On Dyatlov Pass website, there is an interview article for Vladimir Androsov. In the article, he makes comments based on his exchanges with Forester Pashin as told to a 13 year old boy. What interests me is that when it comes to the Labaz, Vlad has definite things to say. It seems his comments are based on experience and other reliable sources. Read the following:
Vladimir Androsov Usually, if there was a labaz, it is not set up in the snow, since animals can find it and drag it away, or people themselves can lose this place. But in a high place, so that it can be seen from afar. Between two nearby trees, crossbars are installed - thick tree trunks, 12-14 centimeters in diameter. For strength. And on them they put what they wanted to leave: food, some extra clothes, spare skis, etc. A large burnt rag is tied nearby, the smell of the rag will scare away the animals. Or spent cartridges from a gun, they smell of gunpowder, well, something smelly, a piece of rag, used in gasoline, well, etc. And only desperate idiots who don't understand anything about the taiga, amateurs, could make a labaz in the snow, and such people should be driven out of the taiga. All of them should first take an exam like "Basics of survival in the taiga", and only then let them go on a route. There will be fewer emergencies.
MP: This so-called labaz is very strange, and it is possible that the Dyatlov group themselves did not make it. The Dyatlov group's diaries noted that they were going to build a labaz, to set it up. Build - it's not like digging a hole in the snow, is it?
Vladimir Androsov: The word "labaz" itself implies installing a supply of something on trees, but not in the snow. They couldn't have done that, and it is clear that the ski stuck in is especially the only one, and where is the second one? Did they find it? No? It is not possible that any of them left their ski and continued on one.
Protocol inspection of the labaz
Russian
Sheet 8
Protocolinspection the labaz
March 2, 1959 Search party base camp in the upper sources of Auspiya river. Attorney forensic Sverdlovsk region Ivanov prosecution in the presence of the head search party comrade Maslennikov (city of Sverdlovsk, Zavodskaya St, 32) and Slobtsov Boris Efimovich (Sverdlovsk, Lenin St 13-a, apt. 23) in accordance with Art. 78 Code of Criminal Procedure made this Protocol as follows:on this date in the upper sources of Auspiya river, below the pass of the river Lozva, the labaz (cache of food supplies) of the Dyatlov group was discovered.
Labaz is located at a group's camp site well hidden packed with fire wood, covered with planks and spruce debris. At the storage one pair of skis is propped in the snow and a torn gaiter is slipped onto it,
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upon excavation of the cache the following products were found:
Condensed milk 2.5 kg
Meat canned banks 4 kg
Sugar - 8 kg
Butter - 4 kg
Cooked sausage - 4 kg
Salt - 1.5 kg
Kissel-compote - 3 kg
Oatmeal and buckwheat 7.5 kg
Cocoa 200 g
Coffee - 200 g
Tea - 200 gr
Loin - 3 kg
Milk powder - 1 kg
Sugar - 3 kg
Crackers - 7 kg and Noodles - 5 kg
Also found:mandolin, a pair of shoes 41 size, and worn socks inside, pair of insulated boots, mounting set, 2 batteries mounted with the bulb for lighting
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According to Blinov the insulated boots belonged Dyatlov.Since the products are not of interest to the investigation, they transferred the head of the search party comrade Maslennikov as an emergency reserve. All containers of product, and mandolin, two pairs of shoes, socks and the mounting set are confiscated
The upshot of all this is that knowledgable hikers are going to raise and flag their cache so as to keep it from animals and be visible at a distance.
Any cache buried in snow and marked perhaps with a ski indicates, a very large misunderstanding of the practical requirements of a Labaz.
My point is this. If the group ignored Pashin's admonition about taking the ridge route and further if the tourists fashioned an inferior temporary storage, it is arguable that their last camp on 1079 amounted to a gamble with Nature, without being qualified or prepared to take the risk. The unknown compelling force was hubris.