Yeti Encounters

In November 2005 me and Mrs J visited Nepal and spent some time trekking through the Himalayas, the home of the Yeti. During our trip we kept a wary eye open for any signs of the Yeti as we trekked through the stunning mountain scenery, but alas the Yeti remained elusive (even though our guide seemed convinced that they did in fact exist). We were not totally disheartened however, as we did have numerous encounters with the use of the Yeti in Nepalese day-to-day life (probably adopted to appeal to tourists such as us). Our encounters are pictured below.

On leaving Kathmandu we flew on “Yeti Airlines”, which took us into the mountain airport of Lukla.

On our travels we also discovered the “Yak & Yeti” Guest House.

And finally while visiting a Buddhist monastery in the mountain village of Pangboche, we were able to view a Yeti "scalp" (after parting with a little coin). The general consensus seems to be that the scalp is not really from a Yeti. Crypto-zoologist Richard Freeman’s take on the scalp can be found over at Andrew May’s Forteana blog.

For those people I know, whose primary love is aviation I have to mention Lukla airstrip. Some people say that Lukla is the most dangerous airstrip in the world, and it is not hard to see why they may think this. The single runway is 1,500 ft long and only 65 ft wide, and it has a 12% gradient, which means on landing you are headed up hill. The airstrip lies at an elevation of 9,100 ft and as such, often experiences bad weather conditions. This situation is not helped by the airstrip not having any landing aids.

As a passenger into Lukla in a small fixed wing aircraft, the most striking features of the airstrip are a steep cliff face at one end of the runway and a sheer drop off at the other end, it would seem that on landing and take-off, Lukla offers no second chances!

Pictures, Nepal (November 2005)