Records & People

He Conquered Everest, Then Went Hunting the Yeti — and a Hollywood Star Smuggled the Evidence in His Wife's Luggage

Two Everest-region monasteries guarded 'Yeti' relics for centuries. Sir Edmund Hillary tested one himself in a Chicago lab; the other waited until…

By Laxman Rawal · Jul 29, 2026

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In a glass-fronted cabinet inside a Sherpa monastery above Namche Bazaar, a monk will show you, for a small donation, a leathery, hair-covered dome about the size of a rugby ball. The label says Yeti scalp. The man who first flew it abroad to find out what it…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The second relic, and the movie star who smuggled it

Khumjung was not the only Khumbu monastery guarding a piece of proof. Two trekking days south, in the equally historic village of Pangboche — home to the region's oldest gompa, founded in 1667, and a standard stop between Tengboche and Dingboche — monks kept…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

What this means for trekkers

What this means for trekkers You do not need to believe in the Yeti to want to see either monastery. Khumjung and Pangboche are two of the best-preserved 17th- to 19th-century Sherpa monasteries in the Khumbu, and both sit directly on the standard Everest…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

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