Yeti: The Story of the Expedition.
Our team of adventurers, researchers and scholars have spent years unearthing the truth of the legendary Yeti.
Creatures known for their reclusiveness, they thrive as keen engineers living in a world of their own invention.
By means we are unable to disclose a mysterious map came into our possession leading to a remote valley said to be the home of a specimen more evolved than any on record.
We needed to see it with our own eyes - if anyone was an expert on grooming it had to be this distinguished Yeti.
Our small team moved quickly to prepare, time was of the essence with a limited window of opportunity before the great snows made traversing the remote regions of the Himalaya impossible.
The journey took many months crossing seas by ocean liner and cutting our way through mountain passes by train, all the while we dug deeper into the mystery of the map to better understand where our objective lay.
Reaching the foot hills of the famed range we found a grizzled old pilot, more used to running illegal goods than human traffic, who was the only person crazy enough to take us deep into the mountains during the onset of the winter season.
Fair weather quickly gave way to ominous clouds, high winds and blizzard-like conditions that were too much for our flying machine. Regardless of the pilots tenacity (and sanity) it was deemed safer to make an emergency landing than attempt the journey back and we soon found ourselves huddled inside the downed plane on a snowy plateau waiting for the storm to subside.
It was sometime during the night when we first realized we weren’t alone, our ears had grown accustomed to the noise of the wind buffeting the fuselage and tensions ran high when the rhythmic sound of large footsteps crushing the snow made their way around our make shift shelter.
Strangely, accompanying this new noise was what can only be described as humming and, after a moment of confusion, the keen classical aficionado amongst us pointed out that it might be Wagner.
Just as this new information was slowly setting in there was a loud creak and a roar punctuated by a door being torn clean from the side of our vessel. A large furrowed brow covered by hair from tip to toe stood before us - the Yeti.
“I’m sorry about that, I forget my own strength sometimes” spoke the creature “let me make it up to you by extending and invitation back to my place for a spot of tea?”
It may have been shock, or the extremely fine diction, but we found ourselves instantly at ease and agreed to the invitation.
An hour later we were sitting comfortably in large arm chairs, warming in front of a fire as our new friend pressed us with questions while carefully laying out a spread of tea and finger foods.
We were in a large library inspired by an old English country manor with every surface covered with books or inventions of some sort.
The Yeti made itself comfortable as the conversation turned to our objective with each of the team members going into detail about their respective challenges. The Yeti listened attentively, only interrupting when clarification was needed. Once the group had finished, our new friend sat deep in thought, contemplating our predicament while we retired for the night with the overwhelming exhaustion of the days events finally taking its toll.
After a good nights rest we awoke to find the Yeti pouring over books in the study, “I hope you don’t mind,” it said, “but I’ve made a few notes.” The Yeti pointed to a large stack of papers which began an intensive period of discussion and planning.
While most of the team were entrenched in research and development, the pilot focused on repairing the plane (able to source materials and parts from the extensive store collected over the years by our new friend), ensuring a successful return to civilization.
Eventually all great things must come to an end and we had to bid farewell to our host - a break in the weather meant it could be our last chance to leave for some time.
Before leaving we exchanged communication details, apparently some of the surrounding nations had been installing radio towers on nearby summits making it easier to transmit encoded electronic messages - the Yeti claimed “the world would be fully connected by a global network” but it all sounded a bit too futuristic to us.
The trip home was less eventful but gave us all time to consider everything thing we had learned with eagerness to return to the studio to get to work.
We can't wait to share it with the world.
Artwork by: Sandra Pilny-Lockertsen