To me the tent is crucial, that is, the condition it was in, what was inside it, what was within several meters of it, etc. So let's try to articulate some possibilities, and then if anyone would like to add to anything, or to point out contrary evidence, we can take it from there.
Igor's fur coat, if it ususally used to plug up a hole in the tent, could have been found several meters away because the wind blew it there, perhaps days after the incident.
The tent seems to have been well-secured against the wind, with one of two flashlights placed on top of a layer of snow, which could mean they thought they might return before dawn, and apparently between 1 and 3 of them were trying to do this (it's possible only Zina wanted to go back and the other two guys were trying to convince her to go to the "den" instead).
Even if we could demonstrate/prove that the tent was cut from the inside, we don't know why. For example, there could have been ice buildup that threatened to collapse the tent, and their initial attempts to knock it off failed, or resulted in at least some of the damage to it. Or one or two standing outside (suggested by the urine puddles) could have fallen onto one side, collapsing that side of the tent, and then someone inside might have become angered or fearful and cut a hole in it to get out. At that point they decided it couldn't be repaired that night and so needed to secure it. This scenario would include a naive view of the threat of hypothermia on at least on the part of Igor, the leader, thus there was a lot more concern about the tent being blown apart or the contents of the tent being blown all over the mountainside than with hypothermia.
The drawing of the two major cuts connected by a much smaller cut could represent the tent being folded over, perhaps after partial collapse (for whatever reason). If you fold a piece of paper and try to do this sort of shaped cut, it's easy, though they could have done it by mistake.
Topic: Inspection Of The Tent (Read 52756 times)
