The Shipton Footprint
Two climbers found a trail of huge footprints in the snow and photographed one beside an ice axe for scale.
What was reported
During an expedition near Everest in 1951, British mountaineers Eric Shipton and Michael Ward found a trail of large footprints on the Menlung Glacier. Shipton's photo of one print, next to an ice axe, made the yeti famous around the world.
The yeti had long been part of Sherpa tradition. Shipton's photo carried it into Western newspapers and led to several yeti-hunting expeditions in the 1950s.
Explanations offered
Suggestions include animal tracks that melted and widened in the sun, or several prints overlapping. Some have argued the print was faked. Recent DNA studies of alleged yeti samples found they came from bears.
- When
- November 1951
- Where
- Menlung Glacier, Nepal–Tibet border
- Witnesses
- Mountaineers Eric Shipton and Michael Ward
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.