didn't achieve any success in finding any proof of the existence of the Yeti. In his book ‘Quest for Adventure’, Sir Chris Bonington writes, ‘There is something out there, something we haven't fully explained’.
Furthermore, in 1987, Bonington led the Melungtse Expedition, the highest mountain in the Rolwaling Region of Nepal. During this expedition near Melung glacier, at 16,000 feet, he and his three companions found similar gigantic footprint tracks on the fresh snow. They couldn't record this as a shred of evidence since the heavy blizzard erased the trail in no time. Later, Chris Bonington writes, ‘They weren’t bear tracks’, nor they were nothing link human strides.
The Infamous Machchermo Yeti Incident:
This is a Yeti rampage that occurred in the Gokyo Valley, in the Everest region. It was in the year 1974 when the village of Machchermo, near Gokyo Valley, became the stage for one of Nepal's most infamous Yeti incident. It is said that Lhakpa Doma, a young Sherpa woman from the village of Khumjung, was tending her yaks in the open meadow of Machchermo.
Suddenly, a massive, hairy creature came lurking from the hill and pushed Lhakpa, hurling her to the ground, and made his way through the yaks. Out of fear, Lakpa ran all the way and reported it to the local and police officials. Listening to her story the locals and the police officials came to inspect the incident area where they found a few dead yaks. One of the yak’s head was cleanly twisted. However, the officials said it was nothing but some sort of a serious fight between the yaks.
British writer Bruce Chatwin later interviewed Lakpa Doma, who said that ‘it was no bear’. She insisted on her portrayal of the creature to be man-like, very big and hairy. This incident that took place at Machchermo is still considered one of the spine-chilling incidents in the history of the Yeti Legends in Nepal.
Edmund Hillary's Unspoken Encounter of 1960:
Sir Edmund Hillary and Griffith Pugh, a British physiologist and mountaineer, initiated a Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition popularly known as the Silver Hut Expedition. This Expedition lasted from September 1960 to June 1961 which was aimed at studying high-altitude physiology. During this expedition in the valley of Rolwaling, the eastern Nepal, gives an account of yet another Yeti incident which is still spoken among the locals.
During the Silver Hut Expedition in the Rolwaling Valley, Mingma Sherpa led a small group to investigate a series of fresh tracks near a frozen stream. As they following the track over the cliff there was a sudden rock fall. When Mingma looked up to make sure if there is any risk of further rock fall he saw a broad-shouldered, hairy figure crouching on the top of a boulder. Mingma couldn't move as he felt like the creature was staring down at them but soon leaped away. Edmund Hillary, who was on this Himalayan Scientific Expedition, dismissed Mingma’s account as a bear sighting. But Mingma, who kept silent, privately believed what he saw wasn't a bear or any other known creature.
Some of the notable expeditions and researchers who searched for the Yeti include:
- The Daily Mail expedition in 1954 collected hair and feces samples and reported seeing a dark figure moving on a ridge.
- Tom Slick, an American oilman and adventurer, sponsored several expeditions in the 1950s and 1960s and obtained a scalp and a hand of the Yeti from a monastery in Pangboche.
- Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa participated in a World Book Encyclopedia expedition in 1960, which examined the Pangboche relics and concluded that they were from a human and a bear.
- Reinhold Messner, a famous Italian mountaineer, claimed to have seen and encountered the Yeti several times in the 1970s and 1980s and wrote a book about his experiences.
- Daniel Taylor, an American conservationist and educator, who helped create the Makalu-Barun National Park in Nepal, and wrote a book about his quest for the Yeti.
The Reality of the Yeti: DNA Analysis
However, the samples collected from Nepal, including the scalp and other remains from Khumjung and Pangboche in the Everest region, were taken for DNA analysis. Everybody was with a great hope of the revelation of the Yeti's identity and origin. However, the results were disappointing since the samples turned out to be from known animals, such as Himalayan Bears.
In the year 2017, Charlotte Lindqvist, an evolutionary biologist, and her team examined nine Yeti samples but found that they all came from bears.
The Yeti Debate - Myth or Reality?
Even though the scientific evidence does not support the existence of the Yeti, the legend still exists. The locals don't need the results that came from DNA testing. For them, the YETI is as real as anything they believe and see. They still insist over many incidents that happened in the mountains, which can't be denied or explained.
It is a legendary creature that is a part of Nepali folklore and religion and a symbol of the Himalayan wilderness and spirituality. No one in Nepal really cares if the legends are true but it still fascinates the entire world.
