Three years ago you spent the summer at a climbing school in the mountains of Colorado. Your instructors said that you had natural skills as a climber. You made rapid progress, and by the end of the summer you were leading difficult rock and ice climbs.
That summer, you became close friends with a boy named Carlos. The two of you made a good climbing team. Last year you and he were chosen to join an international team. The expedition made it to the top of two unclimbed peaks in South America.
One night on that expedition, the group was seated around the cook tent at the base camp. The expedition leader, Franz, told stories of climbing in the Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world.
The Himalayas form a great natural wall between India and China, with Nepal tucked in amid the peaks. Everest, K2 and Annapurna are the best-known mountains in the Himalayas. These and many other peaks have been climbed. Still others lie in remote areas where few humans have gone. There, said Franz, in the high valleys beneath the snowfields, lives the Yeti, sometimes called the Abominable Snowman.
âThe Yeti is a huge beast,â Franz tells you, âperhaps a cross between a gorilla and a human. People cannot agree what it is.â
âIs the Yeti dangerous?â Carlos asked.
Franz shrugged. âSome say it is. Other people say the Yeti is very gentle.â
âHave you ever seen one?â you inquire.
âNo. Almost no one has. The best roof of the Yetiâs existence is a set of very large footprints discovered in the 1950s by a British expedition. No one has ever photographed one that I have heard,â Franz answers. âBut still the stories persist.â
You and Carlos decided then and there to find the Yeti. When you returned from South America, the two of you raised money from the International Foundation For Research Into Strange Phenomena. Your goal: proof positive that Yeti exist. You will find and photograph the Yeti.
That is what brings you to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Your problems, though, have already begun. Two days ago Carlos left by helicopter to look over the terrain near Mt. Everest. The helicopter returned without him. The pilot told you that Carlos decided to stay up at the Everest base camp to check out a report that a Yeti had been seen. He had a radio transmitter, but you have received no word from him. The weather turned bad and radio communication was interrupted.
You have an appointment to speak with R.N. Runal, the Director of Expeditions and Mountain Research and an authority on the Yeti. He knows of your plans. You need his help with official permits for the expedition. He will also have good advice and information. But what about Carlos?
- Cancel your meeting with Runal and search for Carlos
- Carlos is OK, go ahead with your plan to meet Runal
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