The Unsolved Mystery of The Dyatlov Pass

Nine experienced snow hikers died under mysterious circumstances while they were on an expedition in The Ural Mountains in western Siberia. They were all experienced and well-trained hikers, who knew the risks and had prepared well for the hike. Sixty years on, there is still no closure to this mysterious tragedy, though many theories have mushroomed, including as bizarre as a yeti attack to an alien invasion! The unsolved mystery of The Dyatlov Pass still lingers, even after 60 years!

The Expedition

Ten experienced, Grade II Russian snow hikers & skiers set out on an expedition across The Ural Mountains in western Siberian plain. After the completion of the expedition, the hikers would qualify for Grade III certification in hiking, which was the highest certification in the field at the time. The expedition was led by Igor Dyatlov, who was the most experienced of them all. They set out for the hike on January 25^th, 1959, from a town called Ivdel in the northern province of Sverdlovsk Oblast. However, on January 28th, one of the members of the expedition, Yuri Yudin had to turn back due to health issues involving severe joint pain, a condition he was already suffering from. The rest of the group continued with the expedition.

The Tragedy

After about 7 days, on the intervening night of 1^st & 2^nd February, the group pitched their tent on the slopes of a mountain called ‘Kholat Syakhi’ in the local language, roughly translating to ‘Dead Mountain’ in English (Now called The Dyatlov Pass, in the memory of the expedition leader Igor Dyatlov). There was a snowstorm blowing at the time with heavy snowfall. The last picture taken by the group was when they were shoveling snow to create a platform for their tent. A few weeks later, when their date of return became overdue, the authorities set up a search and rescue team to go and look for them.

Search & Rescue

On 26^th February, the search & rescue team reached the mountain and found the tent. Upon examining, they found that tent had been abandoned and the hikers had walked down the mountain slope. This was evident from the the nine pairs of footprints going down, away from the tent.

The investigators found that the tent had been ripped open from the inside and the hikers seemed to have left it in a state of panic and hurry. There was food served, ready to be eaten, left as it was and the hikers left the safety of their tent, wearing minimal night clothing, and some even barefoot. It did not add up because they all were experienced hikers and knew the severity of the weather outside very well. Despite their expertise, they would do something like this, is intriguing, rather creepy!! All the equipment and the supplies were also left behind.

Upon retracing the footsteps, the rescuers found that the footsteps were lost in the snow after about 500 meters, they pressed on in the same direction and found the first two bodies of the hikers under a cedar tree and also found the remains of a makeshift fire. Those two bodies were grossly underdressed, rather found only in their underwear. The branches of the cedar were found damaged up to a height of 30 ft.

Upon searching further, 3 more corpses were found between the tree and the tent. They were also inadequately dressed, in fact mostly disrobed.

Nearly two months later, the bodies of the remaining 4 hikers were found in a shallow ravine near the cedar tree, besides a creek. Apparently, these bodies were dressed in the clothing that was initially worn by the other hikers, who died near the tree or between the tree & the camp.

Cutting short the gory details, most of the hikers’ bodies were badly bruised, burnt and some even dismembered. All the bodies had signs of violent trauma such as fractured skulls & ribs, though they lacked external wounds. Post-mortem studies revealed that six of them died of hypothermia and the other three of violent injuries, hemorrhages, & blood loss. Besides the bodily injuries, the clothing of some hikers also had signs of radiation contamination.

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Unanswered Questions

There is a lot of literature and media available in the public domain but all of it fails to answer the following basic questions:

• What forced the hikers to leave the safety of their tent in such a weather and in such a hurry that they could not even dress properly for the conditions outside?
• Why two of them were found dressed more appropriately for the elements than the others? Were they already outside on purpose?
• Why some of them were wearing the clothing of others, who apparently died before them?
• Where did the radiation contamination come from?
• Some of the corpses had their eyes and tongues removed. Why so much of either pre-mortem, or post-mortem violence?
• Why some of the hikers’ bodies were so badly burnt?

Consider This

The group got separated after a short walk away from the tent in the middle of the night and formed 3 subgroups and each scrambled for their own safety. They could have been separated for one of the following reasons;

• They got disoriented and lost track of each other in the dark wilderness.
• They had different ideas to stay safe and did not concur so went different ways.
• They had an argument and eventually went off in different directions.

Whatever was the reason, there were three strategies followed by the three subgroups. One subgroup of two hikers lit up a fire to endure the night. The second subgroup found returning to the camp as a better option (that is why their corpses were discovered midway between the tree and the camp) and the third subgroup considered digging a snow shelter safer. Apparently, none of the strategies worked and all of them eventually perished.

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Proposed Explanations

Many theories have been proposed, offering possible explanations to that horrific incident. Some suggest an undercover military operation gone wrong, while others mention the involvement of Russian Secret Service, KGB. Mythical explanations have also emerged, pointing towards a Yeti attack. Some analysts have even suspected an alien attack, given the fact that some ball lighting was observed in that area by another group of hikers, camping some 50 kms away on the same mountain. Theories involving an avalanche, fire in the tent, carbon monoxide poisoning have also been proposed.

Conclusion

Looking at how badly the bodies were mutilated; one thing is for sure though, there was tremendous violence on that mountain, that night. Whether the violence was between the members of the group themselves or from an outside force, remains unknown. It could have a simmering argument within the group, that went out of control that night. There could have been two or three opposing factions within the group, leading to distrust and anger. Days of fatigue and isolation may have added fuel to it. Any post-mortem violence is unlikely, as the bodies were not cannibalized or preyed upon.

If there was an external force, then why did the group separate? They would have been the safest together. Disorientation, distrust, anger, or delirium could be the only reasons for their separation, pointing to an internal conflict. Since they were all physically fit, no one could physically dominate the other and eventually ended up mortally wounding each other. Some died early while the other lived a little longer and tried to save themselves from the cold by cannibalizing on the corpses’ clothing.

If the group was peaceful and together then why did, they leave the tent to venture out in the bitter cold remains an eternal question. What was inside the tent they were trying to escaping from?

As far as the autopsy reports go, six of them were reported to have died of hypothermia. This could be misleading because even those six had sustained mortal wounds. After getting wounded, hypothermia may have killed them because they were rendered immobile. In this situation, though technically they died of hypothermia, logically their cause of death should have been reported as hypothermia, induced by immobility due to their mortal injuries.

Disorientation, intoxication, a fight, or an intragroup sabotage are the most likely causes for this tragedy rather than an external force.

What are your thoughts on this?