What Killed the Dyatlov Pass Hikers?
By: Martina Petkova
Tags: Mystery, Bizarre, Nonfiction, True Story, Unsolved Mysteries

Until the May discoveries, the official cause of death announced by authorities was hypothermia. But the chest fractures and tissue damage found in the four hikers who died in the ravine made the investigation much more complicated.

And yet, it was quickly closed — as early as May 1959 — with the official cause listed as a “compelling natural force.” All files were sent to a secret archive.

Theories

Six decades and a massive regime change later, Russians still don’t think there has been any closure in the Dyatlov case. Journalists and hobbyist investigators continue to dig deeper. Articles and books continue to be published.

What are the main theories about what befell the Dyatlov hikers?

The Mansi people

Initially, the investigators first suspected the Mansi: a local indigenous tribe of hunters and reindeer herders.

Multiple members of the tribe were rounded up and interrogated for weeks. The belief was that the hikers had encroached on sacred land and were, therefore, chased and attacked by the Mansi people.

This theory was soon ruled out. Just like the short-lived theory of a wild animal attack, it couldn’t hold up against the fact that there were no outsider footprints in the area — other than the footprints that belonged to the nine hikers.

An avalanche

A more probable theory was that of severe weather conditions: an avalanche or strong hurricane winds.

The group had set up camp on the open slope of a mountain, without any natural barriers that could shield them from winds, snow, or a storm.

The entrance of the tent was facing the top of the mountain. Investigators suggest that hikers had been sealed shut by snow in the tent and had to cut it open with a knife on the opposite end and run for their lives.

The tent as it was discovered by Shavarin | Wikimedia Commons

According to this theory, they ran in a panic towards the wooded area and split up in two or three groups.

Dyatlov, Kolmogorova, and Slobodin tried to climb back up to the tent in order to obtain clothes and provisions. The rest remained behind trying to stay warm by kindling a fire.

The 4 people who were snowed under in the ravine could not escape the avalanche and were killed by it. The damage to their faces was caused after their death by scavenging animals.

Russia reopened the investigation of the Dyatlov Pass incident several times, most recently in 2015 and 2019. Every time, an avalanche is confirmed as the official cause.

Secret weapons

In 1990, after the Soviet Union had crumbled to pieces, the lead investigator of the Dyatlov Incident — Lev Ivanov — gave an interview. He admitted that a lot of the findings that came up in the investigation had not been made public at the time. He was allegedly under a lot of pressure to close the case quickly and seal all the files.

After that, he was sent away in a small, isolated town in Kazakhstan.

But in the 1990s, with the old regime gone, he spoke up. And he revealed details that had already been shared between Russian citizens in hushed rumors for the past three decades.

He had received several witness reports of bright balls of fire in the sky on the night of February 1. This confirmed suspicions that the students might have fallen victim to some secret weapons testing. People who attended the funerals all reported that the bodies were a dark brick-red color and appeared abnormal. Officially, this was dismissed as a natural consequence of having been exposed to the elements. But suspicions lingered.

After Ivanov died, more information was discovered in his files. Some of the clothing of the students had traces of radiation.

And the temporary morgue that was set up to examine the bodies that were found first — and that had obvious signs of hypothermia — was guarded by officers of the KGB. At this early stage of the investigation, before the discovery of the last four hikers with more visible injuries, this was a very strange decision.

Ivanov’s files also showed that nobody was allowed in during the autopsies and a big barrel of alcohol was delivered, with the forensic team being instructed to wipe their bodies with it: something that used to be done as a primitive form of protection against radiation.

The mountain area where the nine hikers died was gigantic and very isolated. It was a perfect location for testing of weapons.

According to this theory, the hikers were woken up by huge explosions or started getting suffocated by toxic fumes.

What happened?

Both the avalanche and the secret weapons theory have some weak spots.

The area of the Dyatlov pass — named after Igor Dyatlov to commemorate the tragic expedition — is not steep enough for an avalanche to take place. All hikers were experienced enough to recognize adverse conditions so it is highly unlikely that they would set up a tent in a place where they knew they could be snowed under.

Also, no signs and traces of an actual avalanche were found at the Dyatlov pass.

But it’s difficult to be certain in a government conspiracy either. The two main clues supporting are the radiation and the secrecy around the case. However, in the case of an explosion, radiation would have been detected in all clothes, belongings, and bodies. And also, ironically, the level of secrecy displayed in the Dyatlov Pass investigation was in the Soviet Union at the time. The fact that the investigation was rushed and sealed was nothing out of the ordinary.

In the end, after repeated and tireless investigations, there is no conclusive answer to what forced the nine hikers out of their tent and led to their horrific death. The Dyatlov Pass incident remains one of the biggest mysteries in the world.