New Delhi: The elusive “Abominable Snowman” roaming secretly in the high Himalayas was in the limelight after Indian Army released pictures taken by its mountaineering expedition team, of giant footprints in snow at Makalu base camp in Nepal, which it said could belong to mythical ‘Yeti’.
A mountaineering expedition led by Major Manoj Joshi to Mt Makalu while acclimatising at Langmale Kharka on April 9 saw a series of huge mysterious large footprints measuring 32 X 15 inches.
The pictures were sent by the team using satellite communication.
“For the first time, an Indian Army mountaineering expedition team has sighted mysterious footprints of mythical beast Yeti. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past,” said a tweet by Indian Army.
Sources said that the tweet was not meant to create a buzz.
“The idea is to share so that the issue can be addressed in a scientific way,” said sources.
“As they say nature, history and science never write their final story,” they added.
However, there is no credible scientific evidence till now to prove existence of Yeti but movies and serials have kept interest in the mythical creature alive.
The folklore of Yeti started in Nepal where it is described as a mythical ape-like huge creature roaming in Himalayas. However, it also caught the fancy of West in 19th century and a series of movies, books and serials were made on it including science fiction The Abominable Snowman.
It also made appearance in popular comic Tintin. Since then people have claimed to have sighted Yeti all around the world.
The team is presently at Makalu base camp and likely to attempt the Makalu summit in the second week of May and is expected to de-induct to India by last week of May or first week of June.
The team will hand over these photographs and videos to subject matter experts on return of the expedition, said sources in Indian Army.
