Sunday, December 02, 2007

You might have heard about the new Yeti prints that have turned up in the Himalaya.
I've been reading The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen, which is a travelogue of a trek in Nepal that the author undertook in 1973. Mainly he wanted to catch a glimpse of a snow leopard, as the title implies, but of course he pondered the mystery of the yeti since he was there. Here are some brief excerpts:

The yeti is described most often as a hairy, reddish-brown creature with a ridged crown that gives it a pointed-head appearance; in size . . . it has been likened to an adolescent boy, though much larger individuals have been reported.

The Nepal government takes yeti seriously, and there is a strict law against killing them.

. . . on this brushy slope, a dark shape jumps behind a boulder. The slope is in bright morning sun, but I glimpse the creature only for an instant. It is much too big for a red panda, too covert for a musk deer, too dark for a wolf or leopard, and much quicker than a bear. . . All day I wonder about that quick dark shape . . . though I shall assume it was a musk deer it is hard to put away thoughts of yeti.


Anyways, in a serendiptious amalgamation of snow leopards and yetis, my friend Phil is done the third page he's made for me of my yeti story which some of you have heard me read.

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