Max's Big Tracks - The Yeti myth

" Yeti he first came to the attention of the west when mountaineers began climbing the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the summit of Everest in 1953. But they also had a role to play in bringing the Yeti myth to the western world. I want to find out more so I'm going to meet Ang whose president of Kathmandu's mountaineering association."

" And my father is a good friend of Sir Edmund Hillary and after Hillary decided to take the Yeti's skull from Khumjung from my place. My father was chosen by all the Sherpa people. To take the Yeti skull. To show to the world. I think this in Paris."

" Your father looks a long way from home."

" But when you’re sitting around listening to your father tell you stories what did he say?"

" yes. One is Miti, man eater. -- And another one is is a kind of witch doctor. I'm sure that you will meet at least Yeti in the area."

" That’s what I want to hear, I like that that. I like the sound of that very much."

" Although, I'll keep an open mind, I suspect the Yeti is no more than a myth. A combination of superstition, fear and tricks of the light. But, above all I believe that behind the Yeti stories is a misidentification of another animal. And for me the prime candidates is the Asiatic black bear."

" The Yeti is surrounded by so much folklore it's difficult to separate the truth from myth. But it's possible there is a very simple explanation and it could be the black bear when it stands up."