So here I was, bundled up against the cold, with a backpack full of equipment, trudging through the snow on another quest that might prove futile. Just getting into Tibet had required bribing border guards and other officials. Then I had gone from village to village, trying to get a lead without attracting the notice of government officials. Now, I was finally following up on a suggestion that someone in the village had seen a creature up on this mountain.

I climbed pretty high up the mountain before I saw something that might be the tracks of some large beast, half obscured by the snow. There was a chance that this was what my employer had sent me for, so I started following the trail. It wound farther up the mountain slope, keeping close to rock faces and boulders.

After two hours of following the tracks, my mind was so dull, I walked right into a wall of white fur. A large hand grabbed me by the shoulder before I even noticed the creature, furry white against the snow. That was stupid of me! I was supposed to be prepared for this. I was supposed to have my gun loaded with a tranquilizer dart. Fortunately, this abominable creature did not take the opportunity to rip my limbs off. It seemed strong enough that it probably could have, but it was more curious about the texture of my coat.

A little worried that it might tear the coat, I reached out and gently stroked its arm. Even if it didn’t rip me apart, tearing the coat might be enough to kill me. The coat, after all, was all that protected me from the January weather in the mountains. Its arm was covered in thick white fur, but not like a sheep’s wool nor like a polar bear’s fur. The closest I could think of was a husky, but it wasn’t quite like that, either.

I stroked gently, careful to stroke in the right direction. It seemed that worked. After a few moments, the creature seemed to relax, though it didn’t loosen its grip on my shoulder. As I figured out the situation, I realized that it was not quite so large as I had thought in my earlier terror. It was no bigger than a sasquatch - and a small female sasquatch, at that. Although it was much taller than I was, it was only 230 or 240 cm (for Americans, that’s a bit less than 8’) and probably less than a quarter of a ton. Still powerful enough to rend me limb from limb, but not big enough to squash me like a bug.