Strange Tracks

Before the 1950s, notions of the Yeti remained tucked deep within the physical and spiritual ecology of the Himalaya’s undulating foothills, glaciers, and high peaks. This was a supernatural creature with complicated origins, powers, and existence.

However, in 1951, on an Everest expedition, the great Himalayan explorer and climber Eric Shipton brought back more than just stories of the world’s highest peak. Below the mountain on the Menlung Glacier he found and photographed strange tracks in the snow. In his now famous image, an ice axe lays beside a fresh footprint, revealed by the snowy crust of the glacier. Strikingly pronounced are the detailed imprints of individual toes, and the width of the foot appears far too wide to be human-made. In a second photo, the same tracks chatter on across the snowy horizon, fading toward the sky and leading to a place unknown. Shipton’s revelation to the world would mark the very first encounter with the Yeti by a Western climber.

Two years later, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay would report similar, unexplained footprints while en-route to the summit of Mt. Everest. At the time, there was no doubt in either climber’s mind that the tracks were caused by the Yeti-like creature. Following the climb, the leader of that successful expedition, Lord John Hunt, would famously state:

“I believe in the yeti. I have seen his tracks, heard his yelping call, listened to first-hand experiences of local people… Indeed, why should he not exist?”