Footprints seen around Mt.Everest stoke Yeti mystery

One of the three footprints discovered on Wednesday is about one foot long, or is of similar size and appearance as shown in sketches of the mystical ape-like creature believed to live in snowy caves, the TV company said.

"It is very very similar," Josh Gates, host of the weekly travel adventure television series, told Reuters in Kathmandu after returning from the mountain.

"I don't believe it to be (that of) a bear. It is something of a mystery for us," said Gates, 30, an archaeologist

Gates said the footprints on lumps of sandy soil, which would be sent to experts in the United States for analysis, were "relatively fresh left some 24 hours before we found them".

"This print is so pristine, so good that I am very intrigued by this,"