Ep 91: The Yeti Part 1

Image of Mount Everest by Jean-François Gornet

"The great reward of exploration is not knowing beforehand what will happen.”
– Dr. Daniel C. Taylor, from his book, "Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery"

The photograph taken by Eric Shipton that introduced the legend of the Yeti to the western world in the mid-twentieth century.  

The original framing of Shipton's famous "Yeti footprint" photo.

Another shot of the print, where Shipton uses his boot for a foot size comparison.

Noted mountaineer and explorer Eric Earle Shipton, who along with Dr. Michael Ward, was the first to photograph what was thought to be the footprint of a Yeti while on an expedition to Mt. Everest.

Eric Earle Shipton, looking every bit the adventurer and explorer.

Wider shots of the Shipton tracks, showing multiple animals, further reinforcing the idea of a mother Asiatic bear and her cubs pursuing the crest of the ridge.

On display at the Khumjung monastery in Nepal is a relic some believed was the scalp of a Yeti.  However, it seems DNA testing has shown the scalp is actually the rump hide from a goat.

 

LOCATION: The village of Pangboche, near a main Everest basecamp.

BACKGROUND:

On November 8, 1951, noted mountaineer and adventurer Eric Shipton and Dr. Michael Ward were on an expedition to find an alternate route to ascend Mount Everest.  At approximately 17,500 feet and exploring a glacier near an Everest basecamp they came across a set of massive footprints that shouldn't have been there.  The only possible known creatures that they thought could have left such crisp footprints in the snow at that altitude were humans, bears or yaks, and they didn't look exactly like any of those to them, but more like a strange unknown barefooted hominoid.  Their Sherpa guides, however, knew exactly what had left those footprints, the legendary Yeti, known to the indigenous peoples of the region for at least hundreds of years, and was both feared and revered.  Shipton set the head of his ice ax next to the track, which measured about a foot long and 5" wide, and took a picture.  This photo, coming from such a well-regarded explorer, would help to forever leave an imprint in the collective imagination of the western world.

Map showing locations of featured Yeti sightings, by ARC member Cody Rice

Reference Links:

• Professor Daniel C. Taylor's 60-year search for the Yeti on National Geographic

• The Yeti on Wikipedia

• The Almas or "Wild Man" of Caucasus and Pamir Mountains of central Asia, and the Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia

• Christie's auction of Eric Earle Shipton's original Yeti footprints in the Menlung Basin

• Obit of Michael Ward, Mountaineering doctor who was with Shipton at sighting of the footprint

• Destination Truth S02, E01 - The Yeti

• National Geographic's "Bigfoot: The New Evidence – Evidence of the Yeti" video clip

• Nat Geo Image Gallery from: Bigfoot: The New Evidence: Yeti

• "Bigfoot" Unmasked from Nat Geo's Phenomena - A Science Salon

• Nat Geo's "Hunt for the Abominable Snowman - Legends of the Yeti" with Gerry Moffatt

• Foreign Service Despatch 75 from the American Embassy, Kathmandu

• Cryptozoologist Dale A. Drinnon and his article, "More on Yetis and Giant Orangutans"

• Pangboche Hand by Donna Yates from the Trafficking Culture website

• Village of Panboche in Khumjung VDC of Solukhumbu District, Nepal

• Jimmy Stewart describes meeting "Harvey"

• PDF: THE FRIENDLY YETI by Daniel Capper, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. of Religion, The U. of S. Mississippi

• PDF: Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates by Bryan C. Sykes, et al.

• PDF: Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya Region
  and the identity of the Yeti from the journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

• "Himalayan ‘yeti’ DNA: polar bear or DNA degradation?..." by C. J. Edwards, R. Barnett

• Science solves the mystery of the elusive Yeti from CNN WIRE

• Study Reveals Biological Identities of Bigfoot, Yeti, Bolstering Case Against Them from Nat Geo

• Scientists challenge 'Abominable Snowman DNA' results by Steven McKenzie, BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter

• The 1938 Tibet Yeti account by Captain V. d' Auvergne on bigfootencounters.com

• Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 1 with B. H. Hodgson's account

• The Abominable Snowman or Yeti from Proof-of-Evolution.com

• Dyatlov Pass and Mass Murdering Yeti? A DN Exclusive by Benjamin Radford from Doubtful News

• HOW FORENSIC TECHNIQUES AID ARCHAEOLOGY

• The Pleistocene Epoch

• HOMINID AND HOMININ – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

• "First Ascent" Filmmaker Gerry Moffatt

• Australia's "Yowie" Wildman

Related Books:

Yeti - The Ecology of a Mystery

By Daniel C. Taylor

Buy on Amazon

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The Dark Myths Collective  

http://darkmyths.org/

Credits:

Episode 91: The Yeti Part 1.  Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel; Ryan McCullough Sound Design; Research Assistance by Tess Pfeifle and the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2017 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.