Sadly, the myth of the ape-like creature has not been proven. Instead, hundreds of Yeti coolers are washing up on the Alaskan coast after a freight ship lost its cargo.
After the Zim Kingston freight ship lost some shipping containers in a fire last October, Alaskan locals are now finding some lost treasure along the shoreline — most of which include expensive Yeti brand coolers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that hundreds of the high-end coolers, which range from $250 to $750 each, have been washing onto beaches with hardly any wear on the outside and in close to pristine condition on the inside.
“Oh, my God. What’s coming to our beaches?” Hundreds of Yeti coolers fell off a freighter last year and have reached Alaska’s coast. Locals are carting them away. https://t.co/RxdTGDUE8l
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 3, 2022
Matt Reintjes, Yeti president and chief executive told The Wall Street Journal that the company lost approximately 1,600 coolers saying, “We started to hear reports of some of these coolers ending up on the shores of Alaska, Seattle, and beyond late last year when fans posted their finds on social media.”
The rare and somewhat expensive beach find has some locals making it a hobby to search for treasures along Alaska’s coastline. One resident told The Wall Street Journal that he had found 19 Yeti coolers and four others from different brands while he was treasure hunting.
Others have commented on Twitter with one user saying, “Be right there.” While another said, “I fueled up my tugboat and will spend my life looking for $450 cooler.”
Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who studies how ocean debris travels on currents, told The Wall Street Journal “The Yetis are still out there. The coolers will keep circling the world. You’ll be getting reports of people finding Yetis for the next 30 years.”
