I want to go back a bit to where Ziljoe and I had a disagreement about the dates of the tent-finding. There is a lot of discrepancy regarding this, but I think here is a basic timeline, crudely accurate?
February 24 - Pashin and Cheglakov find the tent, but for whatever reason, do not attempt to go inside.
February 26 - Pashin and Cheglakov hint to other searchers which direction they should go in to find the tent. Slobtsov and Sharavin find the tent. It is covered with hard snow. There is an ice axe stuck outside the front entrance. They use the ice ax to cut into the snow on top of the tent and make some slashes in the fabric so they can peer inside (which Pashin and Cheglakov should have done) to see if there are any people in there. There are no people. Looking in through the cuts, they make a quick mental inventory, but do not go in. Ortyukov gives instructions to leave the tent alone until he can get there.
February 27 - Bodies are discovered and the focus moves away from the tent.
February 28 - Officials return to the tent and, with witnesses present, take photos and enter the tent. The only pictures that we have show the snow in a strange formation on top of one side of the tent, heavy and mounded, like snow that has been shoveled into place and then patted down with the back side of a shovel.