Are the slopes of northern Spain home to Europe’s first yeti?

Can you guess what it is yeti? Did a skier in Spain capture a yeti walking through the snowy peaks of the Aramón resort?

Skiers have a lot to worry about: those pesky beginners getting in everybody’s way; the tough decision of whether to traverse the black runs to impress your ski party; negotiating the après-ski bar at speed, and trying hard to find the perfectly pitched tone for your humble-brag Facebook posts (“Sore ankles after another day on the slopes – and I might be sunburnt! Pass me the wine!”), but now those lucky enough to enjoy the splendour of northern Spain’s Formigal resort can add another concern to that list – the chance of bumping into a full-size, mystical yeti…

Amateur footage captured this week by a skier enjoying the snowy peaks of the Pyrenees appears to show a white, ape-like creature making haste through some fir trees in the distance.

The shaky, short and grainy footage (even in this day of GoPro cameras and pixel-sharp iPhones, ‘legends’ and ‘myths’ always come packaged with the prerequisite ‘shaky’ footage) does appear to show something akin to a bigfoot-type mammal walking upright in a way that would suggest it is not a bear.

The white fur is also unusual, because polar bears are not known to holiday in northern Spain for the winter, no matter how good the local cuisine may be (VIVA tip: it’s excellent).

Conspiracy theorists were quick to suggest that it was just some prankster in a thick white suit. But that explanation begs the question: how did a ski-less man get all the way up the side of a mountain, dressed as a yeti, without being spotted?

Another suggestion was that the ‘creature’ was actually a Spanish soldier out on manoeuvres, but surely the owner of the Aramón resort would have been aware that such practices were taking place during the height of ski season?

Nope, all rational explanations do not seem to hold much water, prompting the internet to go into something approaching meltdown as the video was shared, dissected and debated over all around the globe.

Such is the furore it is causing that a resort spokesman was moved to issue a reassurance to skiers: “We have spoken to the witnesses of the sighting to identify the area in which it took place and after combing the area we have found nothing.

“We believe, therefore, that there is no cause for alarm and that visitors’ security is guaranteed. In any case, we will remain alert.”

The anonymous skier who posted the footage remains convinced that what he saw was beyond the realms of ordinary, and the pictures released so far would seem to suggest that the creature could well be one of the fabled yetis that are said to roam remote mountain regions the world over.

That one could exist in Spain simply adds to the country’s enduring allure, exotic wildlife, sense of wilderness and, well, all-round awesomeness. Whatever is out there, the fact that Spain remains a place of intrigue and mystery adds even more lustre to the country’s overall attractiveness.