On January 27 , 1959 , a team of hikers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Russia determine off on an expedition in the northern Ural Mountains , with the goal of reaching Gora Oterten Mountain . They never reached their destination , all perishing on the freeze out slopes of Kholat Syakhl Mountain – translating to “ Death Mountain ” in the local autochthonous Mansi words .
Their Death were so disturbing and mysterious that the Dyatlov Pass Incident has become infamous , with many theories swirling around the unfortunate fates of the tramper . These reach from avalanches and scare - inducing levelheaded waves to alien , yeti , and secret military experiments . However , a new report published inCommunications Earth & Environmentsuggests that a rare character of slab avalanche could have been the culprit . " The trueness , of class , is that no one really knows what happened that dark . But we do furnish solid quantitative evidence that the avalanche hypothesis is plausible , " said atomic number 27 - generator Professor Alexander Puzrin in astatement .
Their tent was found on February 26 , 1959 , reduce loose from within with holding still inside . Footprints in the snow indicating they were barefooted , fatigue only sock , or a exclusive boot , lead forth from the collapsible shelter and then disappeared .
The first two trunk were found on February 27 , under a cedarwood tree by the remnants of a fire . The hikers had brook burn , and one of them hadbitten off his own metacarpophalangeal joint . They were shoeless , only wearing underclothes . The stiff of three others were find between this internet site and the tent , stop dead in poses implying that they were trying to return to camp . On May 4 , almost three months later , the last four bodies were institute in a ravine around 75 m ( 246 feet ) from the tree , under 4 meters ( 13 feet ) of snow . Two had their eyes miss , one had no eyebrows , and one had had their tongue rip out .
The question is , why did these very experienced hiker flee their tent so ill - equipped to survive ? Some people find fault aliens . Strangelightswere seen in the sky around the time of the incident , and some of the hiker ’s clothes inexplicably had traces ofradiationon them . These broker have also lead some to believe that the deaths were a result of a secret military machine or KGB operation . Others theorize that a Kármán vortex street have terror onset in the hikers . This is a pattern of wind that generates low - frequency wave of sound and could cause unpleasant psychological effects . Other root – including a 2014Discovery Channeldocumentary – claim a homicidal abominable snowman kill the tramp . A picture from a tramp ’s camera , purportedly of a yeti but probably of someone in snow gear wheel , has helped fuel this theory .
The avalanche theory is the least far - fetched , but there are many point that contradict it . first off , the deliverance squad did n’t incur any grounds of an avalanche at the scene of the incident , and the angle of the incline above was not steep enough for a distinctive avalanche . The injuries to the hiker ’s chest and skulls were also unusual for the victims of an avalanche .
“ premature investigators have been unable to excuse how , in the absence seizure of any snowfall that eventide , an avalanche could have been trigger in the center of the night . We had to come up with a new hypothesis to explicate it , ” enounce co - author Professor Johan Gaume . “ We habituate data point on snow friction and local topography to rise that a lowly slab avalanche could happen on a gentle gradient , leaving few traces behind . ”
The hikers cut up out a surgical incision of the slope to pitch their collapsible shelter . “ That was the initial trigger , but that alone would n’t have been enough , ” said Professor Puzrin . “ The catabatic wind probably roam the snow and allowed an extra load to build up slowly . At a sure point , a cracking could have form and propagate , causing the Charles Percy Snow slab to release . ”
