Mountain of the Dead (6 page)
However, the ‘mysterious’ background, which tends more to focus on his involvement in the war with Germany, is not quite so mysterious when one considers that he was 20 years old when Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941 and was therefore of prime military call-up age. Unlike other members of the group, there are no living witnesses who remember him well, and what is known of his time in Sverdlovsk and at UPI is very little. Yury Yudin remembers him from that time and says that he had great respect for him and that some of the talk of Zolotarev having been in prison or a fugitive convict was nonsense. At the time of his joining the group for the trip to Mount Otorten, Zolotarev was an instructor at the Kourovskaya tourist base.
Alexander Kolevatov, born 16 November 1934, by the time he had entered UPI as a physics student had already studied metallurgy of heavy non-ferrous metals at the Sverdlovsk Mining and Metallurgy College. He was an exceptional student and transferred to Moscow to work in a secret laboratory (known as Laboratory B), which was organised within Department 9 of the NKVD (the secret police and forerunner of the KGB). The laboratory was relocated to Chelyabinsk and its main goal was developing protection from ionising radiation. The laboratory gradually grew into an institute that was known simply as 3394 (its PO Box No – 3394). It was later subordinated to the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. From here, Kolevatov transferred to the Research Institute of Inorganic Materials, where he was involved in the production of materials for nuclear use. In 1956 he returned to Sverdlovsk to study physics at Ural Polytechnic Institute. At the time of the tragedy he was a fourth-year student in the Faculty of Technical Physics and was described as diligent, methodical and pedantic, with leadership qualities. A studio photograph of him shows an assured and intense-looking young man. His manner and meticulous attention to detail led the two girls in the group to dislike him and describe him as ‘a regular bore’. Despite his pedantic qualities, which included an opinion on every subject, he did have a sense of humour and could be a comic when he wanted to be. He composed humorous verse and Yury Yudin possessed one of these verses he had received from Kolevatov on a New Year card. Along with some of the other males in the group he could also play the mandolin, but not very well.
George Krivonischenko, born 7 February 1935, had graduated from UPI and was a qualified engineer. He had worked as an engineer at Chelyabinsk-40, the secret, closed nuclear city south of Sverdlovsk, and was part of a group involved in the clean-up after what was known as the Kyshtym nuclear accident in September 1957. Kyshtym is a small city 6 miles (10km) from Chelyabinsk-40 where the accident happened. Some commentators have suggested that the radioactivity measured on the clothes of some of the group after they were found dead might have been related to this accident, but it is most unlikely that Krivonischenko would still be wearing the same clothes, as the accident had occurred two years previously. Krivonischenko was very much looking forward to the trip and had written in a letter to friends in December 1958: ‘Frankly speaking, I am longing for camp life and think of a trip as of a great blessing.’
Rustem Slobodin, born 11 January 1936, was an ethnic Russian but, in keeping with communist ideals, had been given a Tartar first name by his parents in recognition of friendship and solidarity with other ethnic groups. Like George Krivonischenko, he had also graduated from UPI in 1959 and was an engineer. Those who knew him described him as quiet and thoughtful, as well as honest and decent. Yury Yudin described Rustem as a real ‘diamond’, very likeable and amiable. In addition to a very high level of fitness, which he maintained by running in all weathers, he also enjoyed trekking and hiking, and would take his mandolin on these trips. His father was a professor at another Sverdlovsk higher educational establishment.
Yury Doroshenko, born 12 January 1938, had been involved in a relationship with Zina Kolmogorova, which was serious enough for them to have visited her parents in Kamensk-Urals. He was a student at UPI but the relationship with Zina had finished and she had become friendly with Igor Dyatlov by the time of their journey to Kholat Syakhl. Despite the break-up of their relationship and her apparent feelings towards Igor Dyatlov, Yury remained on good terms with both of them. He was modest and reserved and generally tried not to show his emotions.
Lyudmila ‘Luda’ Dubinina, born 12 May 1938, came from a family of intellectuals and was a third-year student at UPI studying engineering and economics. A gregarious young woman, she was active in the Tourist Club and enjoyed singing and photography. She was also an experienced ski tourist, having led a group to the northern Urals the previous winter of 1958. Many of the photos on the trip to Kholat Syakhl were taken by her. On one Tourist Club trip to the Eastern Sayan Mountains two years prior to their final journey to Kholat Syakhl, she had been accidentally shot by another member of the group who was cleaning his rifle. Despite being non-life-threatening, it was a painful wound which she bore with good humour on the journey to receive medical attention. She was also a very forthright and outspoken girl who held strong opinions. Her enthusiasm could be summed up in the phrase she used from time to time, ‘For the Motherland! For Stalin!’
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It was said of her that she would not hesitate to tell someone straight to their face if she thought they were wrong in any way. One comment has been made of her, that when her body was found after the tragedy, the fact that her tongue was missing may have been due to her forthrightness and outspokenness, depending on which theory is referred to.
Zinaida ‘Zina’ Kolmogorova,
born 12 January 1937, was a very attractive young woman in her fourth year at UPI, studying radio engineering. Zina was outgoing and attracted people to her because of her good-natured disposition. It was said of her that she filled a room with her personality. Although she often described herself as just a ‘country girl’, she was highly intelligent and a good organiser. Zina was considered to be the life and soul of the Tourist Club at the university. She was also an experienced hiker and, like Luda Dubinina, she had also suffered a misfortune on one trip when she was bitten by a viper. She had refused help in carrying her load before getting medical help. Again like Luda Dubinina, she displayed heroic qualities, which would be expected of good young communists who would bear any suffering or burden with stoicism. She was outgoing, confident and fully aware of her looks. A comment was made about her that with her personality and intelligence, had she lived, she had the potential to become a Minister of the USSR.
Zina was in a relationship (or at least emotionally involved) with the group leader Igor Dyatlov. However, she did not join the group just because of her attachment to him. Rather it was because this trip was expected to be shorter than another trip being undertaken by members of the university at the same time that she had originally considered joining. She had previously been involved in a relationship with another member of the Dyatlov group, Yury Doroshenko, and there was also a third member of the Dyatlov group who appeared to have designs on her, Semyon Zolotarev. She was therefore the subject of attention from three of the seven males in the group (leaving out Yury Yudin who left the group before they went into the mountains) and this potentially volatile mix of young men vying for her attention is the focus of one of the theories of what happened on the night of 1/2 February 1959.
Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle (‘Tibo’), born 5 June 1935, as his name suggests was very different to the rest of the group. He was the son of a French communist who had been executed during the period when Stalin was in power. Nicolai had, in fact, been born in a prison camp for political prisoners. His father had made a significant contribution to the industrial development of the Urals region but had fallen out of favour with those in power. Despite these apparent handicaps and the ‘thaw’ after Khrushchev took over the USSR, Nicolai had attended UPI and graduated (in civil engineering) the previous year before the trip to Kholat Syakhl. He was popular and had a friendly character, a good sense of humour and liked to play practical jokes. He also appeared to have had access to a great deal of literature that was not available to others in those times.
Yury Yudin, born 19 July 1937, was the only survivor of the ten that set out on the fateful journey from Sverdlovsk on 23 January 1959. A fourth-year student in the Faculty of Engineering and Economics at UPI, he was also an experienced hiker. Like both the females in the group, he too had experienced an injury (an injured back) on a previous hiking expedition and it was recurring pain from this injury that saved his life when he decided to abandon the trip and return to Sverdlovsk. Yury Yudin was an economist; he is sometimes incorrectly described as a geologist, probably due to his search for minerals at the second severny just prior to leaving the group to return to Sverdlovsk on 28 January 1959. In October 2012 he was asked to describe himself at a meeting in Ekaterinburg, to which he replied by saying he considered himself to be a ‘regular booby’. Igor Dyatlov had asked him twice to go on the trip and he accepted the second time, as he said he liked to be around Igor Dyatlov, who was always brimming with interesting ideas. Despite Yudin’s self-deprecation, Igor Dyatlov obviously valued Yudin’s organisational skills and asked him to look after the medical side of things as well as the equipment and food supplies. Yury had been asked by the Minerals Museum at the university to bring back samples for them.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, there was also an eleventh member of the group named Nicolai Popov, who was good friends with the others and had fully intended to travel to Mount Otorten with them on 23 January. However, he missed the train at Sverdlovsk railway station and stayed behind: something he was no doubt very grateful for. Popov was still alive in 2012 and lived in Ekaterinburg.
At the time of the planned Dyatlov group journey, there was another group planning an expedition into the northern Urals, the Sogrin group, which both Semyon Zolotarev and Zina Kolmogorova had intended to join. However, this group were planning a different route that was going to take some considerable time longer than the Dyatlov-planned journey. For this reason, Semyon Zolotarev and Zina Kolmogorova both changed their minds and joined the Dyatlov expedition instead. Zolotarev was planning on heading home to his family after the planned expedition and did not want to be away as long as the Sogrin group were planning. Zina Kolmogorova also wanted a shorter time away and there is a suggestion that she was the first to change her mind and switch to the Dyatlov group. The suggestion goes on to say that she was then followed by Semyon Zolotarev, who found her very attractive (despite his being considerably older), so that he could be close to her.
The aim of the group was to trek initially to the 4,048ft (1,234m) Mount Otorten in the northern Ural Mountains 340 miles (550km) north of Sverdlovsk. The original planned route to Mount Otorten was to be Sverdlovsk – Serov – Ivdel – Vizhay – the second severny (an abandoned settlement) – Mount Otorten. Beyond Mount Otorten, the group intended to go on to Mount Oika-Chakur and the River North Toshemka before returning the same way via Vizhay, Ivdel, Serov and finally Sverdlovsk. The trek was to be a good test of the group’s capabilities, as it was in a very remote location and would take place in midwinter when weather conditions would be at their harshest. The rating/ranking for the trip was level 3 – the highest level of complexity. (‘Complexity’ is the most direct translation, but a better word for English ears would be ‘difficulty’, as in the rating of a chess problem.)
As already mentioned, Mount Otorten in the local Mansi language translates as ‘don’t go there’. Rather than any ominous warning to would-be travellers, it was more intended to signify a place that was difficult to reach in winter and was best avoided in difficult conditions. Mount Otorten stood on the border of the Sverdlovsk Oblast and the KOMI autonomous republic, close to the border of the Perm and Tyumen Oblasts. This was the northernmost point of the Sverdlovsk Oblast and the source of the River Lozva is located in the vicinity of this mountain. The area surrounding Mount Otorten was very sparsely populated, primarily by the Mansi tribe, hunters who had lived in the region for hundreds of years. The first mention of them in written records was in 1396
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when they were described in Russian chronicles as Voguls. The term Vogul came from the Komi and Khant languages of the respective tribes who lived in nearby regions. The Mansi were to be known as Voguls for many years until the term Mansi was first used by Russians in 1785.
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The term Mansi (
Maan’s’i
literally means human or man in their language) became common usage from the 1920s onwards within the Soviet Union. The Mansi folklore and traditions are rich with legends connected to their way of life and the land in which they live.
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The area the Mansi occupy (the Khanty-Mansi National District) in north-west Siberia is huge, covering 523,100km/sq in the Tyumen region. They have always tended to live in the river valleys such as the villages of Konda, Lozva, Pelym and Tavda, which stretch from the Ural Mountains to the lower reaches of the River Ob. Despite the vast area of their territory, the Mansi have always been small in numbers. A census in 1897 put their total population at 7,600.
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A census carried out in 1959, the year of the Dyatlov tragedy, put their total population at 6,449 with 59.2 per cent of them being native speakers of the Mansi language.
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One well-known member of the Mansi is Mayor Sergey Semenovich Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow City (from 21 October 2012).
1.
Much of the background information on Semyon Zolotarev has been provided by the Dyatlov Memorial Foundation.
