Dyatlov Pass. The tragic campaign in the Northern Urals

How many written-rewritten about the death of Dyatlov's group, how many versions were put forward ... But every year you learn something new, more detailed, some facts are unknown to the village. Immediately I warn you - there will be a lot of letters.
The group of Igor Dyatlov, nine people, died in February 1959 in the area of Mount Otorten at an altitude of 1079 meters. The official cause of death: frostbite and injuries resulting from natural disasters, with which tourists could not cope. But what kind of element, from where - is still unknown to anyone. What caused nine experienced tourists to flee at night from the camp with supplies and warm clothes in the snow and frost is unknown. People ran out of tents in what they were, even without grabbing a jacket, without shoes. To understand the history of 56-year-old trying to ...

The route of the group was the village Ivdel - Vizhay - with climbing Mount Otorten.

The group's senior was Igor Dyatlov, a 5th year student of the radio engineering faculty. He was 24 years old. In the tourist environment, they knew him well, according to his friends and acquaintances - he enjoyed the indisputable authority of tourists
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The idea of a winter hike to Otorten came from Dyatlov in the summer of 1958. The route was new, unexplored, and for tourists it is important to be somewhere first. Why winter? In the summer you will not pass there - swamps and swamps. In winter, it is quite possible to reach the pass between Kholatchakhl and Otorten along the frozen Lozva and Auspia rivers. This was told to Dyatlov by a man, someone Ryagin, who worked in those parts of the forest. He will also help make Igor a map. With the cards at the time was the tension.
This is what Igor Dyatlov told in his campaign on the Altai to Peter Bartholomew, a participant in the campaign.

The preparation of the campaign project was started by Dyatlov in December 1958. In early January 1959, he coordinates it at the route commission of Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) - without her approval, the group would not be released on the route, and would not be given equipment. In the detailed plan of the trip, the number of members of the group is indicated. At that time it is 13 people. Three will not be able to go for different reasons: someone will be late for the train, and two will have problems with passing the session.

Three people from the group are not students. These are Krivonischeneko, Nikolay Tibo-Brignol and Rustem Slobodin.

Krivonischenko, friends call him Curve, already disaccustomed. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, working on the disposal of nuclear waste in the atomic center "Chelyabinsk-40". He loves and writes poetry. Plant and the joker. A lover of jokes, a tireless merry fellow.

Nikolay Tibo-Brignol his surname obliged ancestor to the French. Father repressed, uncle - White Guard officer - shot. Tipo hides these facts from friends, inventing the legend of the ancestor - the French revolutionary. Very few people know the truth. One of these friends is Peter Bartholomew. He did not participate in the Dyatlov campaign, although he wanted to. But he was friends with Tibo, they had a lot in common - Father Peter was also repressed.

The third is Rustem Slobodin, he also works with Krivonischenko in Chelyabinsk-40. Came back after graduation a year later, Curves. An experienced tourist. He was closed, silent, but he was trusted - he will always come to the rescue. He is one of the most physically strong and hardy in the group.

And what was himself Igor Dyatlov? At 24, he is an experienced tourist. Many people seek to get into his campaigns, but he selects strictly, there are no random people in groups - all of his own, proven, reliable guys.
Since childhood, Igor is fond of electronics, collects receivers, solders circuit. On the advice of his older brother, he enters the then prestigious department of radio electronics. He studies very well and has authority among students. Already before the hike, it was known that Dyatlov was left at the department after graduation. This surprised no one.
There is one funny fact from his biography: in one of the hikes tourists came across a hermit living in the taiga since the days of the civil war. The hermit had a broken receiver, and he asked them to fix it. Dyatlov quickly set up the radio, and gave his batteries so that the hermit had at least some connection with the world. At the institute for a long time, when mentioning the name of Dyatlov, the students said: "Oh, is this the guy who helped the hermit?")
In all his trips, Igor took his homemade receivers. But this time for some reason refused.
Dyatlova was considered one of the most experienced tourists. Peter Bartholomew recalls that in 1958, in the winter campaign of the highest category of complexity, there was a piece of the 10 km route that had to be passed without a map. She just wasn't there. So Dyatlov managed to see this piece of the path on the map of the pilots, and remember the route. Bartholomew says that Dyatlov led the group surprisingly well, and in extremely difficult conditions, from memory.

Two girls: Zinaida Kolmogorova and Lyudmila Dubinina - the only girls in the campaign. They are not new to tourism, they have experience of difficult trips in the background, and you can rely on them.

Zinaida - Started. The activist of the touristic section, heads the organizational department: prepares trips, takes exams for the “Tourist badge”, does tourist trips and weekend trips. All this on her shoulders. Bright, beautiful - it invariably attracts attention in any company and becomes its center. But by whom the beauty’s heart was taken is not clear. From her diaries and letters of such information, the investigators did not learn.

Lyudmila - quiet, modest. Her father is an ardent communist who raised a daughter like that. He taught her not to fail her comrades, to be faithful to the word, to always tell the truth (many of her friends point out the frankness and honesty of Lyudmila), and also her father does not deviate from one of the leaders of the local Economic Council. (It was he, judging by Ludmila’s diaries and Yudin’s words, that helps to get such necessary alcohol during the hike. Just at that time, a ban was placed on the sale of alcohol, and tourists could not get it for first-aid kits). In the summer campaign on the Sayan mountains in 1957, a hunter accidentally shot her leg with her. The guys on a stretcher carried her 90km to the nearest settlement. Peter Bartholomew, a participant in that campaign, recalls that Lyudmila was worried not for herself, but for those who carried it - it was hard for them.

Yuri Doroshenko. He was led to Dyatlov Yudin. He had been with him in summer campaigns, including in the ever-memorable, Sayan. There he became famous by throwing himself on a bear with a geological hammer in his hands. He is also extremely hardy and physically strong. For Dyatlov, this was important - an unknown new route, difficult conditions.

Alexander Kolevatov. He is remembered as a reasonable, meticulous and slightly boring companion. But at the same time a reliable and experienced tourist. Sasha is a student of physics and technology. Dyatlov knows him well from the Institute of Toursses.

Yuri Yudin - the only surviving participant of the campaign, says that he did not intend to go somewhere in the winter. But he could not refuse Dyatlov. It never even occurred to me. The authority of Igor and his invitation to hike was dear. Yury Yudin died in Soliamsk in 2013.

The tenth member of the group becomes Semen Zolotarev. Nobody knows him except Dyatlov. He is much older than boys, he is 37 years old. Not from the student environment that alerted the group. Dyatlov introduced him as an instructor of the camp site, a very experienced tourist. He is a war veteran, has awards. For some reason he asks to call himself Alexander. Oddly enough, he fit into the group from day one. Zolotarev knew a huge number of songs, and he conquered everyone. The guys write about his song archive in their diaries. And he gets on the group boots. It will become known later that Zolotareva recommended Sergey Sogrin to Dyatlov. Sogrin is also a tourist and led his group approximately to the same lands as Dyatlov. Zolotarev first plans to go with the Sogrin group around the Subpolar Urals, but in the 20th of January he suddenly asks for Dyatlov. Explains this with the fact that Dyatlov has a shorter route: 14 days versus 22 Sogra group. Plus, the route was a more difficult category, which allowed Zolotarev to receive a higher “rank” in tourism and become director of the tourist center.

Training to the campaign begins in the fall. The group goes to the marshbrokes with a full display: stuffing dumbbells, irons and other trash for weight into backpacks. Dyatlov and Kolmogorov already went to the Northern Urals, but this time the route goes one and a half times longer.

The last days of December 1958 the group is actively training on the Chusovaya River, and the celebration itself is met in the mountains. They will gather in the whole tour section later to celebrate the New Year, in 531 dorm rooms. About 30 people will stuff there, there will be one bottle of champagne for everyone, they will drink it from a tablespoon - so that everyone has enough. This is still remembered by the participants of that holiday.

The exit came on January 23. On this day, three groups leave for the route: Dyatlova, Sogrin and Blinov. Their roads coincided to Vizhaya. Two other groups went to the North of the Urals. Another group, Dyatlov's friend, Karelin, came out a little later. They had an agreement to meet on the route. She did not take place.
But it was the Karelin group that witnessed a strange phenomenon. On January 28, the Karelin group stood about 30 km south of Otorten. From the words of Karelin it was early in the morning. The first to see it on duty, getting up at 6 am. They screamed and woke the rest. All poured out of the tents. Karelin himself says that he saw a ball, inside which was like an asterisk, it all shone brightly. (Investigator Ivanov, who investigated the case of the death of the Dyatlov group, also speaks about the witness testimony about the "glowing balls." But the investigator tells about that after almost thirty years). Karelin now says that the ball that he and his group watched near Otorten are very similar to the launch of rockets when they are shown on TV.

Upon arrival at Serov, I had to wait for the train to Ivdel for several hours. And with the group there was a truly stupid situation. Krivonischenko, for fun, takes off his hat and collects trifle in it at the station. He is taken away by the police, having been tormented by profilatic conversations — they are released. It is also known from the diaries that Dubinin is traveling without a ticket, she is hidden from the conductors. All this comes up with a restless curve.

Upon arrival in Vizhay, they decide not to save more - they go to the dining room. In the evening go to the cinema. What they write in the diaries with sincere joy. Cinema Western, Austrian, all these pictures about a different life delight the group.
There, in Vizhay, Dyatlova is trying to dissuade from the route Van Rempel - an exiled German. He says that the route is difficult and dangerous. Further on the route the village of lumberjacks - "41 quarter". We traveled to him in the open body, the frost was more than 20. The udin after such a trip is getting cold.

Spend the night at loggers. We sat up all night talking. This is the last night in the habitable place of the group.

Village 41 quarter. Last night in the inhabited places.

An ex-convict helps the group to get to the abandoned village of the Second Northern Group; they call him Uncle Slava. He sleeps them to the spot on the sleigh. It is there that one has to say goodbye to Yudin, who is seriously ill. He was given a farewell amulet - a bear cub (he keep l him until his death). The driver takes Yudin back to quarter 41.
Former prisoner and the last Judin who see the group alive.

Further on the movement of the group can be judged only by diaries and frames of film.
"... On January 28, we went to 11-45, we were going up along Lozva. We often stop, we have to scrape snow from skies ..." - from the diary of Kolmogorova.

With the local Aborigines - Mansi - the group does not occur. They see only their signs, they go along the Mansi hunting trail.
From the Kolmogorov diary "... Let's go, like yesterday, along the Mansiysk trail. Sometimes there is a Mansiysk writing system on trees that are cut down. In general, there are a lot of incomprehensible signs. The idea of our campaign arises - in a country of mysterious signs ..." Mansi signs do not represent anything special: the sign of the genus, the number of people, deer, dogs. So - general information.

In the morning of January 30, it turns out that Krivonischenko’s padded jacket was burned; he is angry, he demands a response from the duty officers. As a result, Slobodin puts it on himself and poses for a photo.

Rustem Slobodin in the burnt sweatshirt Curves.

Then they begin to talk about lobaz (caches) - it is needed to leave food and gravity, all that will interfere with the ascent to Otorten. There is almost no word in the case file about this Lobaz. Some of the banks in the boxes are visible in the photo from the case, which suggests that the baked lobaz is a fiction.

The last entry in the diaries is dated January 31st. This is a recording of Igor Dyatlov himself: "Tired and exhausted set about building the night. There was little firewood. Around frail spruce. A fire was made on logs, dinner in a tent. The weather is getting worse. Snow cover is up to 2 meters. Lobaz is not built yet ..."

One of the last photos of the group. The guys are clearing a place under the tent.

What happened the next day - you can only guess. Judging by the latest photos, the tent was set for lunch. The stove is not ignited. What then made the people half-dressed run out of the tents in the cold, and the tents were cut with a knife, and not jumped out through the exit - it is not clear. By the way - the investigation for some reason did not find out whose knife it was that the tent was cut.

Anxiety was first beaten by parents on February 17. The group was to return on the 12th, but no one came home. They shake off their parents, and only on February 20 the institute sends a search team. Twenty-fourth search engines stumble on a ski track and find a tent. There are already connected military from Ivdellag. And 27 the first terrible find was made - two dead bodies, slightly powdered with snow, covered with a blanket. Krivonischenko and Doroshenko sat under a tree.

The bodies of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko.

The clothes on their bodies were cut off ... This place will be called - at the cedar. Under the snow, about 30 meters from the tent, they find the bodies of Dyatlov and Kolmogorova. Woodpeckers without shoes, outerwear. Kolmogorov is dressed warmly, but there are no shoes either. There are abrasions on his hands, a scalped wound on Dyatlov's head.

The body of Igor Dyatlov

He has a felt boot on one leg. The second will be found in the tent. On the face of a crust of ice - it means he was alive for a while, breathing in the snow.

At the conclusion of death was due to hypothermia. All injuries detected are minor and minor. The first investigator, Karatayev, was very quickly replaced by the investigator of the regional prosecutor's office, Lev Ivanov.

According to the memoirs of the same Yudin, Ivanov was meticulous, conducted many interrogations, and talked a lot with him.
After 30 years, Lev Ivanov admits that before the investigation a detailed briefing was held with him in the Obkom Party.
Ivanov very clearly tried to restore the chronology of the events of the last day of the group. Who was dressed in something, who ran to and so on. At the same time, the search continues for the remaining people from the group. Not found 4 more people. The search groups, replacing each other, with metal rods pierce the snow a meter by the meter, hoping to stumble upon the bodies of the dead ...

The first version of the cause of the tragedy - Mansi. Local aboriginal reindeer herders. I remembered the old story about how, even before the war, in the 30s, a woman’s body was found in the river with traces of ritual murder.
A local old-timer from a village now abandoned, says that she arrived in the late 60s, she was told that the older men of the family were taken to the investigator. But he does not know the details.
In the case of a testimony of a reindeer breeder Anyamov. He told about the ski track he had seen. According to him, these were not tourists, but other people on good skiing, they walked in the direction of the pass a few days after the Dyatlov group.

The second version was about runaway convicts, but there were no escapes, according to camp administrations, at that time. Yes, and things, money, food, and even alcohol - everything is whole. Nothing touched.

The first dead are buried on March 9th. Sverdlovsk seethes, students are advised not to come to the funeral, eyewitnesses remember how people ran and broke off announcements about the funeral at the institute. Kolmogorov, Dyatlova, Doroshenko and Slobodina are buried together. In addition to Krivonischenko. His relatives buried at the Ivanovo cemetery. Many years later, the parents of the victims say that the authorities urged to bury the children right in Ivdela. On the pass.

The remaining guys Lyudmila Dubinin, Tibo-Brignoles, Zolotarev and Kolevatova are found in early May. In a creek under the snow at two meters. Dubinina has 12 broken ribs on both sides.

The bodies of those killed in the creek

Tipo has a severe head injury, in Zolotorev broken ribs to the right. On the dead pieces of clothing, cut from the bodies of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, whose bodies were found first at the cedar. All clothes are confused - men's-women's, other people's sweaters. All injuries are called physicians in his lifetime.

The body of Dubina in the creek

The investigator responds to the discovery sluggishly. Shows no interest. It is associated with his trip to Moscow. After this trip, Ivanov behaves strangely. He stops questioning witnesses, doesn't let anyone near him. And after about two weeks on May 25, the case is closed with the wording: "It is necessary to consider that the elemental force became the cause of death, which the tourists were not able to overcome"

Relatives and friends of the guys did not like this version. It is known that the corpses were maroon-brown in color (according to those who found the bodies — red-orange), the pathologists noticed a shriveled spleen, pulmonary edema, and other signs of poisoning with some powerful chemical compound.

One of the first to strangeness draws criminologist Henrietta Churkina. The clothes removed from the bodies were hung on the ropes and after a while she acquired the same purple color. The conclusion of the criminalist was unequivocal - the clothes were processed by some kind of composition.

Some strangers in the work of forensic scientists govrit and one Karatayev. He himself saw as a patanatum, Boris the Reborn, every time after the next cover, he dipped himself into a barrel of alcohol.

In 1959, it became known that the clothes of some members of the group, Krivonischenko and Dubinina, were radioactive.

One of the biggest oddities is included in the record on the title page of the criminal case - this is February 6, 1959. This is the date the investigation began.
02.17.59 - parents are sounding the alarm - the group did not return from the route.
02.20.59 - the first search group goes to the terrain
02.26.59 - find a tent (another oddity - someone Pashin, a local forester, directly indicates the direction of the tent to search engines)
02.27.59 - find the first bodies ...
The case is open when the guys were still on the march officially. And no one was going to look for them ...

After the death of Ivanov, his daughter transferred the photographs left over from the Dyatlov group to Ekaterinburg. They have one strange frame. Many come to the conclusion that it was made deliberately.

All the oddities of the case: balls (similar to a rocket taking off), poisoning with some substance, changing the color of clothes, abruptly terminating the investigation, the date on the front page of the case and the words of investigator Ivanov, told Yudin: "They were all doomed. And you would be the tenth ... "- suggest a test of some kind of weapon. Perhaps there was a launch of a rocket that crashed just above the guys' camp ...
Although, I think, the truth about the death of nine people, we will never know ...

The tract Dyatlov Pass is located in the Ivdelsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, in the Northern Urals. The surroundings of the pass are the northernmost region of the Sverdlovsk region, bordering the Perm region, the Komi Republic and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Dyatlova Pass is the most popular and sought-after tourist destination in the Northern Urals, attracting numerous tourists from all over Russia and not only. This fame, in general, an unremarkable place, got because of the mysterious death of nine Sverdlovsk tourists in February 1959, but you already know everything about it ...

In mid-June 2016, I made my trip to the Dyatlova Pass. I was alone, but on the way I met various people who somehow made up my company. Initially, I did not plan to visit this place, I was going to take a walk in the Vizhaya middle stream area, but outside the village of Midnight I was picked up by a passing UAZ with geologists who went to the Ilyich base. I got to Midnight by bus from the Ivdeli bus station, and then, towards the village of Severny, there are no buses, so I was planning to catch a ride. But I did not even expect that the men in passing UAZ would offer me to go right up to the Ilyich base itself, from which it was already within reach of the Pass. Of course we are going! - I replied.

How to get to Dyatlova Pass?

From Ekaterinburg you should get to the city of Ivdel ( 521 km). This can be done by car / bus or train Yekaterinburg - Priobye (see 700 r.);

from Ivdel, you should go north through the following villages (distance from Ivdel in brackets): Midnight ( 25 km), Vizhay ( 90 km), Ushma ( 135 km), to the river Auspia ( 180 km), or "Illich base" ( 188 km). You can order a transfer, the average cost 15 thousand roubles. one way;

from the parking on the Auspia River leads the trail to the pass, according to the original route of the group of Igor Dyatlov - approximately 28 km;

from the “base of Ilyich” - a dirt road suitable for off-road / quad, driving right up to the pass - 25 km

Frankly, I was delighted! I was going to just go to Vizhay, leave spinning in the water, but then such an adventure happened. However, I would not say that I was such a fan of this whole story. No, of course, I, as a Ural tourist traveler, she, of course, attracted and interested, however, I was never eager to get to the pass. I have already visited many interesting places in my native land, have been abroad, but my legs reached the Dyatlov Pass only now, and then by chance. And all because I had an idea that, in general, the terrain of the Belt Stone range, on which Mount Otorten and the Dyatlova Pass are located, is not particularly attractive. The tundra is scanty, the relief is the usual sopochny.

Much more interesting on Konzhakovsky stone or Manpupunyor plateau. From here and the translation of Mount Holatchahl, as the "Mountain of the Dead," I consider the far-fetched and flawed, more accurate translation from Mansiysk would be the "Dead Mountain". Due to the peculiarities of the relief, the mountain tundra is rather scanty there, the abundance of kurums, and the vegetation is minimal. For example, on the Main Ural Ridge, on Kvarkush or Konzhak, the tundra is much more diverse and interesting. And Holatchakhl is a dead mountain, and any dead people have nothing to do with it.

Midnight

Signpost near the roll on Vizhay

Drive through Vizhay

Taiga river

Pure mountain water

Passing through the numerous taiga fords of such rivers as Vizhay, Severnaya Toshemka, Vitim-Yatiya, Tosamya and Ushma, we finally overcame the mark of 135 km and reached the taiga village Ushma (emphasis on "a"). Ushma is a Mansiysk settlement, earlier here, as in many other taiga settlements, there was a colony-settlement of the GULAG system. Now there live Mansi. According to the stories of the villagers, Ushma is now practically the only Mansi village, the Mansi no longer live in all other settlements of the Sverdlovsk region. They either moved to larger cities and villages, or died from various reasons, the main one being drunkenness.

Stella near the village of Ushma

After Ushma taiga primer was already of poor quality. Prior to Ushma, the road is served by Ivdel authorities, and after Ushma there are no more settlements in the Sverdlovsk region. those. The village of Ushma is the northernmost village of the Sverdlovsk region. Therefore, to monitor the condition of the primer will be those who wish it, that is, roughly speaking, enthusiasts. Such enthusiasts are men from the gold-mining artel, whose transshipment base is located in the area of the “Ilyich base”. That's how I rode with them.

On the way, they discussed various issues, scolded the road and the drivers of the graders, who monitor the condition of the primer. In general, the road is passing for all UAZ, not to mention the "Urals", "Kamaz" and "Shishigi". It is most likely that it will not be possible to drive a passenger car, but if there are working hands in the salon for pushing out, then this, I think, is feasible. However, puddles, which can be very deep, are of great danger, it is important to have a lock and four-wheel drive, as well as a high landing. If you get stuck, then wait for someone - and they will pull you out. Various geologists trucks often drive along the road, ready to hook your bucket in tow. Do not panic!

Drive through a deep puddle

Wheel depth

Technique in the taiga

And here is the long-awaited Auspia - a small rivulet flowing into Lozva. Auspia flows directly from the foot of the Dyatlov Pass and is famous for the fact that it was along it, back in 1959, the group of Igor Dyatlov walked in the direction of the Poyasovy Ridge ridge to its fierce death.

Wade through Auspius

Beautiful roll

Parking at Auspii

From Auspii to the base of Ilyich about 8 kilometers. We overcame them quickly, and in general, we drove, probably, about 6 hours. The parking at the Ilyich base is located on the bank of the Lozva River. Here, Lozva still has headwaters, however, compared to Auspia, Lozva is suitable for rafting and is in demand among lovers of water trips.

Lozva

Lozva in the area of "the base Ilyich"

I am on the background of Lozva

On the basis of Ilyich there is a chopped winter cabin, in which geologists now live. Together with them dwells various vehicles, tracked all-terrain vehicle, and heavy buckets for the dredge are thrown. The main base of geologists is located in the area of Three Rivers, where the three rivers merge: Lutsoul'ya, Kotliya and Bolshaya Sosva. This is KhMAO. There they collect dredge on the spot, and all materials are brought on the ground, not tracked all-terrain vehicle. The Chinese work a little further along Lozva - they are building a bridge over Lozva. This artel is a joint Russian-Chinese company.

ATV

Inside the hut

Additional proteins

Time: 02:00

After a tiring road and hearty dinner, I lay down in my tent. The men called for wintering, but I was afraid of the mosquitoes, which are dark at this time of the year. However, they still got into the tent. By the way, in the evening, during my meal, the Kamaz arrived with the rescuers in the parking lot. At first I thought, EMERCOM-nikami, but then they explained to me that this is a different service. The search and rescue squad is a purely regional organization, not federal, as the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Hence the corresponding low funding.

This new acquaintance turned out to be good for me, because I didn’t have any partners to go to the Dyatlov Pass, and it’s dangerous to go there alone - there are a lot of bears in the area. Therefore, I planned to sit on the Ilyich base until I met a group. I was lucky, so I met a group with which I will go tomorrow to the Dyatlova Pass. And not just tourists, but real lifeguards, consider bodyguards! They went in search of the missing tourist, who registered only for 2 days, for which she was going to go the route to the pass and back.

I, like a seasoned spy, quickly entered the circle of trust rescuers, and in the morning we went with them light, on foot, to the legendary Dyatlova Pass. One of them remained to protect the KAMAZ and our belongings, but we did not at all expect to stay there for the night - we wanted to go the whole route (there and back) in one day. Those. trample 50 km. Not to say that I was very pleased with this situation, but I had no choice - it was risky to be there alone - a lot of bears.

Rescuers

Trail to the Dyatlova Pass, in the area of the Charka-Nur Range

Trace bear

Path in the foothills of the Belt Stone

Taiga goes into crooked

The forest is becoming less common ...

and less often ...

And here is not taiga, and forest tundra

So the moment came when we wandered into the forest tundra, and only a few kilometers remained until the Dyatlov Pass. The first snowfields have already appeared, feeding the sources of streams and rivers flowing into Lozva. Somewhere here is the source of Auspii.

Belt Stone

Before the pass itself, the vegetation became quite scarce, the tundra - minimal and unsaturated. In short, Dead Landscapes of the Dead Ridge Mountains.

Dyatlova Pass and Kholatchakhl Mountain (1096 m)

The memorial tablet "They were 9"

A group of Moscow tourists lived near the stone with a plate, with which the missing tourist was spotted. However, the rescuers did not climb the pass itself with me, I did it alone, and, therefore, it was I who saved the tourist.

I did not stay long at the very end, because rescuers, with whom I still had to go down, waited a little lower. It is dangerous for one to go and therefore it is necessary to quickly pofotkat here and run back, telling them at the same time the good news that I found a tourist who is alive and healthy.

Dead tundra

Park Crunch

On the way, we ran into bear tracks, and the more I saw them, the more I realized that I did the right thing, that I went with the rescuers, and not alone. Geologists said that bears are suitable even in their camp, despite the fact that there are people there, and are not even afraid of a fire. There are a lot of tourists in those parts, and therefore bears, accustomed to the human presence, can allow themselves arrogance and curiosity. And in general, they are at home!

The road back was difficult, because I had to run about 2-3 km in the direction of the burners so that they would not leave without me, then I spent my calories. Therefore, most of the way to go was hard. However, one lifeguard had a stored bag of sugar, literally 14 grams, of army rations. Having taken the desired sucrose inside, in about 15 minutes I felt relieved and burst of energy. It became normal to go and it was even possible to go faster, considering the fact that it was raining. At about 9 pm we reached the base of Ilyich, where we were awaited by a march. Without thinking twice, the guys suggested that I go to Ivdel now, without waiting for the morning. I thought and decided to go with them. Moreover, it was raining, and I already visited the Dyatlov Pass.

Kamaz rescuers based on Ilyich

The pouring rain filled the puddles well, and one puddle turned out to be with a deep pit, which the tractor left behind. In this pit, contrary to the advice of drivers "Uralov", our "Kamaz" landed on the front wheels. Neither there nor neither: despite the four-wheel drive and differential lock, "Kamaz" could not escape from the pit. Threw! The guys had to run back to the base of Ilyich for help. Two Urals arrived there. Overboard slush, without boots nothing to do. It was already in the area of Auspii, and the guys had to stomp there another 8 km. Unenviable end of the day.

About two hours later, the Urals arrived and pulled the Tartar from the pit. We continued on our way. The sleep in the body was terrible, the body was constantly shaking and it was not possible to sleep properly. In the morning we arrived at Ushme, in which there is a telephone booth. Since I did not catch the satellite phone from behind the clouds, but it was necessary to inform about the tourist who had found it, I had to call at Ushma.

Calls to report that everything is fine

Local Mansi welcomes fisherman guests

Finally, try smoked sokhatinki (elk meat)

Video report about the trip

Arriving in Ivdel, in the search and rescue squad, I spent another day with them. He fell asleep, eat off, tried smoked elk and other taiga gifts. In general, my trip to the Dyatlov Pass was successful, considering that I did not even plan to go there. The tourist was found, everyone is alive and well, and I was the most pleased!

The group of Igor Dyatlov, nine people, died in February 1959 in the area of Mount Otorten at an altitude of 1079 meters. The official cause of death: frostbite and injuries resulting from natural disasters, with which tourists could not cope. But what kind of element, from where - is still unknown to anyone. What caused nine experienced tourists to flee at night from the camp with supplies and warm clothes in the snow and frost is unknown. People ran out of tents in what they were, even without grabbing a jacket, without shoes. To understand the history of the 57-year-old trying to ...

The route of the group was the village Ivdel - Vizhay - with climbing Mount Otorten.

Three people from the group are not students. These are Krivonischeneko, Nikolay Tibo-Brignol and Rustem Slobodin.

And what was himself Igor Dyatlov? At 24, he is an experienced tourist. Many people seek to get into his campaigns, but he selects strictly, there are no random people in groups - all of his own, proven, reliable guys.
Since childhood, Igor is fond of electronics, collects receivers, solders circuit. On the advice of his older brother, he enters the then prestigious department of radio electronics. He studies very well and has authority among students. Already before the hike, it was known that Dyatlov was left at the department after graduation. This surprised no one.
There is one funny fact from his biography: in one of the hikes tourists came across a hermit living in the taiga since the days of the civil war. The hermit had a broken receiver, and he asked them to fix it. Dyatlov quickly set up the radio, and gave his batteries so that the hermit had at least some connection with the world. At the institute for a long time, when mentioning the name of Dyatlov, the students said: “Oh, is this the guy who helped the hermit?”)
In all his trips, Igor took his homemade receivers. But this time for some reason refused.
Dyatlova was considered one of the most experienced tourists. Peter Bartholomew recalls that in 1958, in the winter campaign of the highest category of complexity, there was a piece of the 10 km route that had to be passed without a map. She just wasn't there. So Dyatlov managed to see this piece of the path on the map of the pilots, and remember the route. Bartholomew says that Dyatlov led the group surprisingly well, and in extremely difficult conditions, from memory.

The riddle of the death of nine tourists from Sverdlovsk in the Northern Urals turned exactly 51 years old. Is there a mystery here? I'll try to figure it out.

A brief history can be found on Wikipedia:
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibel_turgruppy_Dyatlova.
Or more in the articles:
http://sb-l.msk.ru/BOOK/2006_pd/VERS_D.htm
http://chupikin.narod.ru/pereval/Scenary.htm
In these and other articles, different versions of the events that took place then are discussed, maps and photographs are given. There are many other publications on this topic.
In order to introduce an ignorant reader in the course of the case I will give several excerpts.

1. A brief history of the campaign group Dyatlov
Death of Dyatlov Tourgroup - an event that occurred on the night of February 1 to February 2, 1959 in the Northern Urals, when a group of nine tourists (two of them girls), headed by Igor Dyatlov, died under mysterious circumstances. The cause of death is not clear so far.
On January 23, 1959, a group of Sverdlovsk students set off on a third-level, then-highest degree of difficulty, tourist ski tour in the north of the Sverdlovsk Region. The group was led by an experienced tourist Igor Dyatlov. The campaign was supposedly timed to the XXI Congress of the CPSU. In the control period, the group did not appear in the designated place. The search for missing tourists began with a delay of several days. Only on February 26, an empty tent with a wall cut down from the inside was found by a search group led by B. Slobtsov on the slope of Mount Holatchakhl (Holat-Syakhl, one version of the translation from Mansiysk - "Mountain of the Dead"). Outfit, as well as shoes and outerwear remained in the tent. Later it was established that on February 1, 1959, the group stopped for the night there.
The next day after the discovery of the tent, all the forces of the search engines were pulled to the search area, and a search headquarters was formed. The head appointed the master of sports of the USSR on tourism E.P. Maslennikov, Head of Staff - teacher of the military department of UPI, Colonel G.S. Ortyukov. On the same day, one and a half kilometers from the tent and lower in height by 280 m, the bodies of Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivonischenko were found near the traces of the fire. They were stripped down to their underwear. At 300 meters from them, up the slope and in the direction of the tent, lay the body of Igor Dyatlov. 180 meters away from him, higher up the slope, they found the corpse of Rustem Slobodin, and 150 meters from Slobodin, even higher, Zina Kolmogorova. There were no signs of violence on the corpses, all people died from hypothermia. Later it turned out that Slobodin had a head injury, which could be accompanied by repeated loss of consciousness and contributed to freezing.
Further searches took place in several stages from February to May. On May 4, 75 meters from the fire under a four-meter layer of snow, in the bed of the stream that had already begun to melt, the bodies of Lyudmila Dubinina, Alexander Zolotaryov, Nikolai Tibo-Brignoles and Alexander Kolevatov were found. Three had severe injuries: Dubinina and Zolotarev had fractures of several ribs, Tibo-Brignoles had a severe head injury. Kolevatov had no serious injuries, except for the damage on his head, inflicted by an avalanche probe, with which he searched for bodies. Thus, the search work ended in the discovery of the bodies of all participants in the campaign.
It was found that the death of all members of the group occurred on the night of February 1 to 2. Despite the efforts of search engines, a complete picture of the incident was not established. It remains unclear what really happened to the group that night, why they all hurriedly left the tent and moved down the slope without wearing warm enough clothes and shoes. One can only guess at how they acted further and under what circumstances the four tourists were injured, and how it happened that no one survived.
The resolution of May 8, 1959 to terminate the criminal case states that the group appeared to be confronted with certain dangerous circumstances in which no signs of a crime were seen and could not successfully resist them, as a result of which they died.

2. General conditions

Events occur in the following conditions.
Geographical coordinates: 61 about 45` S. Sh. 59 about 27` V. D.
Dyatlova Pass is actually a slope of Mount Holatchakhl with a height of just over 1000 m. The pass itself can be found on Google Earth, although the quality of the pictures is not very good.
Altitude above sea level is about 900 m.

Weather:
Meteorological report on the Ivdelsky * area: "By the evening of February 1, 1959, the air temperature dropped almost twice as compared with the morning and amounted to: -20, -21 o C. As compared with the morning values, the air humidity is low: 56%, visibility is 8 points (average). Precipitation is less than 0.5 mm. North-north-west wind of 1-3 m / s. Snowstorms, hurricane, snowstorm were not observed. "
We note the following features of the meteorological conditions: a sharp cooling, low humidity, weak wind, very little precipitation and good visibility up to 20-50 km.
* Ivdel - a city in the north of the Sverdlovsk region, located at a distance of 130 km from the scene. Weather conditions in the place of death of the group are not known. In the future, I will assume that the conditions are not very different and the conditions in the area of Ivdel. Although this is one of the assumptions.

Astronomical conditions.
February 1, 1959
Sunset: 17 h. 00 min. Moonless night comes after 19 h. 40 minutes.
February 2
Moonrise: 3 hours. 45 min.
At about 7 o'clock. 50 min The moon in the south near the climax is low above the horizon.
Dawn comes after 7 o'clock.
Sunrise: 9 o'clock. 35 min.
Moonset 11 o'clock. 50 min
The phase of the moon is about 33-37%.
In these data it is approximately taken into account that the observation point is located at an altitude of about 1 km above sea level.
Thus, from 19 h. 40 minutes to 4 hours on the pass was a dark night, after 4 hours and before sunrise the place of the tragedy is illuminated by moonlight. The peculiarity of the relief and the height of the moon above the horizon in the presence of a certain cloudiness makes it possible to speak of illumination with diffused light. Assume that the group could act in low light.

3. Possible course of events

According to one of the reconstructions, events developed as follows:
The group stopped for the night. The tourists had dinner and went to bed. One member of the group went out at night "to the wind." This is related to events or a coincidence is unknown.
Approximately in the middle of the night begins a chain of unexplained events.
Someone cut the tent. People are embraced by the desire to leave the tent and do not wear shoes (some of the shoes were probably cold and could not be worn), poorly dressed tourists began to go down the slope to the place where the forest began. At the same time, almost everyone wore socks on their feet (one boot at all), and on the slope there was quite deep snow.
Apparently the group was divided and went to the forest in different places. Part of the tourists went to a separately growing cedar, and three or four were 75 meters away, where a stream flowed during the warm season. Apparently here, traveling in conditions of poor visibility on a steep part of the slope, tourists were injured. The rest of the tourists near the cedar managed to make a fire. Someone tried to climb a cedar and broke off several branches, although it was possible to find a dead wood nearby.
Soon the two died. Their bodies were found around the fire and their hands were burned. It is assumed that they fell asleep by the fire and froze to death.
The injured are still alive. From the bodies that stood at the campfire, the outer clothing was removed by cutting and they tried to warm the injured members of the group.
Two guys and a girl, including the team leader, are trying to climb a 1.5 km long slope to the tent, apparently with clothes and medicines. Rising along the slope of wasting the remnants of the forces die. And Dyatlov overcame only 300 meters, his friend is 180 meters longer. The girl rose above them another 150 meters. By that time, the victims are dying, someone from injuries, someone from hypothermia. Here one of the tourists dies, who was not injured and apparently remained to look after them.
The fire left is slowly burning down.

The scheme is given to the reader about the possible course of events. Most likely, the events did not develop in such a sequence. But the main thing is not the motivation of a number of events.
First of all, the reason for the urgent leaving of the tent by all members of the group is not clear. As such a reason is most often called mass fright caused by the threat of an avalanche, the appearance of a predator, the so-called "balls of fire" unusual phenomena in the sky.
It is not clear how and under what circumstances the tent was damaged. It is assumed that the tent could be cut during an emergency escape or during a conflict between group members.
It is not clear how the injuries were received, since the terrain does not differ by steep slopes, the presence of deep holes and ravines. The only such place is the slope of the stream, where the victims were found to have a tilt angle of 30 o and a depth of several meters, which does not give grounds to confidently assume that four people in this place were seriously injured when they fell. Some authors admit that one of the four could have been injured earlier in another place.
It is not clear why those two died earlier than others, whose bodies, stripped to their underwear, were found near the fire.
Why the fire was not moved or lit up next to the victims, and tried to warm them with clothes removed from the dead. There are other issues.
The lack of clarity led to the fact that, in general, it is not a rare case of death of people during hiking trips overgrown with all sorts of versions, rumors and speculation.

4. Versions

There are more than twenty versions explaining the causes of the death of the group of Igor Dyatlov.
I will list them.
Element. The avalanche, the collapse of the tent from the snow.
Household drama. Severe altercation, methyl alcohol or narcotic poisoning.
Wild animals. The attack of a bear or a pack of wolves.
Rare and exotic natural phenomena. Infrasound, polar silence, ball lightning.
Bad guys. The attack of cons or Mansi.
Man-made. Test weapons, the fall of the rocket, the strong sound of a supersonic aircraft.
Inhumanity of the authorities. Scraping for hiding some gostina or "death squad".
Fantastic. Fireballs, UFOs, snowmen, Mansi spirits, underground dwarfs or descendants of the Aryans.
Imitation. To explain the alleged difficulties in explaining the position of the bodies, the presence or absence of these or other elements, the theme of parking imitation and the place of death of tourists, which was organized by some "military" to hide the true place of death of tourists, often appears.
All these versions have serious counterarguments, and therefore are not discussed further. But I will focus on the possible fault of the authorities, since this topic will be discussed further.

5. Was the fault of the authorities in the death of tourists?

Having seen American militants and ufological nonsense, a conspiracy version could be invented, according to which the tourists died due to the fault of the authorities, and the authorities hid this fact in order to conceal state secrets, imitating the scene of the death of the Dyatlov group. It seems to me all such versions of the fiction. Let me explain why.
At that time, the Soviet government did not have to arrange any performances. None of those in power would have thought of it. Since the power was omnipotent, and people have no rights. The authorities simply put people before the fact. And people knew a priori that the Soviet government is fair, does everything for people and never makes mistakes. Another thought was not publicly allowed.
Therefore, if people died through the fault of the authorities, then everything would happen simply. Relatives would be summoned to the prosecutor’s office or the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and reported to the hunters, geologists, etc., about the discovery of the dead tourists, handed in personal belongings and death certificates packed in bags, indicating any reliable reason (avalanche, snowstorm, etc.) . Moreover, the examination gave quite appropriate conclusions about the causes of death. In the local morgue had to pick up the body. If events had happened a few months later, they would have issued zinc coffins.
The authorities would surely show sympathy and care. Through the union discharged material aid. Since the incident was unfortunate, the relatives would not be considered victims, and they would not be allowed to access any materials of the case.
At the same time, all meekly accepted what happened as a stroke of fate, and hardly anyone would have demanded something. Everyone knew that truth is not to be found anyway. Even if one assumes that someone dissatisfied with the results of the official opinion would have started his own investigation or would have started to thresholds, the authorities had many ways to extinguish such actions. After all, there was no publicity then. It was useless to turn to the press, especially in terms of denouncing the authorities. For this you could get an article for anti-Soviet activities. The prosecutor's office and the courts were completely under the control of the authorities.
The “thaw” was just beginning and was immediately clearly limited by the authorities. Only isolated examples of dissatisfaction were then splashed out in separate places; it was rather theoretically possible to find out about such actions only by rumors. Nobody officially reported anything.
The heightened interest of the authorities to this topic was just caused by fears, as if the students were not satisfied with something. Shortly before these events in July 1957, there were demonstrations by workers in Podolsk after the appearance of rumors about the involvement of the police in the death of the detainee. Similar statements by students could have been feared by the authorities and therefore kept the investigation under control. But even without this, the death of nine people was considered an emergency, and therefore he was followed at the very top.
The authorities could influence the course of the investigation only if this was dictated by certain considerations. Such could be the desire to speed up the course of the investigation while reducing the conclusions to a simple case for easing unhealthy excitement or other similar considerations. Hiding whether the manipulation of the results of the investigation could take place only if the authorities wanted to be safe. And even then, it was possible only with the approval of high authorities. The memory of the epoch of Stalinism was still fresh, when one could easily cater to places not so distant. Therefore, reinsurance is the main motive of the investigators and bosses for alleged fraud.
Another possible motive for heightened interest in this case is the result of an internal party struggle. Then there was the process of cleansing the top party leaders from the nominees of the Stalin era. At the Twentieth Congress, Khrushchev debunked Stalinism and began clearing the ranks of the party. In 1957, Molotov and a number of top leaders, including Marshal Zhukov, were removed from power. The inner-party struggle gradually reached the periphery. No local leader felt confident about the future. Detractors wanting to jump on the wave of change then enough. Therefore, any state of emergency in the sphere of responsibility of the management of this district or region was perceived with special attention.
The assumptions that the authorities deliberately took some action to conceal some state secrets seem to me a far-fetched fit for a conspiracy version.
Thus, the main inconsistencies of this case arose from the fact that the leaders of tourism themselves, who examined the place of the tragedy, initially dealt with the investigation. They knew the features of winter tourism and understood what and how could happen in reality, but they could not make ends meet. Later, tourists, relatives, journalists wrote quite a few different articles and gave interviews where they discussed versions of the death of the group, and this created an increased interest in this case.
This case became uninteresting to investigators as soon as they established the absence of crime. Since if there are no accused and suspects and there is no event stipulated by the article of the criminal code, then there is no case that the investigation is obligated to deal with and everything can be attributed to the insuperable force of circumstances. The local government could be disturbed only by a social and political resonance. Therefore, it was suggested that relatives should bury the dead not in Sverdlovsk, but in the city of Ivdel, where a crowd of students would not have gathered, but the authorities were afraid of any unorganized mass gathering of people, especially with something sad or dissatisfied.

6. Background Facts and Assumptions

To understand what happened then, I would draw the following facts and some assumptions.
1. Judging by the position of the tent on the mountainside (about 900 m), and not at the forest border (about 550 m), the group planned the next day to climb the summit (about 1100 m) and continue moving along the ridge without loss of height. Therefore, on this day, passing the route section, the group climbed the slope and set up a tent almost at the very top in the hollow below the ridge. I note that neither in the diary, nor in the frames of the film preserved in the cameras there is no information about the events of this day and, accordingly, there are no indications of reasons explaining subsequent events.
2. According to the expertise, death occurred 6-8 hours after the last meal. From this we can conclude that the tragic events took place in the middle or in the second half of the night.
3. Accumulated fatigue. The group was already on the march for the ninth day, of which three or four days passed the main part of the route with full load. The day before, due to weather conditions, the group was unable to climb the pass and returned back to the forest, where they arranged a storage shed. Since the tourists did not fit into the schedule, the goals apparently did not correspond to the physical capabilities of the group for the technical training of tourists and weather conditions. The physical condition of the group was complicated precisely in these days. As you know, on the 5-7 day of the hike, there is an acute period of adaptation, when the functionality of the person is weakened. During this period, the body is very sensitive to various influences, and people become prone to nervous breakdowns.
4. The presence of a small hypoxia. As is well known, "mountain sickness" can develop at high altitudes. Residents of the highlands have long associated a malaise like choking with poisonous mountain air. We now know that the cause of the disease is a lack of oxygen in the blood. "Symptoms of mountain" disease "in the acute period of high-altitude adaptation, even in relative rest, are: headache, dizziness, blurred vision, smell, tinnitus, nausea, aversion to food, chills, pain, drowsiness, fatigue and even fainting. Taking into account the specific features of the climate, "mountain sickness" begins to manifest itself in different mountainous areas at different altitudes: in the Alps at an altitude of 2500 m, in the Caucasus - at an altitude of 3000 m in the Himalayas - 4000 m.
In the circumpolar regions, the symptoms of "mountain sickness" should show at lower altitudes, especially in winter conditions, when inhaling dry frosty air in northern latitudes, even on a plain, so-called "polar dyspnea" develops, which is caused by deterioration of the ventilation of the lungs. Moreover, the tolerance of hypoxia depends on the time of day. The worst tolerance of "acute" hypoxia at night is due to a decrease in the production of adrenocortical hormones in the body.
To pass the adaptation, the ascent to height is carried out in steps from rest to the reached height for adaptation. After adaptation, the symptoms of "mountain sickness" in most people go away. "For normal acclimatization to height, full and balanced nutrition is of great importance: nourishing and varied, containing sufficient amounts of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and mineral salts. It is very important to eat not a dry meal, but necessarily hot food." As we know, the group ate modestly and did not always cook hot food.
Despite the fact that the altitude of the night is about 900 m above sea level, it is not considered an altitude where oxygen deficiency should appear, however, at an altitude of 1000 m, the partial pressure of alviolar oxygen is reduced by almost 20% compared to sea level. Performing physical work, people who have not undergone adaptation often breathe and get tired faster.
Tourists constantly lived at an altitude of 280 m (Sverdlovsk) and they needed some kind of acclimatization. Therefore, during an overnight stay at a height, some of them could feel a slight indisposition, which under normal conditions, of course, could not lead to any serious consequences, except for more than usual fatigue.
The adverse effect of an acute period of adaptation to altitude is considered an assumption and we summarize with the previous one.
Conclusion: The group to this stage of the campaign was tired, and the presence of hypoxia and an acute period of adaptation changes the body's response to the influence of certain factors. Including in psychological terms. This fact is summarized with the following.
5. The group was led by an experienced tourist who was still a student at that time. At the same time, the group included an experienced instructor who, most likely, walked as a backup leader. Against the background of fatigue, lagging behind the schedule and the presence in the group of a potentially informal leader (instructor), an unfriendly situation could have developed. However, I do not speak of an open conflict, since there is no indication of this in the manager’s notes. As you know, during this time the march was somewhat overshadowed only by the conflict between Tibo-Brignol and Dubinina due to the stitching of the tent. Such minor conflicts are common in campaigns.
I note that in the group there was potentially an opportunity for friction to grow into a more serious conflict. Conflicts usually gain momentum when an abnormal situation arises or during an acute period of adaptation, when a group may lose unity.
However, the possibility of a smoldering conflict in a group is nothing more than an assumption.
6. Most experts are inclined to think that the group set up a tent in the evening. Then the tourists had dinner with the loin and breadcrumbs and lay down to sleep. Around the middle of the night, the group woke up, after which people committed difficult to explain actions that led to the death of the group.
7. Summarizing, I note that there were already some prerequisites for the development of inadequate actions, such as an acute period of adaptation, some friction, and accumulated fatigue. So far this is nothing more than a negative background. Since all of the above is not enough to explain the tragic outcome. Most tourist groups successfully deal with such problems. In many ways, this is helped by the experience of previous campaigns, in which people grind to each other and themselves are brought up to conduct in a limited team that is in uncomfortable or even extreme conditions.
8. Difficult to explain actions people commit when they are put in unusual conditions (external causes), or their state is inadequate (internal causes). The unusual conditions that could then have arisen were discussed above and all of them are being questioned.
Of the reasons for the inadequate state, alcohol or drug poisoning and acute conflict were noted. However, these reasons are also questioned.
9. So, there are no external reasons, there are no internal reasons. And this is another dead end? Since there is no answer to the question, why does the group leave the tent and is seeking salvation in a forest located one and a half kilometers away?

Consider once again the events that preceded the tragedy.
The group in not very favorable weather conditions rose to a height of 900 m and set up a tent. Tourists, not kindling the oven, had a dinner with dried meat and crackers. Then they went to bed.

Nothing surprises the reader in the lines written above?

7. Where does the delicacy come from?

Modern readers, accustomed to abundance, have already forgotten those times when stores greeted the buyer with a meager assortment of goods and products. Recall that we are talking about 1959. Even less time passed after the destructive war than after the collapse of the USSR. Even before the war, the Soviet people lived modestly, the same situation continued after the war. Often in the store of those years, except for bread, cereals, sugar, candy "pads" did not sell. The rest of the products were delivered occasionally, and a queue immediately formed.
There were few such markets where peasants could sell something. The Soviet government did not stimulate, but on the contrary prevented the development of the private sector. Homestead land was allocated at least, for the maintenance of animals or fruit trees it was necessary to pay a tax, which made it not profitable to raise livestock or grow vegetables or fruit for sale. Trade required different permits. Villagers produced a minimum of products and only for themselves. Since most of the time for pennies or workdays worked on collective farms.
Most Soviet people then earned little. Therefore, in the stores they bought products little by little, and over the years durable goods saved up a penny. The average salary of an employee is 400 - 800 p. Butter cost 24 p., Cooked sausage 24 p., Meat 14 - 17 p. True, in those years, by April 1 (then there was no talk of a day of laughter), the Soviet government lowered prices slightly, which created the illusion of improving the lives of Soviet people. Life really improved, although this was happening very slowly, because the Soviet leaders spent the main budget revenues on military spending, then the Cold War was in full swing, and various mega projects, and crumbs remained to solve social problems.
A scholarship in senior courses in the mid-50s was 180 p. Although in individual universities could pay more. But often students had to rent a corner or a small room one for several people, since there were also not enough hostels at that time. It could take half and more from their scholarships. Students saved on everything, where it is possible even on food and clothing. If the students parents lived in the village, then they, of course, helped with food.
I repeat the question. Where did a group of soviet students come from? In the 1950s, this kind of delicacies were occasionally brought to stores. Because of the modest incomes of the majority of Soviet people, meat products were bought in small quantities. However, every time a queue lined up, and these goods quickly dispersed. Often the delicacies went "on the side" and did not appear on the shelves. The situation was significantly changed in the early 60s, when cooperative stores opened. Here, without queues, they sold meat and meat products several times more expensive than in state stores. Every time, preparing for a big holiday, it was possible without problems, although much more expensive, to get the desired delicacy at the cooperative store. At the same time, specialized stores began to be created, usually one shop in the middle city, where sausages and other meat products were sold at state prices. But such innovations began two or three years after these events.
It is not excluded that somewhere in the grocery store of Sverdlovsk in 1959 a brisket was served freely and, in preparation for the hike, the tourists bought it. However, the loin is not in the list of products that the group has taken along. There are cereals, butter, sugar. If this is indeed the case and the loin does not really appear in the official list of products, then this fact leads to certain reflections.
In itself, the appearance of the loin among the products is not surprising. We always tried to take such products as sausage or lard, which do not need to be cooked, and you can quickly eat on a halt without making a fire. Most often, tourists have a snack at lunchtime, sometimes in the evening, when the group is very tired during the day and there is no strength or opportunity to start cooking hot food.
The exit to the parking lot apparently happened late, perhaps already at night and for this reason they didn’t cook dinner, and here was the brisket. In addition, the group took very little wood, apparently hoping only to heat the stove to heat up the shoes in the morning. Therefore, the dinner itself, consisting of only one loin with breadcrumbs, is understandable.
However, why are the lobsters not in the general list of products? Usually in reports the smallest details of a campaign are fixed. After all, usually the report becomes a guide for the following groups, passing the same or a similar route. In the final report, the team leader had to mention what they ate during the cold overnight stay.
The loin is not on the list, most likely because one of the group members took it as a rather rare product, so to speak, in private, and the products from the list were purchased with money received from the trade union committee.
Why do I pay so much attention to this? There is some mystery in the appearance of a product that is scarce for that time, and under the condition that there is no clear evidence, any small thing may turn out to be significant.

8. Basic version

A piece of loin, which the tourists ate in the evening, was prepared with violations of technology and was infected with an anaerobic spore-forming botulinum bacillus, which produce strong botulinum toxin, leading to a dangerous disease.
"Botulism is an acute poisoning caused by the toxin of botulinum sticks by eating infected products stored under anaerobic conditions and characterized by damage to the nervous system. The bacteria that cause botulism are common in the environment and can get into the product if the rules of cooking are violated. For the formation of botulinum toxin is necessary environment without oxygen, favorable for the breeding of botulinum sticks. Such conditions are created inside meat and fish products (for example, in sausage), as well as at the end homemade cooks without proper heat treatment. Often, the toxin is in food products by “nests.” With so-called “family” poisonings, not everyone can suffer, but those who have consumed the infected part of the product. is changing.
For humans, botulinum toxin is the most potent bacterial poison, disastrously acting at a dose of 10 -8 mg / kg. If we take per unit potassium cyanide toxicity, the toxicity of botulinum toxin will be 10 15 such units.
Botulinum toxin causes a violation of the nerve impulse and paralysis of the muscles in the whole body of the patient. The disease develops very quickly - within 2 - 24 hours.
The first symptoms: progressive muscle weakness; severe dry mouth; presence of eye symptoms: mist in the eyes, poor discernment of nearby objects), double vision, squint (eye muscles are the first to respond to botulinum toxin after the intestine); signs of respiratory failure; a feeling of discomfort, a change in the tone of voice. "
As you can see, these signs in some ways coincide with the natural state of people in conditions of hypoxia of high mountains or polar regions. From the freezing dry air, dry mouth is present. Muscle weakness corresponds to a tired state. Also could be respiratory failure - "polar dyspnea".
"Often botulism begins with diarrhea, vomiting with a slight increase in temperature, pain in the abdomen. Without treatment, the patient has muscular weakness and death from paralysis of the respiratory muscles. The respiratory failure is what threatens the life of the patient with botulism in the first place. Therefore, the slightest suspicion of botulism, the patient is subject to immediate hospitalization, as with the development of respiratory disorders, which can occur in a very short time, you will most likely need artificial ventilation FIR. "
According to the results of the autopsy of tourists' corpses, a few hours passed between eating and dying. That is, there was enough time for the development of the disease in its primary phase. Were corpses examined for botulism poisoning? I don't know for sure. However, these studies are quite complex: “Patients' feces and vomit, stomach and intestinal washings, wound contents (with wound botulism), suspected food are materials for bacteriological research. Since it is difficult to diagnose botulism in an adult patient immediately, it is produced detection of toxin in the test material. The study is carried out on white mice. Moreover, the study takes 4 days. "
Obviously, such complex studies have not been conducted. In addition, the prevalence of botulism sticks in nature apparently makes it difficult for such tests on decompression materials.

9. Possible scenario of the tragedy

At night, someone first felt bad. He was choking, it was so hard to breathe, he was seized with anxiety. Awakened tourists felt similar symptoms, and they had a need to quickly get out into the fresh air. Perhaps they even thought that they were covered with snow. In addition, there could be other desires for the fastest way out of the tent. The lacing of the entrance took a lot of time (the knot could be tightened or freeze, but at that time they did not use lightning), and someone could not stand the nerves. In a tent there could be a crush in a panic, someone, poorly controlling himself, grabbed a knife and cut the wall of the tent. Others began to crawl through the hole, someone got hooked, fell and finally broke a big hole, because the tarpaulin was old. Recall that the tent had already been repaired at the beginning of the hike. In the meantime, managed to unscrew the output. These events were apparently accompanied by scandal and severe nervousness, which arose as a natural reaction to a poor physical condition caused by the poisoning and the factors mentioned earlier.
The whole group hastily left the tent. Now it is not known whether the moon has risen or not, and what was at that time there were clouds and weather conditions. But if events occurred after 4 hours, then the Moon had already risen. But in any case, the moon hung low over the horizon. The tent was on the northeast slope, and the light of the moon illumines the terrain poorly. So that in conditions of poor visibility no one is lost, the only flashlight is hung at the entrance. The rest of the flashlights apparently did not have time to look.
Botulism is usually accompanied by frustration and vomiting. If there were urges, then tourists in the dark could disperse along the slope to relieve themselves. Most likely, they had a pit in the snow for this purpose.
But did they have vomiting and diarrhea? Rescuers did not find such signs. And if you were looking for? After all, such traces could be kept away from the tent, and they were later covered with snow. On the other hand, the peculiarities of the tourist trip, high loads and poor nutrition could lead to the fact that vomiting and diarrhea did not exist at all or only some had it.
Despite the fact that the tourists came to fresh air, respiratory failure did not pass, but became even stronger. In the tent they breathed, though stale, but warm and important air, which is better absorbed by the lungs. Outside there was frosty dry air at a temperature of at least - 20 ° C or maybe even lower, which did not contribute to the ease of breathing at all.
In addition, the characteristic symptoms of botulism, such as blurred vision, fog in the eyes could not be seen, despite the dark time of day. If they saw the Moon, the outlines of a tent on the background of snow or a burning flashlight, they should have paid attention to it. The deterioration of the visibility of objects could be attributed not to the state of vision, but to the state of external conditions. For example, a cloud enveloping a mountain or fog formed in the cold with a sharp temperature drop could have made visibility worse.
Therefore, tourists could connect their condition with an overnight stay at a height or some kind of cloud that covered the mountain. Especially if the stars were not visible. They might think that this is a cloud in which it is difficult to breathe brought by the wind from some tests of nuclear or chemical weapons. About such tests and various consequences then there were persistent rumors. Difficulty breathing fit into this version. But there could be a version of the "mountain sickness", about which the tourists knew, but perhaps never felt for themselves. Treatment from the "Goryanka", a quick descent to the bottom. They probably knew it.
If they were still able to make the correct diagnosis and realized that they were poisoned, then they could not help themselves in the middle of the snow slope without fire. It was necessary to go down to the forest, where it was possible to kindle a fire and warm a lot of water.
In each group there is a person performing the functions of a doctor. Another thing is that his qualifications often come down to providing general assistance for injuries. In addition, the composition of the first-aid kit was most likely reduced to simple medicines for cold, for stomach, for head, and also for bandages, cotton wool, and iodine. However, the actions of tourists indicate that they most likely did not understand the reasons for their condition.
The syndrome arising from the violation of breathing is one of the most powerful causing fear. And naturally there is a desire to restore the normal breathing process as soon as possible. Hence the desire to descend down the slope as soon as possible, perhaps it will be easier to breathe there. The flashlight in a hurry just forgot or left as a beacon. Therefore, all the tourists together, but rather in scattered groups left the tent and began to hurry down.
They clearly did not understand what was happening to him, otherwise they would not have left the tent without many warm clothes and other important items, such as an ax, flashlights, buckets, medicines, tea. They either lost their heads, giving way to a slight panic, or hoped to return soon, as soon as they could catch their breath.
However, the descent along the slope of a few hundred meters brought no relief, and they continued downward until they were at the edge of the forest.
In the dark and with complications of vision the group was divided. Perhaps the group is still divided at the top. Some members of the group could be impatient and move forward. Here we recall that potentially in the group a hidden conflict was ripening, which could lead to disobedience or uncoordinated actions.
The main part of the group went to a lonely growing cedar, where the head ordered to kindle a fire. In the darkness, it was not possible to immediately find a fallen tree, and part of the branches were broken from cedar. To do this, someone climbed to the cedar.
Descent through deep snow, search for fallen trees, ascent to cedar took a lot of energy, which was already a bit due to general toxicosis. In addition, a hike in the snow without shoes in severe frost led to the loss of part of the socks, which remained in deep snow and severe frostbite of the extremities.
In the meantime, a second group of four people in dark and poorly functioning eyes fell on a slope into the stream bed, and all were seriously injured.
A number of researchers note that in the place where the victims were found, there is not enough steepness and height for four people to get such serious injuries.
The assumption that people suffered somewhere else, and they were transferred here, does not fit well with the rest of the picture. Since by that time the fire was already burning or it was kindled, they all should have been attributed to the fire.
As a possible scenario, I assume that the injuries were caused under such circumstances. Let me remind you that everyone feels signs of poisoning and therefore their actions are not very coordinated. Descending in conditions of poor visibility, visual impairment and general weakness, two or three participants, keeping close by, approached the edge of the cliff, where a snow shelf was piled up. The height difference in this place could reach 3-4 meters. They stopped trying to choose a further path. The latter, who was following him due to general weakness and lack of coordination of movement, could not stop and inadvertently pushed those who were standing. The domino principle worked, and the whole group went down. They fell on each other and from such blows on protruding stones or a hard surface sprinkled with snow, some broke the ribs, while others suffered a head injury. The surface on which they fell was the bed of the stream. Since the water under the snow did not freeze immediately with the onset of winter, a layer of ice covered with a not very thick layer of snow could build up here. Perhaps the water even continued to flow then. At least in May, the corpses were found lying in the water. The snow only slightly softened the blow, but could not extinguish the force of the blow, so damage such as a skull deflection in the absence of an external hematoma occurred. To top it all, they were also covered with snow from the shelf which had broken off after them.
I emphasize that the scheme outlined is nothing more than an assumption.
The snow-sprinkled tourists, two were with broken ribs, could not shout and actively move, and the other two who received head injuries were unconscious for some time.
The noise of the fall and the cries were heard by their comrades who were 75 meters away. By this time, the first group could have time to make a fire and began to build flooring.
Two tourists remained at the campfire. Three went to the rescue. By this time, everyone was already feeling bad from the effects of the poisoning, and besides, everyone was very cold.
Those who came to help had to dig out the victims of the snow with their hands.
Assessing the state of the victims, the manager decides to leave them here, since one apparently was unconscious all this time, and two had broken ribs. He himself decided to climb to the tent for medicines and warm clothes. Even though one of the victims hit his head, he came to himself and, not objectively assessing his condition, also volunteered to go up to the tent. As it turned out later, he had a crack in the skull.
By this time, they should have already understood that their condition was not related to the height or some kind of cloud, but they had poisoned or fell ill with something. In such a situation, they needed at least some medicine. Medicines are needed and affected.
Leaving one guy with the victims and hoping that two more are by the fire, the leader, the girl and another guy started the ascent. But they only had the strength for 300 - 450 meters of the way. The girl, and she was probably their doctor, managed to rise above all.
While the victims were dug out, some time passed, the guy who stayed with the victims returned to the fire. They apparently wanted with their comrades to carry the victims to the fire. However, by this time the guys left by the fire from overworking overcooling and the effects of poisoning fell asleep and froze and no longer showed signs of life. Understanding that they don't care now. The guy cut off their outerwear in order to at least somehow warm the living victims. Apparently himself, he could not bear the victims because of fatigue, and perhaps it was already too late ...

The reasons for the death of the group were that the poisoning at the beginning contributed to the panic, took away strength, impaired eyesight, and then weakened the body’s resources in the struggle for life. As a result, even those who did not have injuries and were near the fire could not survive.

10. And if the autopsy found the botulinum toxins?

In principle, experienced pathologists should have assumed the poisoning preceding freezing. I note that the tourists found with a large time difference. The first had already been buried when they found the others. As in both cases, an autopsy was performed, and whether the results were compared by doctors, and not by the investigators, it is now apparently difficult to establish.
In terms of the legal qualification of the case, death from freezing or household poisoning is almost the same. In both cases, there is an insurmountable cause in those conditions: cold or poison. In the discussed version both reasons were summed up.
But still assume that botulinum toxins are still found. According to the materials of the investigation was known source - brisket. The pathologists who performed the autopsy and the investigators who had found the loin skins in the tent could have installed it. Naturally, the investigators should have been interested in the question of who brought the loin. It was not difficult to figure out. Then there are two options. Depending on whether the loin was homemade or industrial.
With homemade brisket everything is clear. Some of the students had parents living in the village, holding animals, and preparing homemade delicacies. Such cases of poisoning occur constantly, and there is no crime here. Therefore, even having learned about the root cause that led to the tragedy, the investigators, having consulted with the highest authorities, could “close their eyes” and not note this fact in practice.
The motives here were such. Does it make sense to publicly inform parents that their son or daughter, and at the same time their comrades died from such absurdity and thereby cause a possible condemnation from other relatives of the victims, creating unnecessary tension? After all, you still cannot return the people, but the regional authorities were interested in minimizing the possible public resonance. Relatives, of course, could have told about this sad fact in private conversation, but they didn’t add it to the official case file.
A somewhat different situation if the loin was industrialized. If, however, the loin was bought in the store, then it cast a shadow on the Soviet system and the local leadership, which the superiors could not like, which was trying to reinsure where it could be.
A piece of brisket could be part of the grocery set, which were sold at low government prices to employees of special institutions and authorities. Then, among the relatives of the dead students could be someone from high officials. Students themselves most likely did not know such facts of the biography of one of their friends. Then the concepts of modesty and asceticism established in the previous political era were still in use. Grab, that your dad's big boss was not accepted.
If the investigation found out that the loin came from the family of a high boss, then it would be doubly decided to silence this fact. In this case, the decision was made no longer at the level of the investigation or the prosecutor's office, but much higher. This is the motive for hiding the results of the investigation that could come from the top management. The motive is quite obvious and no conspiracy here and does not smell.
Thus, if somewhere in the case there is a confirmation of the version put forward above, then this document may have a corresponding signature stamp, which still can create problems with access to documents. Although perhaps such documents and not preserved.
I will emphasize all the reasoning of this part based on the assumption that the investigation was known about botulinum toxin poisoning. But the fact of poisoning in general could not reveal.
Judging by the fact that the case was closed as soon as the bodies of all the dead were found, the investigation had no doubts about the reasons for the death of the group. There was already a working version that was confirmed, and no special analyzes were carried out. Were complex tests performed during the autopsy of bodies that were found first, even in winter? Most likely no. The cause of their death was obvious to the investigation. If there were doubts, the bodies would not have been buried until they had found all the dead, for comparative analysis.
So, the version of botulism was not checked. Or did not think that this is possible. Either the pathologists did not see any obvious signs of such poisoning. I think that, most likely, they simply did not look for complicated answers. After all, the goal was to establish the cause of death, and not to reveal the script of what led to death. The main cause of death - freezing, lying on the surface.
According to the version presented here, poisoning only led to inadequate behavior of tourists and further complicated their ability to fight for survival. But it was precisely this main question, why the group, in a hurry, left the tent and rushed down the slope, cannot be answered for 51 years.

11. Conclusion

The group under the leadership of I. Dyatlov was in a critical situation for the following reasons:
1. Due to weather conditions, physical or technical training, the group was unable to complete the task taken on that day, and was forced to stay for a cold night at an altitude of 900 m under the summit, having at least firewood, but not being able to use them quickly. This night did not threaten the catastrophic group, but the location of the tent at a distance of one and a half kilometers from the forest later played a negative role.
2. Having consumed the loin-infected loin for dinner, the group in the middle of the night felt signs of a serious condition, which they had incorrectly interpreted.
3. The group could perceive its serious condition, in particular, difficulty in breathing and deterioration of vision, either as a result of "mountain sickness" (which was an error) or the appearance of a cloud or fog formed from nuclear or chemical tests (which was pure fantasy).
4. Even recognizing the poisoning, the group could not help themselves. They most likely did not have the necessary medicines. The usual first aid for such lesions as gastric lavage was impossible under those conditions due to the absence of large amounts of liquid and heated water.
5. Not having the opportunity, remaining further in the tent to alleviate their condition, the group members decided to urgently go down below, where they counted on negative sensations (difficulty breathing and vision problems), kindled a fire and wait for the morning. Most likely, instead of a sober assessment of the situation, the members of the group went "quietly panic" and began to descend too hastily. At the same time, a negative factor was the fact that they did not take with them important things for survival in the cold.
6. During descent in conditions of limited visibility and poor physical condition, four people were injured and greatly reduced both their chances and the others' chances of survival.
7. The physiological consequences of severe intoxication in combination with frost and bad clothing led to the death of people.
8. It is obvious that if such a poisoning had happened in the forest, then due to the timely burning of the fire and the presence of at least hot tea, their chances of survival were great.

The question posed at the beginning of the article, is there a mystery here, a simple answer is possible. I stated it above. Of course, everything could have happened differently, but in the 51 years that have passed since the tragedy, enthusiasts have discussed many versions and none of them is absolutely inconsistent. I hope that constructive comments will help clarify or correct the version of events that was laid out in the article and generally bring them closer to the final disclosure of all the secrets of this tragedy.