A group of 10 students/graduates from the Ural Polytechnical Institute set out on a 14-day expedition with the goal of reaching Otorten (a Northen Ural mountain) on the 25th of January 1959. At the time they set out on this expedition, the route was classified as a "Category 3" which was the most difficult but all of the hikers were highly experienced and felt they were able to complete it. Very early on one of the members of the group, Yuri Yudin, fell ill and had to return home. Diaries and cameras they took with them made it able to track their movements on the days leading up to their deaths.
The hike actually began on February the 1st but the group only travelled 4km that day when they set up a base camp on a slope 10 miles from mount Otorten. Igor Dyatlov had said he would send a telegram to their sports club as soon as the group completed their expedition (which was expected to be by the 12th of february) but Dyatlov had told Yudin it could be a little bit longer than this so when no message came on the 12th, there was no immediate worry. Only after a few relatives of the hikers demanded action to be taken did a rescue operation commence.
On the 26th of February, the searchers found the abandoned and damaged tent of the hikers (which had been cut open from the inside and was covered in some snow with belongings such as shoes still inside). Footprints were found leaving the tent towards a nearby woods and it seemed that this had happened in a hurry as some of the hikers were barefoot, only wearing socks or only wearing one shoe as they left.
At the edge of the forest the search team found the remains of a fire and, very sadly, the first two bodies which were of Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivoshenko, both shoeless and dressed only in their underwear. Above them, the branches of a tree had been broken up to about 5m up as if one or more of the hikers had tried to climb up it which was later confirmed by tests which found traces of skin on the branches. It was also pointed out that the bodies had been turned over AFTER the two hikers had died, indicated by livor mortis on the fronts of their bodies.
On the 27th of February, the remains of Igor Dyatlov and Zinaida Kolmogorova were found, followed by Rustem Slobodin 6 days later. The places these three hikers were found suggests that they were actually trying to make their way back toward the tent and post mortem examinations found no deathly injuries meaning they most likely died from hypothermia like the previous two hikers. After this point, searching for the remaining four bodies took over two months.
The final four were found on May the 5th under four metres of snow in a ravine further into the woods. These hikers were dressed better than the others and it seems that they had maybe taken clothes from those who had died first to try and stay warm. An examination of these bodies however changed the course of the whole investigation.
Thibeaux-Brignolles had major skull damage and both Dubinina and Zolotarev has major chest fractures which, according to a doctor, would require the force of something such as a car crash to occur but no outside wounds were found. Dubinina also had her eyes and tongue missing (which is thought to have been removed whilst she was still alive) and Semyon Zoloateryov had an eyeball missing too. Some of these hikers also had radioactive traces on the clothes they were wearing when found.
Theories
1. A Yeti...?
Lets get this first one out of the way as I don't think this is very probable... Some people believe that this yeti or 'snow-man' was captured on one of the photos taken by the group and that maybe this creature could have been strong enough to at least kill the final few hikers found who were deemed to have died because of immense pressure. Obviously, the figure in the photo could be anyone, even one of the hikers themselves and I don't think that this theory has any real evidence to it at all.
2. Mansi Native Hunters
It is also suggested that the person in the photo could be one of the native mansi people who were indigenous to the area and hunted very close to where the group had set up camp. Some photos from the group show some marking on the trees around the area they camped which were thought to have been done by these people. If they wished, this group would have had the skills to hunt down and kill members of the group. In terms of motives, its possible that the Mansi people asked the group to leave their area as it was there special hunting area but the group refused, leading to a feud. However, I don't really believe this theory either as the hunters cut themselves out of the tent from the one side and got away into the woods which I doubt would have happened if there was a group of people surrounding them. Also, the Mansi people had not caused any concern or committed any criminal activity for 30 years.
3. ALIENS
OF COURSE there is an alien theory surrounding these deaths, as there always is in cases like this. It is said that another group of hikers saw some orbs or lights in the sky around the same time the hikers were killed and if this was aliens, it could explain the radioactive resonance on their clothes and why hikers' eyes and tongue was missing. However, I think we all can conclude that it was probably not the work of little green men.
4. KGB AGENTS?
This theory suggests that three of the hikers, Alexander "Semyon" Zolotaryov, Alexander Kolevatov and Yuri Krivonischenko, were KGB agents (a large secretive spy organisation in the Soviet union) and that they were sent to deliver fake radioactive material to the CIA to gain footage and information on them. The theory states that the CIA basically found out about the plan and killed the agents, followed by killing the rest of the hikers and positioning them back around the camp and in the woods to cover it up, as they wouldn't have known whether they could trust them too.
The first bit of evidence to support this is the large amount of high-tech camera equipment they took with them on their expedition - why would they want to carry such heavy equipment on such a tricky hike?
Zolotaryov in particular seems to be a very sketchy character - he was a veteran of the NKVD (a secret Soviet police organisation) who had joined the expedition last minute and archives from the polytechnic institute show that he had worked in Moscow in a very top secret scientific facility which was unnamed. He also had a weird tattoo which no one could translate into any language.
Also, Yuri's background is quite curious as it has been suggested that he may have worked in a very sketchy organisation where a massive nuclear disaster occurred in 1957.
Although these two hikers do have some interesting, possibly sketchy backgrounds, this still does not explain the pressure which killed the last few hikers found and why the footprints from the tent matched with the hikers and seemed to have been carried out in a very calm orderly way.
5. Avalanche
Another more believable theory, which I'm sure a lot of people have thought of, is that there was an avalanche. This theory suggests that the avalanche forced the hikers to cut themselves out of the tent and move away into the woods in quite a hurry, explaining why they left without shoes on. This could explain the pressure which killed the last few hikers found also.
However, there was absolutely no evidence of an avalanche at this time in the area. The tent wasn't crushed, it was simply damaged from being cut from the inside and the footprints were deemed to be slow and calculated rather than hurried chaotically. It also doesn't make sense that experienced hikers would set up camp near a spot where an avalanche could happen. Also, the hikers who were killed by high pressure were actually found furthest away from the tent.
6. Evacuation?
This is probably the most likely theory - in a few of the photos, it is seen that an exhaust pipe was set up by Dyatlov to let fumes outside the tent when they would cook inside. However, if this was not successful, the tent could likely catch fire - it seems they did have trouble with this method as there is a photo of one of the hikers with a seemingly burnt jacket on.
This theory states that when they finished cooking around 6pm-7pm, they took the exhaust pipe out but some embers could have relighted and caused the tent to fill up with smoke. This may have been the reason for the hikers cutting themselves out of the tent and why they then walked away so calmly as they were outside the tent and away from the danger at this point. They may have then headed towards the woods to find a new shelter/find help as they had just damaged their tent. It could also explain why the hikers were trying to climb the trees - maybe to see if the campsite was okay or if there was anywhere else they could head towards. If they had deemed the campsite to be safe, this could also explain why some of the hikers were thought to be heading back towards the tent - although it doesn't really explain why the group had split up quite far apart?
It is thought that the first few hikers died of hypothermia as they couldn't survive in the freezing temperatures and then the other hikers moved away and tried to set up a camp elsewhere. However, at this point a small avalanche could have occurred which would explain the high-pressure injuries which caused the deaths of the final hikers and why they were covered in so much snow when they were found.
But STILL not one of these theories can really explain why eyes were missing from two hikers and why the tongue had been cut out from one also. Also, who turned the bodies of the first few hikers over after they had died? and why were the clothes of the last hikers radioactive?
The following statement from the Junior Counselor of Justice and Criminal Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk region, Lev Ivanov, basically suggests that Dyatlov (considered the leader of the group) made many mistakes when planning and carrying out this trip, ultimately leading to the death of the 9 hikers:
"The deaths of the expedition members were due to a series of mistakes by Dyatlov. On 1 February he began the ascent to the summit at 3 PM, even though he knew about the difficulty of the terrain. Furthermore – and this was Dyatlov’s next mistake – he chose a line 500 m to the left of the planned pass that lies between Peak 1079 and Peak 880. So the group found themselves on the eastern slope of Peak 1079. They used what was left of the daylight to ascend to the summit in strong winds (which are typical for this area) and low temperatures of minus 25 degrees centigrade. Dyatlov found himself in bad conditions for the night, so he decided to pitch his tent on the slope of 1079 so as to start in the morning without adding the distance from the forest (~1 km) to the remaining trek of about 10 km to the summit.
Considering the absence of external injuries to the bodies or signs of a fight, as well as the abandonment of all the valuable resources, adding the conclusions of the medical examinations for the causes of the deaths, it has to be concluded that the cause of their deaths was calamity or overwhelming force."
This is such a sad case and reading the diaries and looking at the photos the hikers took so close to their deaths makes it really hard-hitting and real.
What do you think happened?
Thanks for reading,
Holly Amber x
Disclaimer: I will try to present the information as factually as possible and use information which I have found from credible websites/sources. In presenting the theories, these are merely speculation and do not always reflect my personal opinion. The main aim of this series is to raise awareness of cold cases and get people interested in speaking about them and keeping the story alive.
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