A chart from the American National Weather Service, weather.gov/bou/windchill, indicates that at -20°F with the wind blowing 20mph, a person wearing a coat, shoes, etc. will feel the first signs of hypothermia in 10 minutes or less. Most of the hikers were critically underdressed and walking in snow. I don't believe they could have even made it to the forest without freezing to death in the extreme conditions that night. The logical conclusion being that they camped on their last night in the forest. That rules out an avalanche, snow slip, katabatic winds and infrasound. It doesn't rule out a tree falling on the tent, carbon monoxide poisoning or intervention from a third party. Of course, the question remains, who moved the tent to the mountain slope and why?
The American National Weather Service is not a knowledge based authority on hypothermia. There are a number of variables that come in to play. We also don't know the temperature and wind on the night of the incident, what we can assess is the nature of the raised foot prints , they require a unique set of circumstances.
https://gizmodo.com/raised-footprints-when-snow-steps-up-473092187A few photos in this link.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/04/raised-footprints-in-snow.html#:~:text=Raised%20snow%20footprints%20can%20last,slopes%2C%20as%20potential%20avalanche%20danger.
It says
"
Raised snow footprints can last quite a while before all traces of the footprints are eroded away.
Because it requires more than a gale to blow away snow, raised footprints are often taken as an indicator of windslab and in mountain slopes, as potential avalanche danger."
https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2015/03/raised-footprints-in-snow.html"
Special circumstances must occur before this phenomenon can be observed. To begin with, the snow has to have a firm layer beneath it, such as the frozen lens of ice and snow laid down the week before the photo was snapped. Then, a layer of light snow must fall atop this frozen layer. We had a snowfall of several centimeters the day before I noticed the tracks."
It is also reported that there were 2 types of snow prints found. Where they raised footprints stopped, footprints were found where the opposite occurred, the prints had gone through a hard crust/ ice layer and left holes , more to do with what we assume in our minds.
I would say that these raised footprints are one of the biggest and most substantial clues that the tent was erected where it was on 1079 and that there were no outsiders involved.
No outsider would be aware of how to stage such a scene, how to cover their own tracks to not show there were more people than the nine hikers. The logistics to cover their own tracks and simulate only the hikers path to the forest without showing up and down movement of pitching the tent on the slope and then leaving a set of footprints that only go one way can't be done.
As in archaeology, we have a similar set of circumstances regarding the layers in the snow, old and new snow , this is perhaps more important in the forest and what was found and what was NOT found by the Mansi.
Stratigraphy
"The main principle behind stratigraphy is that of superposition. This says that older things are found below younger things. When archaeologists excavate sites, we find layers of soil, each marking a period of use of the site. Artifacts in the upper layers were laid down after those in lower levels. Stratigraphy is the record of these different layers or strata. By excavating sites and separating the artifacts from each layer, it is possible to see changes through time "
It is the same in the snow layers at the ceder, it is the thaw in May that exposed the clothes, broken branches , sticks and twigs that show the path and activity towards the ravine . There are no other fires or shavings of other trees , there is nothing found or reported in any other layers of the snow. If the hikers had pitched their tent at the ceder then there would be evidence of this and if outsiders were lifting fallen trees of dead bodies there would be loads of evidence for this also. There would be a debris field of bark, twigs, moss all over the area in the snow layers but nothing is reported by the Mansi.
For me , the logical conclusion is that the tent was on 1079 , no one moved the tent and it would be needless energy spent by any outsider to do such a thing in the cold conditions, then cover their tracks on a mountain slope over 1.5 km ( if that's even possible) and to make footprints in socks going back down the slope then leave the scene at the ceder leaving no tracks anywhere else??? ..
Coming back to the the original point, people made these footprints in socks , someone did it .....we have a tent on the slope, a diary that dates the hikers to that slope and a comment suggesting and talking about camping on a ridge , 2 photos that show a trench being dug on a slope ,that is NOT in a Forrest . ( And no other student from other hikes has claimed that photo was a different hike from a different year).
When moving , you don't just freeze , activity helps keep the body warm , the nature of the footprints suggests a mild temperature relative to the conditions.
You can walk and move in the cold , frostbite doesn't happen instantly , we can see them without gloves in many of the photos along their journey, we know socks are a good barrier against the snow when walking ( although not ideal) . Everything thing fits....
Topic: Temperature and Wind Chill -- No Chance To Survive For An Hour Or Longer (Read 1171 times)