Avalanche theory...again

[GlennM]

Currently on Dyatlov Pass.com is an article revisiting the avalanche theory. As I read it, I thought, " unknown compelling force" as the official explanation. I believe that the conclusion is that one and all were doomed by one and one only unknown compelling force. Does this ring true?

Next, I am thankful and impressed by the quality of the article and the carefully photographed images of the tent and surrounds. However, we are not afforded an glance regarding the angle from tent to the peak of 1079.  Perhaps the incline is sufficent to propel a slide of snow. Finally, for me at least, an avalanche and a slab slip are different phenomoma. The 2025 winter expedition makes it clear that by cutting a leveling ledge for the tent, the explorers may slice through distinct densities of snow. The spindrift snow accumulated on the 2025 tent may represent a sufficient weight of material to collapse one side of the tent.

That said, I am reminded about the saying that in rough seas, you stay with the ship since it can take more punishment than you can. It would take a whole lot of punishment for me to abandon my only shelter in the snow and plod downhill all that way for a fire when I could just pile on more clothes and wait it out with my friends.

[Axelrod]

The main task of the prosecutor's office and the investigation was to identify criminal offenders in order to isolate them from society.
Although, most likely, in those years, it was not isolation that was used, but the death penalty.
The investigation was unable to identify such offenders.

As you understand, the investigation cannot punish avalanches, water, wind, bears, yetis, fireballs. So, it was not interesting for the investigation to clarify the cause.

[Ziljoe]

There seems to be a number of claims being reported from the latest expedition, all quite interesting.

From what I can understand but some of it may be incorrect as it's through the press. However, what I have read .

The snow was over 1.5 meters at the tent site and was even deeper above the tent location , perhaps 4 meters.

It was -20 outside the replica tent but -2 inside the tent without a stove.

It was easy to navigate in the dark towards the forest but not so easy going back up.

People walked in similar clothing layers of Zina , and I think it was done with no bad outcomes.

It was noted that some of the rocks/stones on the slope were dangerous hazards if one was to fall.


The replica tent had considerable build up of snow after being there for a couple of days ( someone is arguing that there is a snow break in this photo. )

We can see how fresh snow could build up on and above the tent?

[SURI]

@ GlennM

Thanks for the link. I probably wouldn't have noticed it, I don't follow everything.

The avalanche didn't drive them out of the tent. I agree with E. Tumanov about the injuries. I also think that the 4 in the ravine died on the spot and were then unable to move. This rules out Zolotaryov having a pencil or notepad in his hand. Same Slobodin. It's inconceivable that Rustem would have had an accident in a ravine or near a cedar tree and still managed to climb the slope. Simply not. I also agree that Lyudmila survived 2 at the cedar, but not only her, but everyone in the ravine.

[Osi]

Most of the archived avalanche footage; It was caught by chance on the security cameras of hotels in ski resorts or obtained from the helmet cameras of athletes skiing wildly. In fact, places that have been monitored for decades and have no avalanche danger cause avalanches due to skiers cutting the snow with their sleds, and thus we have the chance to watch live avalanche footage.
There is a second situation. In many different regions of Turkey; When you put your car in neutral and release the handbrake on a road that slopes 30 degrees towards the hill, the vehicle starts to climb up the hill. If you cannot maintain control, acceleration increases. You can go astray.  Although it may seem against the laws of physics for this vehicle to climb the ramp without engine power, when we look at the geography of the region from a general perspective (from the satellite), it is seen that the place that looks like a hill when examined on site actually has a downhill terrain when viewed from a certain height. I don't know if a similar study has been done on the slope measurements of Kholat Mountain with local observations, but I think that places with no avalanche potential according to local measurements may have hidden slopes that will cause avalanches with certain triggering factors.

[SURI]

I have nothing against avalanches, but in this case, tourists wouldn't reach the ravine with injuries. The seriously injured would have to be carried, and that would be evident from the footprints. And if they had only been frightened, they wouldn't have ended up at the cedar and in the ravine. Something else had driven them out of the tent.

[Axelrod]

Even if there was an avalanche impact on the tent, they got out of the snow safely. Such a moment is later worthy of writing in the diary about the incident experienced. It is difficult to imagine that tourists dragged someone one and a half kilometres away. Kolmogorova is the closest to the tent (1 km), but her posture does not indicate that she was dragged dead and abandoned.

Avalanche descent on gentle slopes occurs best at the temperature of snow melting. You can compare it with defrosting a refrigerator. This is unlikely to happen with cold temperatures. How can this be combined with death from the cold at minus 30 or minus 50? Further, such moments occur more often on ski slopes groomed by skiers than in the wild, especially in places dotted with stones. Even in the city, you can observe a slippery path in the place where people walk, and there is loose snow around it.

A tent without a stove cannot be compared with a comfortable wooden house. There is a temperature difference of 3-5 degrees. To imagine that you were warm in a tent, and outside the tent you immediately freeze, is naïve. Some maps of the death of hikers are the inept notions of people who imagine that they themselves would have died long ago in this situation. In addition, the hikers were not the first day on the hike, and were on other hikes. We have no data on any cold snap on February 1-2. Rather, on the contrary, it was a warming compared to the previous (and subsequent) days.

[GlennM]

Axelrod, good thoughts and post. Yes, they all left for a reason. They left footprints. Some tried to return. I like the idea of Nature, not Man which gave them a single choice to make. Nobody wrote what or why they did in a diary.

[Ziljoe]

We can see in the photo of the replica tent that snow is building up on the tent , if this was prolonged snow fall it could easily hold back snow untill it gave way and let a small field of fresh loose snow cover the tent .

Whether we like it or not , or the mundane fact that the reason for leaving the tent was due to some kind of snow avalanche, it is still the highest probability out of all factors along with wind, storm and bad nature condition's.

We have snow , hard snow, fresh snow , soft snow . We have a slope with a tent on it , we have ridge where the tent was cut into the slope , we have a steeper slope above the tent sight . I believe the snow above the tent location was measured at over 4 meters! deep this year !? ( I need to double check).

Winds could easily have blown snow over the ridge ,that then built up above the tent . One part goes and the rest slides down due to gravity. ( I have no idea what the obsession with a gigantic cloud type avalanche that those that argue against an avalanche keep trying to dismiss ). Any discrepancy in the snow around the tent and what it looked like on the 1st of February, then had 3 weeks to change and be blown away . Snow was blown away from the raised footprints, that's a fact. At the time of whoever walked down the slope , they walked on fresh snow that had a hard layer of snow below it .

The snow level was higher 3 weeks earlier at that part of the slope when the searchers found the foot prints , from which I can only conclude, that any part of the slope could have had more or less snow on it. Likewise, this latest  2025 expedition reports deeper snow than other years on the slope and we can see snow building up on the tent.

Wind / snow / tempature can change  within hours , the wind and snow can hide an avalanche within hours , this has been reported and seen at 1079. What the searchers found on the 26th , snow levels included , would not be what was there on the 1st of February 1959.

Even the  torch on the tent could have been buried ,then, three weeks of ice snow could have removed the snow from on top of it like the footprints .

Things we know

1), the snow can be over 1.5 meters deep at the tent location and deeper above the tent.

2)It can be minis 20 degrees outside the tent but -2 inside .

3)The can navigate the slope in poor light .

4)Zinas clothes were sufficient and you can walk in socks.

5)The various stones on the slope can be dangerous and could cause injury.

[Axelrod]

«Death will find a reason» (Смерть причину найдёт) - is an ironic regional expression (in Siberia) about an unexpected, strange, absurd death.

In the story with the Dyatlov group, it turns out that death found a reason and a mechanism, and people during last 66 years cannot find this reason, or they find the wrong reasons.