Theories Discussion > General Discussion

Survival programs as a resource.

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Ziljoe:
Hi, I've been binge watching the survival program " Alone ".

If you enjoy the outdoors and fighting to survive with selected items, 10 out of 40 , building your own shelter , hunting game with a bow and arrow, snares, fishing nets during winter etc, then I can recommend it.

However , I think it's a good resource for the Dyatlov pass. I have only watched two seasons but it's the effect the cold has on people .

Having  watched one of the series , two contestants did something that might offer a rational explanation to the burns on the group. The program seems genuine enough , the contestants are left in an allocated piece of land and have emergency satalite phones, basic first aid, bear spray/horn and their chosen survival equipment. They have to survive against each other, film themselves for up to 100 days from fall to winter. It actually seems quite brutal and has a certain charm.

Anyway , one of the contestants was trying to lay a system for catching fish in the lake. They decided to swim out to lay the line in the start of winter. Things went wrong quite quickly, her life belt got tangled in the line, and ended up being in the water for over 20 minutes. They had set the cameras up to film before hand and they had made a fire at the shore. After getting out of the water you could see that the cold was having an effect. Speech was deteriorating along with body movement. To remedy the pain , the contestant squatted over the fire , put on thermal base layer and fought against the cold. Unknown , they had moderately burt their thighs and quite badly at the knee to the point of a blistering, also they had burnt a hole in the leggings.

 Also, another contestant suffering with cold feet put them close to the fire whilst wearing their socks and managed to burn holes in the socks.

The point being, or the parallels to the Dyatlov group are ,that it is quite feasible that people will put their limbs in a fire out of moderate desperation . Without knowing, they can burn themselves and their clothes! . The Dyatlov group were potentially suffering from the conditions than these TV contestants. Some contestants have the start of frostbite and get pulled of the show. No idea how the insurance works , must sign a waiver.

Another contestant actually killed a wolverine that was raiding his "labaz" ( mounted in the trees) . Unfortunately there was zero reports of smell or bad odour. He even skinned the wolverine . ( Think he might of ate it?)

Ziljoe:
This is a guy deep snow survival camping in a 8ft snow hole.

Caution: I don't recommend anyone to do this without training.

At 5:15 in the video he break's off branches of a fur/ceder tree. He says this is the best wood for fire and the sap helps. Point to note is the debris that fall to the ground whilst he is collecting the wood. I suspect this type of trail is what the Mansi would have discovered during the thaw that lead to the discovery of the den . If I remember correctly some of the hikers clothes were found along the same path as the remains of sticks and branches used to make the den. If the debris and clothes were found at the same depth in the snow, it would reinforce the notion that the incident and building of the den happened at the same time.

The lack of any other trails or tracks around the ceder and ravine is significant in suggesting no one else was in the area and the den was not a previous flooring built by another party.

If anyone else was camping at the ceder, I think there would be more signs of activity and tracks,going to the toilet, chopped , sawdust or cut wood for fires, left over food scraps, tangerine skins for example. Humans leave more than footprints and i think it would be next to impossible to make the area
"clean"?. 




https://youtu.be/uULP-At5gPE?si=c1jaW0I-AdwIrfKx




 

GlennM:
Ziljoe, you are certainly right that these references add to the group understanding of the tragedy. It also points out the real dangers of battling with the elements. Even the best laid plans must be subservient to physics. The snow cave is a clever solution, providing the snow conforms to expectations. Can we imagine creating such a shelter without tools in any sort of wind or falling snow.

Thhe DP9 should have listened when the Forester advised them to not try their suggested route. They, for the most part were young, energetic and primed for a challenge. Nature is indifferent.

For me, the big take away from your postings are that the standard canon of what transpired on their last days on 1079 are entirely reasonable and likely true. I like the economy of the explanation.

Falcon73:
I hate to say it but this is looking more and more like overconfidence and biting off more than the could chew.  Why was it allowed for them to go on a level 3 hike when no one, including Dyatlov were level 3?
What sense does It make to say if you are successful at this level 3 hike you will then be level 3. And if you failed what else could happen except you die?

Ziljoe:

--- Quote from: Falcon73 on January 08, 2024, 02:23:24 PM ---I hate to say it but this is looking more and more like overconfidence and biting off more than the could chew.  Why was it allowed for them to go on a level 3 hike when no one, including Dyatlov were level 3?
What sense does It make to say if you are successful at this level 3 hike you will then be level 3. And if you failed what else could happen except you die?

--- End quote ---

Good point. There might be over confidence for sure but they had done several trips before. The distance covered in this trip is considerable and without a contingency plan if one of the party was to break an ankle for example.

However, the nature of tourism in the USSR was encouraged and a passtime. There were many accidents and deaths , this includes rafting as well as winter climbing and hikes. There were fallouts and fights in other groups quite frequently I believe, one of the other groups ran into difficulty at the same time as DP9 but for different reasons, an accidental burning of their tent left them digging snow holes on their return to safety, another group are reported to have suffered frostbite .

It was the 1950s but such things still happen in all parts of the world. Saying that , we only hear of the accidents and deaths , not those that came to no harm.

This is also maybe part of the mystery to the Dyatlov 9 , why , out of all the deaths and accidents in the Soviet Union does it it get so much attention?.

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