Mountain of the Dead (8 page)

Once the military tents had been erected, the search parties took stock of the situation and planned the next phase of the search. Some comfort was taken in the fact that the Dyatlov group’s money and rail tickets had been found in the tent with their belongings, which they took as a sign that no robbery had been involved in their disappearance, as these items would certainly have been taken. Prior to the search resuming, a meal was cooked for everyone and Boris Slobtsov proposed a toast to the health of his missing friends, saying that he hoped they soon would be found well. At this stage, it seemed impossible that all nine members of the group would have met their end; thus the mood of the searchers was optimistic. Another member of the party, Ivan Paschin, responded to Slobtsov’s toast rather morbidly, saying that they should be drinking to the dead rather than the living, as he did not expect any of the Dyatlov group to be found alive. This statement drew a strong response from some of the students present, who expected to find their friends alive. A number of the students became aggressive towards Paschin, with a near-fight breaking out before tempers were calmed.

The discovery of the first two bodies seemed to happen almost by chance. On the morning of 27 February, two members of the main search party, Yury Koptelov and Michael Sharavin, were looking for a new spot for a campsite before resuming the search. They approached the River Lozva and noticed that there was a tall cedar tree nearby that had an area of flat land around it, which also gave a good view of the surrounding area and the mountain (Kholat Syakhl). The snow was not very thick in this area due to the effect of the wind. They approached the cedar to get a better look at the ground and vicinity and, as they came nearer, they noticed two bodies lying in the snow. These were the bodies of George Krivonischenko and Yury Doroshenko. They lay side by side, almost stripped to their underwear as well as having bare feet. Near to the bodies was the remains of a fire in which there were the tops of small trees, which had been cut with a knife. It was later deduced that George Krivonishchenko and Yury Doroshenko must have tried to keep the fire going as long as they could (believed to be a period of one to one and a half hours) but it was not sufficient to warm them enough in the freezing conditions. There were burn marks on their hands and feet, which were believed to have been caused when they put their frostbitten feet and hands into the fire to warm them but did not feel the pain. They basically had frozen to death. The cedar tree was almost 1 mile (about 1,500m) from the tent and the branches had been broken to a height of approximately 13–16ft (4–5m). It looked as though members of the group had climbed the tree and broken off the branches to make the fire, as well as using a knife to cut smaller sections. Pieces of skin from one or more members of the group had also been found on the tree, where they had scraped themselves while climbing up.

As more members of the search party arrived at the scene, the Ivdel prosecutor, Vasily Tempalov, who was also involved in the search, found another body at a point roughly around 1,000ft (300m) from the cedar tree. Students in the search party quickly recognised the body of the group leader, Igor Dyatlov. He was lying on his back with his head pointing in the direction of their tent. Mansi hunters and their dogs then started to explore the mountainside of Kholat Syakhl and fairly quickly found the body of Zina Kolmogorova. It was actually one of the Mansi dogs (a German shepherd named Alma) who found her body, as she was covered by a 4in (10cm) layer of snow. She was found approximately one-third of a mile (500m) from the other three bodies and, like Igor Dyatlov, her body was pointing in the direction of the tent. It can be inferred that these four members of the group (George Krivonischenko,Yury Doroshenko, Igor Dyatlov and Zina Kolmogorova) had all been together near the cedar tree and had started a small fire. It is also interesting to note that Igor Dyatlov and Zina Kolmogorova, who were romantically linked, had stayed together and appear to have both attempted to make their way back to the tent. A possible explanation for the wide separation in where their bodies were found could be that they must have realised by this stage that their lives were in mortal danger, with the fire possibly having gone out, and had tried to make their own way back to the tent in a final desperate attempt to save themselves.

The search continued for another week with no sign of the remaining five members of the group (Rustem Slobodin, Luda Dubinina, Semyon Zolotarev, Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle and Alexander Kolevatov). What was found in the immediate area was another Chinese-made torch of the same type that had been found on top of the tent. The batteries were flat and the switch was still in the ‘on’ position. If this torch was being used by some of the group, then it was either thrown away as the elements overcame them, or the batteries went flat and it was just discarded.

On 2 March a search party composed of three UPI students and several Mansi hunters found a base camp in the valley of the Auspia River that had been left by the Dyatlov group. This store had been established by the group in order to ease their climb up the mountain. Once they had started their ascent, the going had become much harder and they were already carrying a good deal of equipment including the tent, stove and other accessories. The search party found approximately 120lb (55kg) of food, equipment (including a pair of skis and ski shoes), clothes and also Rustem Slobodin’s mandolin. It was considered significant that all the items were still in place, particularly the food, which implied that the group were not being watched by anyone (particularly escaped prisoners) intent on stealing anything.

On 3 March, the students in the search parties had to return to Sverdlovsk to resume their studies. By this time many of them had been searching for almost two weeks. Two days after they had left, the body of Rustem Slobodin was found. An indication of how difficult the search must have been is that Slobodin’s body was found in a line between the cedar and the tent, lying almost halfway between the bodies of Zina Kolmogorova and Igor Dyatlov. His body was very close by, but had gone unseen due to the snow. He was approximately 600ft (180m) ahead of Igor Dyatlov and 500ft (150m) behind Zina Kolmogorova (distances are approximate), as if they had all tried to crawl one after another in a line back to the tent. Slobodin’s body is the only one that was warm when he fell, as the heat from his body had melted the snow beneath him, which had then frozen to form a kind of bed for his body. Slobodin’s watch read 8.45 although it is not necessarily a significant time as watches in the 1950s had to be wound up to keep going – and it is possible the watch continued working after he had died, or it may have stopped before he died if he had not bothered to wind it up because he was too busy trying to stay alive.

It was to be almost two months later, on 4 May, before the remaining four members of the group were found, approximately 230ft (70m) away from the cedar tree. Their bodies were found beneath 13–15ft (4–4.5m) of snow. There does not seem to be any reason as to why the group appears to have split in two, a distance of 230ft (70m) apart from each other. Possibly they had tried to dig a hole in the deep snow as a form of shelter, with George Krivonischenko and Yury Doroshenko perhaps climbing the cedar tree to look back in the direction of the tent, assuming something had happened there, and also to get wood to make a fire.

The bodies of Luda Dubinina, Alexander Kolevatov, Semyon Zolotarev and Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle were all found together, some with serious internal injuries, including broken bones (Rustem Slobodin was found to have a fractured skull). This group of four had managed to create a shelter in a hollow in an attempt to keep warm by using branches, twigs and some clothes to form a kind of den. Luda Dubinina was found to be wearing clothes taken off Krivonischenko and Doroshenko (who were found almost naked). The clothes had been cut with a knife, evidently giving the appearance that they had been removed from the dead bodies of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko. Two of the sweaters found on the bodies were later found to contain levels of radiation.

A suggestion was made that all the members of the group should be buried at the mountain pass, which was to bear Igor Dyatlov’s name. This was amended to possible burial in the town of Ivdel, before it was finally decided to bury them in Sverdlovsk. Seven of the group (Igor Dyatlov, Luda Dubinina, Zina Kolmogorova, Rustem Slobodin, Yury Doroshenko, Alexander Kolevatov and Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle) were buried in Mikhailovskoe Cemetery in a ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Many students from UPI attended, despite being instructed to avoid the ceremony and attend their lectures. It is felt that the authorities were doing their best to try to keep the funerals as low-key as possible.

George Krivonischenko and Semyon Zolotarev were both buried in Ivanoskoye Cemetery. It is said that this particular cemetery was closed at the time and there must have been reasons why these two burials took place there, rather than with the rest of the group. One reason given is that the two were somehow linked to the KGB. However, Krivonischenko’s mother had connections within the authorities and she wanted her son buried at Ivanoskoye Cemetery instead of Mikhailovskoe. Zolotarev is considered by some to be a more shadowy figure and there may be other reasons why he was buried in this cemetery. He was also the last of the group to be buried. Krivonischenko’s mother and relatives built the small concrete and brick wall around Zolotarev’s grave as no one from his family had attended the burial or attended to the grave.

A criminal investigation had been started to try and get to the bottom of what had happened. This investigation is the cause of much controversy. The man in charge was Lev Ivanov. After his retirement, he eventually went to live in Kazakhstan and his personal view was that there was a UFO involvement in the deaths of the Dyatlov group. He died in the 1990s but never deviated from his views. One of the oddest aspects about Ivanov’s initial involvement at the pass on Kholat Syakhl was that he used a Geiger counter to take measurements of radiation shortly after the discovery of the tent and the bodies. It appears inexplicable that a policeman would feel the need to see whether radiation was present in what was initially considered to be possibly an open and shut case of misadventure, with people dying of hypothermia in blizzard conditions. Whether there was official sanction for it or whether he was using his own initiative is not known. A Geiger counter would not be part of a normal policeman’s investigative tools in the Soviet Union of 1959, but it may have been given to him by the authorities as part of the investigation, which itself raises the question of why the authorities felt the need for the presence of radiation to be measured in the vicinity.

The area was closed off completely for four years by the authorities and not reopened until 1963. On its reopening, a memorial plaque to the members of the Dyatlov group was fixed to a large rock at the pass, which was renamed Dyatlov Pass in memory of the dead ski tourists.

The following is an extract from the conclusions of the investigation and the final decision to terminate the criminal case:

Considering the lack on the dead bodies of external injuries and signs of struggle, the presence in place of all group’s valuables, and also taking into account the forensic report on the causes of death of the tourists, it shall be considered that death of the tourists had been caused by an elemental force which the tourists were unable to overcome.

One of the most unusual aspects of the autopsies was the lack of any external markings (not even scratches) to those in the group who had suffered the worst internal injuries. The first four bodies of the party to have autopsies performed on them were that of Yury Doroshenko, George Krivonischenko, Igor Dyatlov and Zina Kolmogorova. The autopsies were carried out by medical examiner Boris Vozrozhdenny and were performed in the village of Vizhay on 4 March 1959. Rustem Slobodin’s autopsy was performed also in Vizhay on 8 March, shortly after his body was found. The remaining four bodies were not found until early May, with autopsies performed shortly afterwards.

Members of the families commented on the discolouration of the skin of the bodies, saying that some of them looked as if they had the skin of someone of African descent. Yury Kuntsevich of the Dyatlov Foundation was 12 years old at the time and attended the funerals. He recalled seeing the apparently ‘deeply tanned skin’ of the deceased.

Krivonischenko’s body was found under the same cedar tree as Yury Doroshenko. The findings of the autopsy were:

There were bruises on his forehead 0.3 x 1.8cm and there was a bruise around the left temporal bone.

Diffuse bleeding in the right temporal and occipital region due to damage to temporalis muscle.

Tip of nose missing.

Frostbitten ears.

Bruises on the right side of the chest 7 x 2cm and 2 x 1.2cm.

Bruises on hands.

Detachment of the epidermis on the back of the left hand to a width of 2cm.

Portion of the epidermis from the right hand was found in his mouth.

Bruises on the thighs with minor scratches.

Bruise on the left buttock 10 x 3cm.

Abrasions on the outer side of the left thigh 6.2cm and 4.5cm.

Bruises on the left leg 2 x 1cm, 2 x 1.5cm and 3 x 1.3cm.

Burn on the left leg 10 x 4cm.

There was 500g of urine in his bladder. The official cause of Krivonischenko’s death was given as hypothermia. One aspect of his and Yury Doroshenko’s freezing to death was the possibility of so-called ‘paradoxical undressing’ (see Chapter 6). Krivonischenko was found dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, swimming pants, pants and a torn sock on his left leg. He was not wearing any footwear.