Hi. New to this mystery. I've been researching it intensely for the last few days online, comparing stories and information. One thing that stood out to me was that the coroner said the food in most of their stomachs suggested they'd eaten 6 to 8 hours before death. I don't know how this could be true for all of them, but if it was true for the first to die, when did they eat supper? Assuming they ate after they all piled into the tent at the campsite, and then went to sleep, I imagine it would have been very shortly after dark. What time does it get dark up there at that time of year? And when was sunrise the next morning? I'm asking because there's this assumption that all of these events took place "in the middle of the night." Depending on the answers to my questions, it may have been a lot closer to sunrise. They would all have still been undressed, except for the two who appeared more fully clothed... those two may have awakened early and gotten dressed to go outside to relieve themselves. If this is the case, it wouldn't have been pitch dark for very long at all after the initial panic that caused them to cut their way out of the tent. They may have run amok in the dark, but quickly realized they were temporarily safe enough to regroup... and by then, it would have been bright enough outside to see each other and their surroundings. That would have made it easy to find their way down the slope to the treeline, for whatever reason they chose to go there.
Unless they were forced under duress, or had reason to believe their campsite was dangerous to them, I can't understand why they wouldn't have returned immediately to the tent to get supplies, rather than going to the woods. And if they weren't under duress, it seems like after a little while of waiting, they would have realized it was dead quiet at the campsite, and would have made their way back up there... unless it wasn't dead quiet. The only reason I can think of that they wouldn't return to the tent while they were still relatively very close to it would be if they felt their lives were still in danger. Of course, that's part of the Big Mystery. These weren't a bunch of hysterical young people. They were serious-minded, experienced hikers, who no doubt knew at least a little about the Big World and the vagaries of their government and military. So whatever it was that kept them away, it must've been extremely compelling for them to make the decision to leave their survival gear behind and go to the woods.
By all accounts, it would have had to have been daylight by the time they made it to the treeline. Right? I mean, if they ate, digested their food for 6 to 8 hours, left the tent, regrouped, and then hiked to the treeline? But each account I've read or listened to or watched seems to go by the assumption that all of these events happened in the dark of night, within a couple of hours of the initial incident. And what about the den made by the four who were found in the ravine? That had to have taken a couple of hours to construct, and would have required a reasonable amount of dexterity and physical activity. If the others were succumbing to the cold, and had their clothes taken by the survivors, who then built the shelter, how much time would that have taken? How fast did the first few die of hypothermia? And how did the final few survive long enough to build a shelter, and retrieve the extra clothes from the dead? There's no way they sustained their injuries before they built that shelter.
The final four are a puzzle to me. Did they die where they were finally found, or did they get moved about by meltwater or dragged by animals into the stream where they were eventually uncovered? Were their severe injuries caused by their shelter collapsing? I can't find any source that suggests that as a theory, and I'm not sure exactly what kind of shelter they built... if it was a snow cave, all that was left was the platform floor and their belongings, all of which were buried by snow that had been falling up there all spring.
Sorry about the rambling post. I thought I had a fairly clear idea but as I was thinking about it, I kept thinking of other things... this case does that to you.
Topic: The last meal and the timeline, etc. (Read 7316 times)