This can't be determined since the snow in the ravine is collected not just from the sky but all the snow from the mountain face is blown down into the ravine. The slopes are bare at some spots while the snow in the ravine could be very deep. Even if we had data how much and how often did it snow on this slope January-February 1959 (which we don't) we still wouldn't know how much did it accumulate in the ravine. Better picture would be if we had measurements from this date on this spot for about 10 years, but things have changed a lot throughout the years. Shura Aleekseenkov was discussing if the snow accumulated at the den could have been heavy enough to cause the traumas with Karelin on our meeting after the expedition. I asked him for the drawing he was showing Karelin. I believe Shura Aleekseenkov has been to the pass the most times in the winter, and he has a particular interest in the snow accumulation at the den. I will write here when I hear from him.
I think it's proposed that the collapse happened where the ravine 4 were found, not at the den location as in your photo.This is new to me.
The reason the snow gathers in the ravine is that it doesn't get blown away because it's protected to the most part buy it's shape.In addition to this the snow from the mountain is blown on top of what comes down from the sky.
I think it's proposed that the collapse happened where the ravine 4 were found, not at the den location as in your photo.This is new to me.The reason the snow gathers in the ravine is that it doesn't get blown away because it's protected to the most part buy it's shape.In addition to this the snow from the mountain is blown on top of what comes down from the sky.
Just my understanding, I could be wrong. I suppose it depends on the proposed sequence of events which I'm sure has many variables. How did the ravine 4 get from the den flooring to where they were found?
It's not actually all that deep, the man is stood in a trench he has dug up to his knees using spades, and using him as a 6ft tall scale the snow above the seating area is 8.5ft.
Rightly or wrongly I've always assumed that minus tools, cold and in the dark, and with the thermic clock against them, all the hikers could make was the simplest hole in the snow, not unlike the tent trench, and then effect a roof upon which snow from the spoil would be swept/pulled over.
So I would guestimate that the depth of hole they dug was 4ft, deep enough to cover 4 people sat on their behinds with their knees up to the level of their chests. Any deeper is just too much time and toil.
Through the subsequent 3 weeks, including the hurricane which would scour the mountain and blow snow as a drift towards the ravine, an extra 4.5ft has accumulated.
I don't think bodies would be dumped in a restaging scenario as this would fracture ribs and potentially be detected by the pathologist (accepting that the restagers may not be aware of this possibility), so they wouldn't be rolled or thrown into the ravine but placed there, their heads all to one side, if this theory was what happened.
Personally I have always believed the den was a triage made for 4 fading people, who died before its completion and were then respectfully placed in the ravine, or had been sheltering there during its construction. Then the surviving three, who wanted to make a safe haven for the 4 while they returned to the tent, spent time in the den, but by the time they tried to return to the tent hypothermia had taken its toll, they had descended below the recovery point and death was inevitable, all energy gone and all movement eventually physically impossible.
I don't think there was any snow collapse.