In North America we have the Sasquatch, or Big Foot, down under in Australia it's the Yowie, and of course in the Himalaya they have the Yeti. Mythological ape like creatures that are said to inhabit the remote corners of the globe, and toy with our imaginations. We've all head of them, and probably laughed at them. We just don't laugh too loud when we're sitting around the campfire with some unusual sounds just out of sight in the shadows.
Today the Everest Is Ours Blog has posted a great little article about how the West became fascinated with tales of the Yeti. When western climbers began traveling to Nepal and Tibet, the started to hear the tales of these elusive creatures. Shipton's expedition to Everest in 1951 even took pictures of the footprints, which brought the story to a mass audience back in Europe. Many were captivated by the mystery, and some argued both for and against it's existence.
Over the years, a number of memorable figures have gotten involved with the Search for the Yeti, like Sir Edmund Hillary himself, who put a great deal of time and effort into his search. More recently, Reinhold Messner thought he caught site of the creature and went looking as well. It seems every year there are tales of Yeti sightings on Everest, but most are chalked up to drunk Russians stumbling around in the dark near base camp.
Real or not, we all like to believe in a myth from time to time. It sparks our imagination and gets our minds to wandering. And even though there has been no real credible evidence for the existence of these creatures, somewhere we kind of hope they do exist.
This is a fun little article for a Friday afternoon. :)
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