unexplained death
Dyatlov’s tour group, lost in the Ural mountains, was discovered on February 26, 1959, almost a month after his death on February 2, 1959. At first, hunters from local Mansi tribes pointed out the location of the tent, and soon a search group led by Boris Slobtsov arrived at the tent. However, there was no one in the tent and rescue teams had to search for kilometers around the tent to find the bodies. According to the results of the crime scene investigation, the investigation was presented with a picture of one of the most mysterious tragedies in the history of the USSR.
The fact that an abandoned tourist tent was cut open indicated that either the tent needed to be evacuated urgently or an armed attack. In addition, the people running out of the tent were not dressed properly: Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, for example, were wearing only underwear, although they were one and a half kilometers from the parking lot and managed to make a fire. The body of the leader of the group, Dyatlov, lying three hundred meters away, had neither outer clothing nor shoes. Kolmogorova and Slobodin were also without shoes and both had signs of nosebleeds. In general, everything looked as if the marchers had to escape from the tent with nothing to eat and then tried to survive in the cold by making a fire.
Usually, people go out without clothes in winter only in extreme situations such as fire, bombing or bandit attack. Avalanche is considered a classic danger in a mountain hike, but the tent was located on level ground under a very slight slope – moreover, the avalanche should leave a characteristic trace that will be clearly visible to an experienced person.
escape from camp
One version is that it was an attack by bandits or residents of local tribes. Tourists have no value, and therefore one version of the conflict with the Mansi arose based on the group’s alleged desecration of their sacred mountains. However, inquiries from local residents showed that no one saw the tour group and the mountain where the rituals were performed was located in a different location. Finally, the fabric was examined and it was revealed that the tent was cut from the inside.
Zinaida Kolmogorova (left) and Semyon Zolotarev (right)
dyatlovpass.com
Additionally, the five people identified by March had no significant injuries and died of hypothermia.
In May, rescue teams discovered new bodies with fracture marks from exposure to great force. However, the fractures did not appear to be severe, and so on May 28, 1959, the criminal case was dropped.
Investigators concluded: “The location and presence of objects in the tent (almost all shoes, all outerwear, personal belongings and diaries) indicate that the tent was suddenly abandoned by all tourists at the same time and, as later determined by forensic examination, that the side of the tent where the tourists laid their heads was It was revealed from the cuts that a person was cut in two places from the inside, in areas that allow free exit. <...>
“There was no sign of a struggle or the presence of anyone else in or near the tent.”
It seemed logical and natural that people died without clothes in the cold (from -20 to -30), but the reason for leaving the tent remained a mystery. All subsequent research is devoted to this.
Deceptively smooth slope
There are many versions of what drove people to go outside: a bear attack, delirium of delirium or the use of psychotropic drugs, girl-related conflicts or a ball lightning explosion. Others believed that people were injured by a flare bomb dropped by an American reconnaissance officer, but it is not clear why this could not have been a Soviet bomb accidentally dropped or did not lighten the plane before a difficult landing. Conspiracy theorist Alexey Rakitin believed that the tourists were Soviet counterintelligence officers and that foreign intelligence officers killed them to avoid detection. None of these theories are based on facts and, as a rule, are boldly dismissed as fantasy.
The brittle deep frost layer is highlighted in grey. Just above the tent hangs a wind-accumulated layer.
Springer Nature
The most serious hypothesis is considered to be an anomalous mini-avalanche (or, to be more geologically accurate, a snow landslide). Traditionally, slopes steeper than 30° are considered dangerous, but the tent was pitched on terrain with a slope slightly steeper than 20°. When camping, tourists dug a small area for tents, which disrupts the integrity of the snow cover and can trigger landslides. But this should happen immediately, perhaps even during the digging process, rather than after a few hours. However, the mini-avalanche version was supported by many geologists in the 1990s, but they could not explain exactly how it formed.
To reach a clear conclusion about the avalanche to come and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia in 2020. But some enthusiasts continue to argue with this version, because the area around the tent does not really imply classic avalanches.
Scientists from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2021 spent Detailed computer modeling of the scene was carried out and the version of the landslide was scientifically confirmed. The main reason for its disappearance was the abnormal type of snow cover for a city dweller, but deep frost, usual for the mountains. The easiest way to describe it is as poorly adhered, loose and brittle lumps of ice that form from ordinary snow due to temperature changes. Deep frost makes the slope unstable even with a slope of more than 15°.
Simulation of landslide and the injuries it causes.
Springer Nature
In addition, the relief of the snow cover did not correspond to the real geological relief.
In reality, the tent was in a ditch at the bottom of a slope of about 30 degrees, and after going up a few meters, it turned into a gentler tent. Snowfall smoothed out this irregularity and as a result the mountain looked equally flat.
However, this still does not explain the time interval between setting up the tent and the mini-avalanche. This may have occurred due to precipitation, which sharply increased the snowpack over the camp – but it is certain that there was no snowfall that night. Therefore, scientists hypothesized that snow accumulated on the slope due to downward wind currents. The simulation showed that cutting off the snow cover should cause the newly accumulated snow to bake together just above the tent. The landslide occurred when the mass of the “canopy” reached a critical level.
Such an avalanche may be very small and therefore leave no visible trace. However, the mass of ice blocks in its composition is sufficient to cause serious but non-fatal chest fractures, such as those experienced by some members of the group.
The only thing that remains unclear is why it was necessary to run in a panic from the tent in warm clothes when a mini-avalanche occurred. Maybe tourists were afraid of a repeat of the landslide, but scientists cannot give a clear answer to this question: the human psyche and behavior are not yet amenable to computer modeling.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.