Reinhold Messner

A South Tyrolean mountaineer, and the sole witness to one of the archive's best known Yeti encounters. Summer, 1986. Messner was 41, and that year became the first person to climb all fourteen 8,000 metre peaks. In July he travelled alone through Tibet's eastern wilderness, retracing the Sherpas' migration from Kham to Khumbu near the headwaters of the Mekong River, and met the creature at night. He later spent about 12 years investigating the Yeti. His case stands beside Don Whillans' 1970 Annapurna sighting, and John Geiger's The Third Man Factor cites his experience on Nanga Parbat alongside Shackleton's unseen companion.

Stories3

Pro early

Shackleton's "fourth man": the unseen companion on the South Georgia crossing

May 19, 1916 · South Georgia, from Peggotty Camp at King Haakon Bay across the mountains to Stromness whaling station

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Paranormal · Being / humanoid · 28 sources

20Thinly documented

Don Whillans' Yeti Sighting and Footprint Photographs, Annapurna Sanctuary (1970)

March 1970 · Near Machapuchare Base Camp, Annapurna Sanctuary, Kaski district

Nepal

Cryptid · Creature · 15 sources

26Thinly documented

Reinhold Messner's Night Encounter with a Yeti in Eastern Tibet

July 19, 1986 · Valley near the upper Mekong, eastern Tibet (Kham)

China

Cryptid · Creature · 32 sources

14Thinly documented

South Tyrolean mountaineer and sole witness, who later spent about 12 years investigating the Yeti