Yeti footprints to go under the hammer

Four photographs of a footprint, said to be that of the fabled Yeti, are being auctioned next week.

The mysterious footprint was photographed in the Menlung Basin in the Himalayas in 1951.



The photograph of footprint with mountain boot alongside taken by Eric Earle Shipton is inscribed by Tom Bourdillon in ink on the reverse: 'Dear Mick. Here are the footprint photos: sorry for the delay. We came across them on a high pass on the Nepal-Tibet watershed during the 1951 Everest expedition. They seemed to have come over a secondary pass at about 19,500 ft, down to 19,000 ft where we first saw them, and then went on down the glacier. We followed them for the better part of a mile. What it is, I don't know, but I am quite clear that it is no animal known to live in the Himalaya, & that it is big. Compare the depths to which it & Mike Ward (no featherweight) have broken into the snow. Yours, Tom Bourdillon.'

The four photographs are expected to fetch a total of between £1,800 and £2,500 at Christie's in London.