This may be along the lines of a cultural question and in searching, I have not been able to confirm or deny this. Alexander Gulikov theorized that the military was on restriction during the XXI Congress of the Communist Party (which took place at the same time as the Dyatlov hike, and which the Dyatlov group had dedicated their hike to.) He referred to "enhanced service mode," which supposedly meant all leave was on hold, no tests could take place, no equipment could be signed out, etc (my understanding from reading McKloskey's book and the theories section on this site.) Can anyone attest to whether such a policy was in place during the congress? I can not find anything on Galikov's sources about this. I do not know enough about post-WWII Soviet military protocols and I am not even certain how I'd be able to confirm or deny such a policy.