Case file · Cryptid
'Abominable snowman' tracks on the Lhakpa La
On the 1921 British Everest reconnaissance, Charles Howard-Bury found large tracks near the Lhakpa La; his porters' 'metoh-kangmi' was mistranslated in the press as 'abominable snowman'.
1921 CE · 28.05, 86.98 · status: explained
The account
Howard-Bury thought the tracks were made by a large grey wolf whose prints had merged in the snow. Journalist Henry Newman's rendering of the Tibetan phrase created the name that stuck.
The sceptical view
Melting enlarges and merges ordinary animal tracks; Howard-Bury himself gave a mundane explanation.