The Dyatlov Pass affair takes place in 1959, during the Soviet period. Ten young Russians decide to set off from the small village of Vijai on a trek across the Urals to reach Mount Otorten (1234 meters). They are well equipped, well informed and above all they were all super trained and in very good shape.
All of them are young students, which explains their impeccable physical condition. Russian universities insist and still insist on physical preparation and sports. Sports activities are an integral part of the university curriculum.

The Dyatlov Pass affair, when a hike turns into a nightmare and a tragedy

On the night of February 1st to 2nd, while the nine hikers were sleeping in the bivouac they had set up, everything changed. It is precisely at this moment that the hike will turn into a tragedy. A scene unfolds that no one can imagine, neither the complexity nor the violence. An enigma that neither the Russian authorities nor the internal security services will be able to solve. This is the last straw for a country where everything was under control for more than 80 years.

This mysterious tragedy which took place on the eastern slope of Mount Kholat Syakhl (name in the Mansi language), was classified as a crime in May 1959. A crime perpetrated against nine hikers and which remains unsolved to this day. The Dyatlov Pass case was born! For information, Kholat Syakhl means “the dead mountain”. (it can also be translated as the mountain of death or cursed mountain)

This case was reopened on 1 February 2019 by the Russian authorities, the date has its importance. This did not fail to revive the interest of public opinion on the case. But as a result of this investigation, the Russian prosecutor’s office concluded that there was a series of unfortunate avalanches. And that explains why the nine hikers died one winter night in the middle of a roller coaster range. Some foreign researchers have been interested in the case, but their conclusions are far from providing a full understanding of the tragedy. And we will explain why.

The team of hikers

The youngest of the victims was twenty years old at the time of the events. Here is the list of young Soviet men who set out to climb Mount Otorten and died on the side of the dead mountain (Mount Kholat Syakhl). A “mountain” that culminates at only 1097 meters. A low mountain pass that was later renamed Dyatlov Pass – in memory of the expedition’s team leader.

1. Alexander Sergeevich Kolevatov, born on November 16, 1934

2. Georgy Alekseevich Krivonishchenko, born on February 7, 1935 – he will be found dead, barefoot, and in his underwear in a small wood.

3. Nikolai Vladimirovich Thibeaux-Brignolles, born on July 5, 1935. He was found with a fractured skull.

4. Igor Alekseyevitch Dyatlov, born on January 13, 1936, is the leader of the expedition.

5. Roustem Vladimirovitch Slobodine, born on January 11, 1936

6. Zinaïda Alekseïevna Kolmogorova, born on January 12, 1937

7. Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Dubinina, born on May 12, 1938. Her body was found in bad condition, without her tongue, without eyes, and with 10 broken ribs.

8. Yuri Nikolayevich Doroshenko, was born on January 12, 1938. Like Krivonishchenko, his body was found near the remains of a campfire. Strangely enough, he is without shoes and underwear.

9. Alexander Alekseevich Zolotarev, born on February 2, 1921, is the oldest of the group – a sports teacher and former military. However, his biography leaves something to be desired, as he is said to have been “mistaken” several times about the details of his life and even about his military medals. He was found with three other bodies in the stream of a ravine under four meters of snow (in the presence of Lyudmila Dubina, Alexander Kolevatov, and Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles). Note that the group of 4 will be found more than two months later.

10. Iouri Efimovitch Ioudine, born on July 19, 1937*.

*The only survivor of the expedition – victim of a sciatica, he would not have followed the group in the adventure.

The bodies of the victims rest in the cemetery of Ekateringbourg (one of the biggest cities in Russia formerly called Sverdlosk)

Some logbooks and cameras were found. And this is what will allow us to retrace a part of their expedition.

Analysis of the list of 10 hikers who went to the Urals

When we look at the composition of the hikers, we realize that there are only two girls participating in the hike. Ludmila and Zinaida. They are among the youngest of the group.

On the other hand, Alexander Zolotarev is the oldest of the group. He was born in 1921. He is the intruder of the group. He was born more than fifteen years before all the others. This man fought in the Second World War and was awarded the Order of the Red Star, with the rank of knight. But his past remains unclear because of the different information about him, as we mentioned above.

A hike in the Urals

It all began on January 25, 1959, when the team of hikers arrived by train at Ivdel in the Sverdlovsk region. Then they took a truck to the village of Vijai in the north of the region.

Then, on January 27, 1959, they started to walk to Ortoten. But on January 28, 1959, Yuri Yudin abruptly abandoned the group. He was ill and had to let the group continue without him. He was the only survivor. Another disturbing fact, when Igor Dyatlov left him, he would have confided to him that the group would be late and that the date planned for February 12 could not be held. A way to postpone the beginning of the research? Why did he make this statement?

On January 31, 1959, everything accelerated. The group of nine hikers deposits a part of the food and the equipment which will be used for the return. This is a classic way of doing things in the field of mountaineering. It allows for facilitating the progression in the last part of the ascension.

But, on February 1, 1959, everything accelerates, and the weather is very bad. Temperatures drop brutally to -25 degrees Celsius. And from now on, nothing is safe. Because of the blizzard, the group of hikers deviates from its trajectory. It is finally on the side of the mountain that the group will stop for its ultimate bivouac. Avalanches in series or bad meetings all the tracks remain open.

The wait

The last person to have seen the nine dead hikers was Yuri Efimovich Yudin. The hikers were supposed to have returned to the village of Vijai a little after February 12, 1959. Dyatlov, the leader of the expedition had agreed with his sports club to send a telegram to inform everyone was safe and sound, when he returned. But this moment will never come.

On February 20, the families and friends of the hikers put pressure on the Polytechnic Institute to organize a search.

Students and professors organized to go out and rescue the nine young students. The hikers may be stranded somewhere after all, or simply lost. Shortly afterward, the police and the army also joined the search operation. Without success.

A tragic discovery: February 26, 1959

Thirty days after their departure a rescue team finally finds a tent. The canvas is discovered on the Kholat Syakhil pass but it is all torn. This does not augur well. Its occupants would have rushed out of it without even bothering to open it. This undoubtedly shows the emergency and definitive nature of the situation. It was thus necessary to flee, at all costs, without thinking about the material, or even the cold.

It is by following “prints or traces” that the investigators travel 500 meters and then nothing more. They then decided to explore a nearby wood.

The group of two

And it is at the edge of the wood that the research team finds two corpses. Gueorgui Krivonichtchenko and Iouri Dorochenko, lie there under a big pine tree, near the remains of a campfire. They are in underwear and do not even wear shoes. A scenario strange enough to question the investigators and all those who are interested in the investigation.

the group of three

A little further on, three other bodies are found. The first body lies 300 meters away, the second 500 meters away, and the last body is about 600 meters away. It is about Dyatlov, the leader of the expedition, who is accompanied by Kolmogorova and Slobodin. We think that they wanted to join the camp.

April 1959, the group of four

More than two months later, thanks to milder weather conditions, four other bodies were finally found. They were found under several meters of snow at the bottom of a ravine. They are all dressed more warmly.

Doubinina, Kolevatov, Thibeaux-Brignolles, and Zolotarev are the last bodies to be found.

At the autopsy, the authorities realize that Doubina and Zolotarev have broken ribs, and Thiebeaux-Brignolles has a fractured skull.

Doubina presents worrying injuries. His tongue and eyes are missing. A piece of her skull is also missing. The radioactive powder will be found on her. An event strange enough to be reported.

On the other hand, the hikers were found with brown skin. This is generally called nuclear tan, which usually appears after strong irradiation.

The conclusions of the official investigation of the Dyatlov Pass case
Six hikers died of hypothermia and the other three of fatal injuries (possibly from falling into a ravine)

The victims died between 6 and 8 hours after eating their last meal. In other words, they died in the middle of the night.

The unresolved question of radioactivity

On the other hand, the investigation shows high doses of radioactivity in the bodies. It should be noted that Alexander Kolevatov is a student in nuclear physics who has the particularity to have passed by Moscow where he worked in a ministry. He had also worked in a place of production always in connection with the atom.

Iuri is an engineer in Chelyabinsk, he was a liquidator during the nuclear accident in Kyshtym in 1957, two years before the facts.

Two of the nine hikers had a more or less precise knowledge of nuclear energy. On the night of their disappearance, observers spoke of their surprise at the appearance of strange colors in the sky. An explosion may have taken place during the first night of February.

The bodies are so irradiated that they might have been buried in lead coffins. A prosecutor who reported “supernatural” elements will be removed from the case. It would be interesting, however, to take radioactivity readings on all the bodies (and compare their radiation levels with those of their cemetery neighbors).

Possible hypotheses in the Dyatlov Pass case

1. A snow flow may have frightened the hikers, they would have left the tent completely panicked. Some of them wanted to make a fire to warm up. The group of three, seeing that it was useless, wanted to return to the bivouac. The other group of four hikers wanted to flee and fell into a ravine. The group of two who was found under the large pine tree near the remains of the fire were perhaps the first to die of hypothermia.

2. There may have been an explosion that panicked the hikers and especially caused panic in the tent. There are reports of sodium bomb tests in the winter of 1959. Another possibility is that there may have been infra-sound tests that disturbed and disoriented the hikers. A similar hypothesis evokes the testing of a vacuum bomb that could have been the starting point of the tragedy (avalanche, blast effect, panic, and escape). So many questions are supported by the fact that many elements of the file have disappeared.

One thing is sure, the hikers came out of the tent alive.

Nevertheless, the Russians know that the cold kills. So why did the hikers leave their tent without clothes? The danger they were facing would have been imminent and more important than the risk of dying of cold.

3. The Mantis, this mountain tribe, cannot be involved. Because the Mantis is very calm and peaceful people. Moreover, the police books do not record any attack from this local ethnic group.

4. Perhaps it is a prowler or the only survivor Yuri Yudin did not tell everything. Today he assures that the death of his nine teammates was caused by aliens. A simplistic version, but perfect enough not to embarrass anyone.

5. The investigation reopened on February 1, 2019, and then closed on July 20, 2019, which will conclude that multiple avalanches caused the panic and death of all participants. This thesis is quite plausible. Nevertheless, why wasn’t the tent taken on board over a long distance? And why weren’t the skis of the hikers who were buried under the tent also taken away with the plate? Finally, the triggering of an avalanche does not explain why people of sound mind ran to take refuge in the woods (without shoes and without appropriate clothing).

Summary

An avalanche resulting in the death of hikers could be realistic. Even if the snowpack was not particularly heavy. However, it is likely that the avalanche could have been caused by an explosion or detonation. An explosion or multiple explosions would have created plumes of incredible colors. A bit like the colors that could be observed during the Chernobyl disaster. These colors were strange enough to be reported by many observers who were present in the vicinity during the tragedy (meteorologists, soldiers, or hikers). It is difficult to solve in a few lines the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass affair. What remains is nine lives shattered in mid-air and a leaden silence.