Wednesday, September 14, 1960: Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary (who with Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Everest, in 1953) sets off on the Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition. While a primary objective of Hillary's mission is to study the effects of high altitude on the human body, he is also searching for physical evidence of the Yeti, the so-called Abominable Snowman. Fur samples collected by Hillary's team turn out to be those of a bear and a serow (a goat-like animal).

* Hillary biography (from New Zealand History online): @

* "Epitaph to the Elusive Abominable Snowman" (article by Hillary for Life magazine), January 1961: @

* Yeti descriptions and links: @ (Museum of Unnatural History) and @ (Live Science)

* "Abominable Snowmen" (Ivan T. Sanderson, 1961): @

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