The Abominable Snowman

Choose Your Own Adventure #13

by R.A. Montgomery, Laurence Peguy (Illustrator)

You and Carlos are on an expedition to the world's highest mountains in the remote kingdom of Nepal to search for the Yeti, otherwise known as the Abominable Snowman. Carlos arrives a few days early and goes missing from Everest base camp. A yeti sighting was reported nearby. Did he go after it? Or was Carlos onto the trail of something else?
"I know that cry. It's the battle cry of the Yeti! We must get help and come back for Carlos."
"Why are they angry?" you ask Runal.
"Too many people have tormented them. We must go."
The rescue helicopter lies smashed on the snow. There is no sign of the pilot, just giant Yeti footprints, leading off to the icefall-the death zone.

If you follow the prints, turn to page 56. If you stay at the wreckage, hoping for help, turn to page 57.

There is tremendous physical danger when climbing at high altitudes. Ice seracs, monsoon storms, faulty helicopters and human mischief can make a deadly cocktail at 19,000 feet. Watch each step as if it were your last!

Genres: Choose Your Own Adventure, Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Young Adult, Gamebooks, Middle Grade

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Raymond A. Montgomery (born 1936 in Connecticut) was an author and progenitor of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure interactive children's book series, which ran from 1979 to 2003. Montgomery graduated from Williams College and went to graduate school at Yale University and New York University (NYU). He devoted his life to teaching and education.

In 2004, he co-founded the Chooseco publishing company alongside his wife, fellow author/publisher Shannon Gilligan, with the goal of reviving the CYOA series with new novels and reissued editions of the classics.

He continued to write and publish until his death in 2014.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Caston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and had some interesting philosophical ideas in it, but I thought a few times the details got a bit disjointed between the choices/page transitions.

EDIT: I've gone back and gotten a copy of the 1982 version published by Bantam (before Chooseco got their hands on the series). I went back and compared the two after reading several ends of the older version. This one was never my favorite back in the day so it's harder to know which I like better. Their both a product of their time. The art is a lot different and the content is bulked up a bit in the newer version.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

YOU are a kid who likes to climb mountains, so let's hit the Himalayas!

*BRAKE SCREECH* Reread that title. This ain't just gonna be a hiking book, my friend. We're going after the yeti!

The Abominable Snowman is the first Choose Your Own Adventure [CYOA] I've seen that comes with a map. It's not a highly detailed map, but hey, it's a map! Whereas others were published as pure fun, this CYOA seems set on being a teaching tool. Along with the map, there's also an illustration of the Himalaya range with each peak's name and height listed.

The book kicks off with my buddy Carlos going ahead and getting stranded. Is he okay or should I go after him? Let's dive in!

Adventure #1: I decide to cancel my meeting with the director of expeditions and mountain research to go find my budski, Carlos! The director says he'll go with me. I think this is great, but...When we find Carlos' deserted camp, instead of suggesting we need to find Carlos, the director suggests we go in search of the yeti. Now, I think author R.A. Montgomery meant for us readers to take the leap together and jump to the conclusion that yeti have kidnapped Carlos, and so therefore we need to go find them in order to find him. But honestly, this scene just comes off as goofy. Oh shit, wait a sec...I'm sorry, I forgot I'm reading a children's book! ONWARD! I do my best to play it safe as much as possible, but Montgomery keeps pulling back in! Eventually, and quite out of the blue, I end up with some aliens traveling with Carlos to the Planet of the Seas to gain wisdom. Odd a.f.

Adventure #2:
The director and I find Carlos. The damn fool hiked off after yeti tracks by himself! We head back to camp and I find a weird hippie sherpa burning incense at the Kathmandu general store. We head off for the Annapurna peak and see what appears to be a signal light flashing. Thinking someone is in distress, we make for the signal and discover it comes from a yeti celebration bonfire. So, yeti do exist. Huh.

Adventure #3:
This time I leave Carlos for dead, and the director and I head off. We meet a monk and I agree to go on a Buddhist's journey of enlightenment. I have a transcendent moment, am given a benevolent yeti guide and we literally fly to Shangri-La. The alien abduction actually made more sense than this...

Adventure #4:
This time I say screw Carlos and the director, and go it alone!...and immediately hit a monsoon. Game over, dude.

Adventure #5:
Clearly I'm not meant to go without the director, so I apologize (yes, that's an option) and do ask if he'll join me on my expedition. He says he'll accept my apology and go...if he can be expedition leader. What a douche! Sneaking a peek ahead at my options, I see that I have no choice but to let him be our leader. It sucks, but what are ya gonna do? It turns out good for me, because we obtain better gear and provisions than what I could have got on my own. It also works out well for Carlos, because he gets rescued. But it doesn't work out so great for me, the reader, because somehow I end up back on the Buddhist's journey of enlightenment track from adventure #3, and there's no branch off storylines here, so it's the same old song and dance.


I could continue reading. There's 28 possible endings to this book. That seems like quite a few until you notice that there are numerous choices where it was basically do you want to continue? or do you want to end your journey?. A bunch of abrupt endings like that attached to one story path significantly reduces the overall adventure possibilities herein, and that's a bummer. However, there are more adventures to be had. They seem interesting from what I could tell from some of the illustrations by stalwart CYOA illustrator Paul Granger. Perhaps I will continue reading, but I'm not going to add to my review and spoil the whole dang book for you!

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smugglers, tiger, and yetis! Oh my! A fun adventure with a ton of different endings, some horrific, some philosophical, while others are merely disappointing. Hours of entertainment!

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may be waxing nostalgic for days after introducing my son to the magic of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. I used to stay up to all hours (it was probably seven o'clock) reading and re-reading these enigmatic stories. I distinctly remember trying to figure out how the author built the stories after once discovering I had arrived at the same ending even though I had made different choices along the way. But enough about me!

I applaud this series for introducing such a fun, unique concept. This particular book was just okay. Many of the "adventures" were over before they started and others were kind of dull considering there is a Yeti involved. Still, a great way to keep young readers engaged.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up I loved Choose Your Own Adventure boons (CYOA). The Goosebumps version of this series was really my favorite.

Anyway. I decided to order a small 4 book box set of CYOA to take a break from my Horrors and Thrillers and to revisit some old nostalgic fun.

This was a nice little story. I died the first time, was a hero the second time ,but didn't achieve my goal, and then I found one of the goal achieving paths by way of good old fashion bird tweets between good friends.

Fun for kids. 3.5 stars

[Peter Derk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Damn it!

I thought I might try my way through some of these books to see if I've gotten any smarter since childhood. I was an idiot then. I thought that playing Tetris on a bigscreen TV would allow me to get a much higher score, for example. I also made a homemade rocket that succeeded in ejecting its own engine and firing it across the neighborhood where it barreled into a neighbor's garage door with a resounding smack.

At this time, in addition to being bad at life decisions, I was also bad at life OR DEATH decisions, as demonstrated in Choose Your Own Adventure books.

The difference, as an adult, is that I went at it like a test-taker. You know how in health class, they had questions where it was clear what they wanted you to mark as an answer? Stuff like:

There are risks when you have unprotected sex:

A: Sometimes, as long as I'm in a stupid imagination land.
B: Rarely because I am a complete idiot managing a small shop in the land of Hyrule.
C: ALWAYSALWAYSALWAYSALWAYS!!!!!

Do you think they have herpes in Hyrule?

Anyway, you start to not answer with your honest feelings, but to think about the person who created the test and what they're trying to get you to do.

So in The Abominable Snowman, when you start off looking for your buddy, they tell you that you can look below base camp, where the AbS usually hangs out, or climb up.

Now, the original me would have said, "They usually show up below camp. And it doesn't really make sense to waste energy climbing up when we could walk down. Screw it, let's coast." But of course, as an adult I felt the strong hand of fate telling me to go the extra mile straight up the side of a damn mountain.

After that, things went downhill. I did manage to engage the services of an Asian slave through a bizarre incense-guessing ritual. I think that was supposed to be a good thing. But then, in camp, a AbS showed up and though I managed to snap several pictures and use the flash to scare him off, the shutter(?)didn't close and the pictures were ruined.

I'm no expert on digital photography, but it's my understanding that digital cameras may or may not have a shutter. However, it's not like film with the exposures and whatnot. This is truly a cruel twist of fate is what I'm getting at.

So, on the plus, I didn't die. A yeti didn't drink my spinal fluid at any point, so that's sort of a win. On the minus, I clearly didn't accomplish any of my AbS goals. So overall, I'm going to have to chalk this one up as a loss, though not in the death column.

There is some argument out there on how these are to be read. That maybe I should go back and try again. HOWEVER, I would argue against that. If they meant for you to go back, they would put the number of the previous decision on the pages with shitty endings instead of forcing you to wedge your thumb in there and read it cockeyed, almost as if not looking straight at it meant that it didn't really happen.

I would like it if they added something like [Bad Ending] at the end if you screw up, [Good Ending!] if you got one of the good ones. At least that way I'd be clear. Although maybe this was just one of the unfortunate mediocre endings.

One book out, Choose Your Own Adventure has turned out to be fairly true in that Pete ends up making a series of decisions that result in a truly flavorless life.

[Asma Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two boys who are exploring the Himalayas. when the boy named Carlos gets lost. Will you find him or you meet your doom. I read this a few times. One of my favorite was where me and Carlos reunite and see a unicorn, but unfortunately we get stuck in this world.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read aloud with the kids. They made terrible choices.

[TheBurrowBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brought back so many memories 🥰. I used to sit in my cousins room and read all his choose your own adventure books at family gatherings. It was the best! Love some of the outlandish endings in this book - especially the unicorn ending.

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an odd choice for the first Choose Your Own Adventure book under the Chooseco banner. For a story about hunting Yeti in the Himalayas, it's surprisingly dull. Very little of interest happens on any of the paths, despite the opportunity for experimentation due to each path being inconsistent with the others (a cardinal gamebook sin in its own right). There's no identifiable "good" ending (unless it's the one where talking yeti moralize at you about how awful the modern world is), a few bad ones, a lot that simply peter out, and far too many that descend into vague spiritual mumbo-jumbo, a problem that arises whenever non-white characters show up in an R.A. Montgomery story.

Honestly, how bad do you have to be to screw up a book about hunting yeti?

[Julie Decker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh no, your friend disappeared while you were in the mountains searching for the Yeti! Is it too dangerous to save him, or will you brave the snow and the potentially violent creature lurking out in the wilderness?

I picked this up because I was running out of Choose Your Owns that seemed at least somewhat science fiction-y. I'm not very interested in cryptozoology but I thought there might be some fun times in this. Mostly it just seemed stereotypical of the legends and supposed local culture and the endings were pretty random; you'd make a choice and then OOPS SOMETHING COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO YOUR CHOICE HAPPENED AND YOU DIED OR FAILED.

[James Swenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I helped arrest some international hashish smugglers, which was not what I thought would happen.

[Jessica Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok , hear me out. When was the last time you read a choose your own adventure book? If there is ever a way to re live your childhood, this is it. Pure nostalgia.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Abominable Snowman is one of the most high-profile original Choose Your Own Adventures. In 2006 Chooseco adapted it as a DVD game, a treatment afforded no other book in the series. A young, proficient mountain climber, you and your friend Carlos are headed to the Himalayas in search of the mythological Yeti. You arrive in Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal, only to hear Carlos is missing. He went to Everest base camp in pursuit of a lead on a Yeti sighting, but hasn't returned. R.N. Runal, the government official you need to approve your permits to search for the Yeti, has an appointment to speak with you. Should you go through with it, or cancel and look for Carlos immediately?

Runal hesitates to give the green light for you and Carlos to enter Yeti territory. A recent party of outsiders attempted to kill a Yeti, and Runal warns the Yeti may harbor anger toward humans. He suggests you visit Terai instead and study tigers. If you insist on your original mission, Runal requests to go with you; his position in government will help slash through bureaucratic red tape. He sends a team that retrieves Carlos, and the expedition begins. In a certain village, Runal says there's a Buddhist monk with close ties to the Yeti. The monk invites you to join a secret society that lives in harmony with the Yeti. If you accept, a gigantic man named Zodak leads you to Shangri-La, a utopian mountain village. You've far exceeded your aspiration to prove the Yeti exist.

Canceling that original meeting with Runal prompts him to go along on your search for Carlos. Yeti are believed to prefer lower altitudes, but if you look higher up, in the glaciers, you reunite with Carlos right away and meet Sirdar Podang Sorba, a Sherpa guide. If you stumble onto evidence that Sirdar is a criminal, you could be strong-armed into the international illegal drugs market. Avoid that danger and Sirdar might join your excursion to find the Yeti. If he guides you into the Everest region, you have an icy climb ahead that is likely a death sentence. Go to Annapurna instead, and in camp one night you see a distant flash. Is it a sign of the Yeti, or mountaineers in distress? If you come face to face with a Yeti, will you have the presence of mind to collect proof? Choosing to search lower altitudes rather than the glaciers, you meet a woman who interacted with Carlos. He left a note asking you to wait here; if you comply, the Yeti arrive that night howling outside. Go after them and you could trace Carlos to a quiet, isolated valley, rescue him from his Yeti captors, or find him thriving among space aliens called the Movidians. Will Carlos want to reenter human society? Would you, if promised paradise instead?

I expected good things from The Abominable Snowman, but it's a candidate for worst Choose Your Own Adventure to this point in the original series. No attempt is made at internal consistency, so there's no sense that your decisions matter, and the core identity of the Yeti transforms from one ending to the next. Without a reliable depiction of Yeti culture, we're left with no memorable revelation of who they are or feeling of accomplishment at our discovery. Aside from an ending or two with a glimmer of philosophical promise, which is why I rate the book one and a half stars, The Abominable Snowman isn't worth your time. That's disappointing, because the concept is ready made for a pure, exhilarating adventure.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Actual Star Rating 2.5 Stars***

This is a book that my husband ended up getting via store credit. As a result even though it was disappointing overall it isn't that much of a waste. Although it did help us to pass the night away together as we sought the elusive Yeti.

My one major bone with CHOA books it that they were created largely with a male audience in mind, especially when I first had access to them. And even though most of the time there is no suggestion as to sex to the reader the illustrations normally end up showing the reader as a boy when and if the illustrator should have chose to add him.

Knowing that the book was re-published but the illustrations weren't updated is a bit of a stinger. You can re-edit the books to update them to fit technologically with the time but you still can't make them gender-friendly. I guess you take what you can get when an author provides it.

Otherwise what I do enjoy about the re-published book is that there is more educational stuff added. At this point what that means is there a spread of the main mountains of the Himalayas, their heights and some fun facts. There is also a quiz about the book although if you didn't pick the path there may be a few questions you can't answer and there is a general summary of what you may find in the book such as how many times you may run into Yetis, how many endings there are, unicorns, etc.

The writing is typical of many of the older CYOA books where it is nice large font and quite simple words. As a result these would make for great books for much younger children who are just beginning to learn to read and enjoy books.

As for the illustrations they really aren't much to write about. People-wise I didn't find much of an issue but they surely have some interesting ideas for the Yetis who looked quite foolish. For inspiring artists as they are mostly black and white it can make for a nice coloring book if you should feel like adding to the book your own touch.

Finally the last portion that needs to be addressed is the fact of the endings. For this book there didn't seem like there were many choices that actually led to an actual long story and as a result we ended up hitting 18 of the proposed endings. This is also the reason my husband chose the star rating.

The author was quite creative when it came to his endings for this book. But some of them just really weren't realistic even if Yetis should appear to exist and there were way too many fast arrived dead-endings.

Altogether the book was decent and creative but not one of the best CYOAs that you can come upon. Still it would make for a good classroom read or even a home read for someone who is looking for a quick escape from reality.

[Jorge Rosas · Rating 4 out of 5]

We start with two friends and a mission to find the Yeti, we find so many possibilities, from not finding them to finding out too much and even dimensional travel, as always these are quite enjoyable to read.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

6/19/2024 - A great book for a child’s first “Choose Your Own Adventure!” It even taught some information about Nepal. You can choose the adventures, but it is also works if you read it straight through.

[Amanda Schwind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love the concept of these books. Each route takes you somewhere completely new!

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduced the girl to these! Yay...she loves them as much as I did, and the boys....I mean, how can you not!?!

[Kevin Purvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was awesome to re-live my youth. I had forgotten the dark turns these books make. As choose your own adventures go, this was perfectly fine.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who could resist buying and reading a pile of these?!?

[Leonardo]

No es uno de esos libros que se leen cover to cover, pero ayer con Bruno le dimos varias vueltas.

[Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this a few ways with the kids. They really enjoyed it.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for Goodreads 2018 Summer Reading Challenge, Expert Level.
Childhood Reboot: Read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel

So...apparently Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels do not improve with the age of the reader. I remember liking them as a kid, although I rarely read them since they went too fast and I always seemed to die. But as an adult, I found the writing to be stilted, the story boring, and the endings (yes, I kept reading until I got every single one, including the "secret" online ending...) strange and random. Somewhere I still have, packed in a box, my favorite Choose-Your-Own-Adventure from my childhood. But now I'm afraid to read it again. Some things make better memories than they do realities.

I wish the challenge had not included this category. It made me a little depressed.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of the reviewers here, I was totally in love with the Choose Your Own Adventure series as a kid. I am glad that the reprint still bears that mysterious, eccentric charm of the Packard-Montgomery universe where nothing is certain and you can fall dead anytime...

I too felt that the story, like others in the series, ended way too quickly. It would be great if someone could come up with an adult version of the series, with a lot more complexity, length and a little more sophisticated prose.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that the book Choose your own adventure:The Abominable Snowman was an ok book. I did not think that this book was my favorite because the story that I picked did not have a very good ending. In the book my favorite character was Carlos. He was my favorite character because I personally thought that he was very funny, I also thought that he was the main character in the book. I like the series because I think that it is cool how the author lets you choose the adventure.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being the first of the series, I'd say the Abominable Snowman adventure is action-packed and the characters are very thoroughly developed. While the plot takes some surprising turns,it never lets you down. In fact, my favorite ending is the one in which you make it to a Tibetain monastery where you cannot leave. There is a unicorn, the snowman, and other magical creatures.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro de mis libros favoritos de la serie.
El argumento de ir en busca del Yeti y fotografiarle siempre me resultó fascinante. Quizá no es el mejor libro de Montgomery en desarrollo, pero no obstante, tiene toques muy Zen y consigue crear atmósfera. Además, para ser destinado a niños, es un libro que dota de conocimientos geográficos y de situación y cultura ( Montgomery suele hacerlo siempre).

[Miund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read all of the Choose Your Own Adventure series when I was small, and I just couldn't believe my own stupidity of NOT preserving the books. Verdict: excellent for Librans to exercise decision-making ability. Hm, wonder if my parents bought me these to do so...

[Anna Rybicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember these? They are still fun! I read this with my kids, ages 6 and 8, and they both really liked it. It was the first Choose Your Own Adventure I've shared with them, and now they are wanting more.