Everest Legend

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 12 (Supplement)

Everest Legend

A SNOW MONSTER LONDON, Dec. 26. | Mysterious footprints in the Hiuiaj layas, attributed by natives to the legendary Tibetan monster, “the Abominable Snowman,” were described by Everest elimber Eric Bhipton on his return to London this week. Branded with a native taboo, sowing terror in the hearts of porters, the monster is believed to haunt the Himalayas and has been variously described as a werewolf, a “missing-link” and a man-eat-ing human. Mr Bhipton is one of the few white men ever to invade its province. In 1930 the “snowman” was described by a porter of the Kanchenjungu Expedition as being “covered with thick hair, w’hitc-skinned and naked.” Returning from ten months iu the Himalayas, during which he took part in the last Hugh Rutledge assault ou Mount Everest, Mr Shiptou reported:— “We attempted to track the monster to its lair. It was impossible because the tracks we followed were visible only on the snow of the northern slopes. On the barren southern slopes the tracks were lost in the rocks. The footprints appeared at 13,000 ft. They seemed to be too far apart to be made by a man. Nor where they all similar, some were so large that 1 could fit iny own print into one quarter of them. Others were man-sized —still others the size of snow-shoes. “We followed the track; they led into the rocky slopes and we lost them. The local inhabitants claim that the monster is much like a gorilla in form. According to their stories, he preys on men for food, but lives normally upon rats. All they will admit is that their friends have seen it and they have found the remains of bodies on which he has fed. All I have seen are the tracks in the sdow.” Mr Shipton, known iu his school days as “Tired Tim,” has climbed more Himalayan peaks over 20,000 feet than any white explorer.