Hillary’s Yeti Debunking Lives On

Sir Edmund Hillary recently died, and yet his legacy of Yeti debunking continues onward, even now through his associates. The Telegraph of Calcutta, India has published a subtle little article recalling in glowing terms Hillary’s damaging Yeti investigations, which were set up skeptically, versus open-mindedly, from the very start.

In the article, “Climber recalls days with Edmund, hunting for Yeti,” the Telegraph’s correspondent writes of one man who was on the trek:

Nearly half-a-century ago, Bhanu Banerjee accompanied legendary climber Edmund Hillary to a Himalayan expedition in pursuit of the Abominable Snowman and came back with some incredible memories.

“Every single moment of the expedition is still fresh in my mind. The fact that I was with Sir Edmund Hillary, listening to first-hand tales of the Everest Conquest, was extremely fulfilling,” said Banerjee.

The aim of the 1961-62 expedition, however, was not the highest mountain on earth, but the mythical creature, Yeti. World Book Encyclopedia had sponsored the Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition.

“We wanted to find out if the yeti existed or not,” Banerjee said. “We went from one remote village to another up to 19,000ft and returned assured that the Yeti is just a myth,” Banerjee said.

“It was just hearsay,” the 72-year-old climber added. “We went to all the places covered by previous expeditions. We interviewed elderly people, cowherds, shepherds and the Sherpas; yet, there was not a single soul who could say he had seen the yeti. Always it was not he, but his father living in a different village who had actually seen the creature. We would then go and find the father, who would ascribe it to his father.”

A student of St Paul’s School in Darjeeling, Banerjee first met Hillary in Calcutta in 1960. “I used to freelance with a newspaper there. I was studying shorthand and accountancy in college when Desmond Doig, the then assistant editor of the daily, asked me if I was interested in meeting Hillary. I immediately agreed,” he added.

In Calcutta, Banerjee also helped Hillary shop for an expedition. “The shopkeepers would not charge money at the very mention of his name,” Banerjee said, recalling Hillary’s popularity.

Their friendship grew gradually. The last time they communicated with each other was at Christmas in 2007. “It was a brief communiqué and his handwriting had changed a lot. He said: ‘We are okay.’ At other times, he would have elaborated,” Banerjee recalled.

Hillary died this year on January 11.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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