The Abominable Snowman -- Will It Always Remain a Mystery ??

The Yeti, sometimes referred to as the Abominable Snowman, is a humanoid cryptid associated with the Himalaya. The names Yeti or Meh-Teh are commonly used by people indigenous to the Himalaya, and are part of their history and mythology.

Most mainstream scientists, explorers and writers with experience of the area, consider current evidence of the Yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as hoax, legend, or misidentification of known species. Nevertheless, the Yeti remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology.

The Origin of the "Abominable Snowman"

The appellation "Abominable Snowman" did not come into existence until 1921, in that year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury lead the Royal Geographical Society's "Everest Reconnaissance Expedition" from which he authored "Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921" in his book he wrote, amongst the details of the expedition, of an account, whilst crossing the "Lhakpa-la" at 21,000 feet where, he later wrote, he found footprints in the snow. Howard-Bury stated that these tracks "were probably caused by a large 'loping' grey wolf, which in the soft snow formed double tracks rather like a those of a barefooted man". However Howard-Bury also stated that "our coolies at once volunteered that the tracks must be that of "The Wild Man of the Snows", to which they gave the name "metoh-kangmi". "Metoh" translates as "man bear" and "Kang-mi" translates as "snowman."

Confusion exists between Howard-Bury's use of "metoh-kangmi", the words his Boatia Sherpa's had used and recited in his book and the account provided in H.W. Tilman's book "Mount Everest, 1938" where Tilman had used the words "metch" (it has been suggested that "metch" does not exist in Tibetan and "kangmi" when relating the details of and the eventual creation of the term "Abominable Snowman". Further weight is added to the notion that "metch" is a misnomer, is provided by Prof. David Snellgrove from London School of Oriental Studies and a recognised authority on the Tibetan language (1956), dismissed the word "metch" stating that it was impossible to conjoin the consonants "t c h" in Tibetan." Documentation does seem to suggest that there are very few examples of the term "metch-kangmi", the term seems to stem from just the one source in 1921. It has been suggested that "metch" is a misspelling of "metoh".

The involvement of Mr. Henry Newman, who contributed for many years to "The Statesman" in Calcutta using the pen-name "Kim," spoke with the porters of the "Everest Reconnaisance experdition" on return to Darjeeling, and for whatever reason Newman either by artistic license or a mistranslation of "Metoh" as "filthy" or "dirty", which as has been demonstrated it does not mean, created the term "Abominable". Some credence to the suggestion that Newman's artistic predilection played a role is the statement made by H.W. Tilman in his book, that "As he (Newman) wrote long after in a letter to The Times: The whole story seemed such a joyous creation I sent it to one or two newpapers'"

"Whatever effect Mr. Newman intended, from 1921 onwards the Yeti-or whatever various native populations choose to call it- became saddled with the description "Abominable Snowman," an appellation which can only appeal to the music-hall mind than to mammalogists, a fact which has seriously handicapped earnest seekers of the truth."

"It cannot be denied however that Mr. Newman put the Yeti "on the map". During the twenties and thirties sightings of both of prints and of the animal itself occurred right across the Himalaya from the Burmese frontier to the Karakoram, not all of them by credulous witnesses."