I am also interested why the only thing that seemed not in order, chaotic, were the shoes piled up?
One reason for that “shape” could be that the group was in a hurry to get in, and afterwards they just threw away their boots to get their feet dry faster. They had enough space inside, which doesn`t mean they should have used every inch to properly arrange the boots.
How about if they were forced to leave their shoes in that manner? If we stick to the murderers/KGB/CIA/Military/Mansi/whoever theory, the group could have been forced to put their shoes aside as well as being forced to leave the tent barely dressed. About the "fact", that the tent had been cut from the inside - it would have been cut with a tool/weapon. I was wondering, (please correct me if I am wrong about that), but if all knifes (the “Finnish blades”) were found inside the tent, tucked in their sheaths (can`t recall anything about found inside the tent axe or something), how was the tent cut? Or they cut it inside-out in a state of panic, then calm down, put the knife back in the sheath, leave it in the tent, and then go for a barefoot walk 1,5km. There were no traces of mass running away, right? Missing tool/weapon (or hidden one) enigma occurs again under the cedar.
The damage to the tent is a very important issue, and basically the whole mystery is based on that. But let`s not forget, the poor tent went through a lot before, but especially (during) after the incident. The searching party as well as the investigators did a good mess of it. Either they performed a really lame searching/investigation not on purpose, or they were simply told to do so. Or, someone was there before them to clean up.
Anyway, the murderer`s theory sounds relevant, except for the fact that the way the students, especially some of them, die is exceptional. You can murder a human by so many ways, and yet doing it by depriving him from what he needs to survive (clothing, shoes, food, etc.) and therefore inflict death “in a natural” way (at least for some of the group) is scandalous. That is one step over murder. How twisted you must be? And leaving the bodies so everything becomes a decades old mystery.
So far I think, that someone or a group of people took care of the place after the “incident” and things were arranged at least to cause confusion. By that I mean moving of bodies, possessions, alignment of things. Probably intentionally slowing down of the investigation. Just a guess.