At the beginning of March 1959, the thousand-year calm of Mount Kholat-Syahyl was broken by the roar of aircraft engines. Aircraft and helicopters loitered in the sky at low altitude. Units of the internal troops combed the snow-covered rocks in squares, together with groups of volunteer climbers.
The searchers were hoping for a miracle. A group of tourists, led by an experienced instructor Dyatlov, disappeared. The expedition left Sverdlovsk on January 23, according to the plan, it was supposed to return in 21 days, but all reasonable deadlines have passed.
The group consisted of nine people, two of them were girls. In addition to them, two more wanted to take part in the campaign, but they didn’t work out, one suddenly got sciatica, and the other had to hand over the institute’s “tails”. Just the case when there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped.
So, a group of five students and three graduates was led by mountain instructor Dyatlov. The expedition planned to climb Otorten Peak, having made a week-long ski crossing. Everything went according to plan, it was established that on February 1, on the slope of Kholat-Syahyl, inten kilometers from the target, tourists set up a campground.
After a 25-day search, five were found dead. The terrible find did not reveal the cause of their death, but only added questions. First, they found an empty tent, it contained things and food, and it itself was cut. The tracks led in different directions, showing that the tourists were leaving the place of lodging for the night in a panic. The dead did not have warm clothes, she remained in the tent.
There was no doubt that the cause of death was hypothermia. Closest to the camp lay the body of one of the girls, Zina Kolmogorova. Two guys managed to build a fire half a kilometer away, under a large tree, and froze when it went out. Igor Dyatlov was found between this cedar and the tent. The expedition consisted of nine people, the fate of four more was still unknown.
They were found in May, under the snow, near Lozva. Unlike the previously found corpses, these were severely mutilated, and the second girl had no tongue. Big questions arose from forensic experts about the color of the skin of the dead, it was orange-violet.
All these facts suggested the unusual circumstances of the death of a group of tourists led by Dyatlov. The expedition, according to the conclusion signed by the head of the investigative department Lukin and the criminal prosecutor Ivanov, died as a result of exposure to an irresistible elemental force of an unknown nature. Further investigation yielded no results.
Extreme tourism is associated with risk. The death of climbers in the mountains always becomes an emergency, but it is not surprising. After reporting another tragedy, most people forget about it. The exception is the group led by Dyatlov. The expedition of 1959 to this day serves as a subject for the most daring and fantastic hypotheses.
There have been suggestions about the massacre perpetrated by the secret services, which eliminated unwanted witnesses, but this version is not very plausible, if only because in this case the picture would have been given maximum naturalness.
Alien involvement is also, to put it mildly, unlikely. The possibility of the involvement of local residents of the Khanty and Mansi peoples, who avenged the relics desecrated by tourists, was seriously considered. The investigation moved in this direction, even reindeer herders were arrested, but no evidence was found.
Recently, there has been an assumption about the sudden release of gas from the rocks, the effect of which on the body is unpredictable.
Apparently, in the near future, humanity will never know the reliable reason why the Dyatlov expedition died. Photos taken on the slope of Kholat-Syahyl in 1959, articles on this topic published in printed editions, became a means to interest the reader. The tragic fate of young people inspires writers to write fantasy novels. Curious people come here…
