New expeditions to the Dyatlov Pass confirmed one of the versions of the death of a group of tourists

The death of the Dyatlov tourist group, even after 60 years, attracts the attention of researchers from all over the world. The mystery of this event gave rise to many mysterious theories and even formed the basis of a mystical series. There were more than a hundred versions of what happened, and new expeditions confirmed one of the main ones - snowy. But first, a little background.

Dyatlov's tourist group, consisting of 9 people, died under unclear circumstances in the vicinity of Mount Holatchakhl in the north of the Sverdlovsk region in early 1959.

When rescuers went looking for them a month after the incident, they first found that the tent had been torn from the inside, and most of the supplies and clothing remained intact. Some of the bodies were found next day next to the remains of the fire. Others were found months later in a ravine.

The Soviet authorities at the time determined that three died from physical injuries and the other six from hypothermia. Falling under an avalanche was recognized as a logical explanation: the snow crushed the tent with a significant load, which became the reason for the urgent evacuation of tourists without warm clothes and equipment, after which they died from cold.

However, this version had serious criticism, which consisted in the fact that avalanches were not previously seen on the mountain, and freshly fallen snow from the slope of Holatchakhl usually just blows into the valley.

Swiss scientists Johan Gome and Alexander M. decided to check this version. Puzrin, who heldPost-publication careers: follow-up expeditions reveal avalanches at Dyatlov Pass several trips to the pass and confirmed that the snow on the mountain is really happening. Only these are not avalanches in the usual sense of the term, but the so-called collapse of the “snow board”.

We are talking about a relatively small, but dangerous descent of a layer of compacted snow. It occurs simultaneously throughout the shift area, crushing everything in its path. Typically, such slabs form over a wide area of ​​a slope with an angle of more than 30 degrees, which makes them quite rare.

On expeditions in summer and winter in 2021, Gome and Puzrin studied the angle of the slope, which is really exceeded 30 degrees, and then the condition of the snow cover, indicating that the snow melted available.

This was confirmed by drone aerial photographs of the mountain range by documentarian Matteo Born and a third expedition in January 2022 led by Oleg Demyanenko and Dmitry Borisov. The latter actually provided video confirmation of this version - a video that captures the consequences of the recent snow cover. The video can be viewed at page website of the Swiss university EPFL.

The researchers concluded that the tourists really tried to escape from a huge layer dense snow, which quickly covered their camp and caused physical injuries to three human. Without warm clothes and equipment in a snow storm, members of the tour group died of hypothermia.