THE DYATLOV PASS MYSTERY
New study suggests an avalanche caused mysterious deaths of hikers
A recent study published in Communications: Earth & Environment journal proposes that the mysterious deaths of nine Russian hikers at Dyatlov Pass during a skiing expedition (see FT245:30-45, 377:4) were due to an avalanche.
On 1 February 1959,
Igor Dyatlov and his eight companions decided to set up camp on the slope of Kholat Saykhl (which means ‘Dead Mountain’ in the local tribal language) in the northern Ural Mountains. Several hours later, around midnight, something occurred that caused the hikers to cut the tent from the inside and seek shelter in a forest over 1km (0.6 miles) away.
Twenty-six days later, five bodies were discovered at the edge of the forest. That they had fled suddenly was evident from the bodies being found barefoot and clad only in underwear. These and one other victim’s cause of death were determined as hypothermia (the temperature at midnight – exacerbated by an Arctic cold front, winds of 45-67mph (72107km/h) and a snowstorm – was established to have been as cold as -40 °C).
Two months afterwards, the bodies of the remaining four hikers were found further into the woods, three of them having sustained fatal chest or head wounds. Two had missing eyes, one was without their tongue and another lacked eyebrows. The original criminal investigation report from 1959 found that “a compelling natural force” had been responsible for the nine deaths, a tantalisingly vague phrase.
An avalanche was also the explanation arrived at by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in 2019 (the 60th anniversary of the incident), after a four-year investigation. This explanation is regarded by some as inconsistent with the victims’ injuries, with a lack of evidence of post-avalanche debris, and with the precise location unlikely to generate an avalanche.
But Johan Gaume and Alexander M Puzrin, the article’s authors, claim to have demonstrated by means of physical simulation that a combination of irregular topography, the cut made in the slope where the tent was installed, and strong winds all led to an accumulation of snow above and behind the tent. This ‘slab’ of snow was, they suggest, dislodged some hours after the hikers had set up camp. Gaume and Puzrin say that “dynamic avalanche simulations” combined with data from crash tests indicate that even a relatively small snow slab could lead to serious but non-lethal injuries consistent with those reported in the post-mortems. Avalanches usually don’t cause such severe injuries “because impacts rarely occur against stiff obstacles. In the Dyatlov case [however], the victims were trapped between the falling slab and the tent floor, which was placed on compacted snow reinforced by skis”.
But even if an avalanche were capable of causing the catastrophic wounds sustained by the victims, it is unclear why some were found barefoot and almost naked and why they had fled to the nearby forest. Footprints leading away from the tent were inconsistent with a group of nine people running in panic. All the footprints leading towards the forest were consistent with individuals walking at a normal pace.
Still less clear is why traces of radioactivity were found on one victim’s clothes, and why a nearby camping group described seeing glowing orange spheres in the sky that night. Among the numerous explanations for the tragedy are: infrasound-induced panic, attacks by animals, Yetis or local tribesmen, a secret weapon experiment, or a romantic dispute. The absence of eyewitnesses ensures that the explorers’ deaths are destined to remain a mystery. Despite Gaume and Puzrin’s findings, it is certain the case will continue to exert a grim fascination, and that researchers will continue to posit other explanations for the tragic events of 1 February 1959.
1 Vol.2, 10 (2021), Gaume, J, Puzrin, AM ‘Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959’; https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247020-00081-8.