"What proof is there that the hikers died the night of Feb. 1? The last group diary entry is on Jan. 31. Is that the only indication? Or the 6-8 hour old food in their stomachs? The bodies were frozen for weeks. No way to pinpoint a time or even day of death. The autopsy reports state Feb. 1 as the day of death for all nine, but that seems like an educated guess. Wonder if they died some days after Feb. 1?"
1 February 1959 (or early 2 February) as the date of whatever happened at the tent is a well founded deduction, and so 1 February as the proposed date of death of the hikers naturally follows. However, the bodies were found 3+ weeks and then 3 months later, frozen and decaying. That would seem to leave some leeway of at least a few days after 1 February for a date of death. I don't know if forensics these days could be any more accurate, in the circumstances?