Ladies first?

[Axelrod]

The main incorrect term used in this diary is "steam heating."
This type of heating was used in the early 20th century as a simple method when pumps were unavailable.
By 1959, steam heating was hardly in use anywhere in Sverdlovsk, yet the term continued to be used.
In reality, it was hot-water heating—pipes designed for steam, but carrying water.

However, hot-water heating in a tent is also out of the question. It was likely a joke, much like "Evening Otorten."
In that case, there could be jokes about curtains or anything else.

Another significant error in that entry is that the city of Salekhard is named instead of Khanty-Mansiysk.
The population is listed as 8,000. It is unclear to me who made the entry containing such an error; there is no signature for that day.

The population of Khanty-Mansiysk in 1959 was 20,677.
The population of Salekhard in 1959 was 16,567.

Neither city fits the figure. The discrepancy is significant.
I do not understand the point of such incorrect entries that have no relation to the hike.

[Hunter]

По поводу парового отопления - да, шутка. А вот использование импровизированного полога - вполне реально. Нечто подобное можно увидеть у военных в полевых условиях, порой в домах и на дачах.

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As for steam heating, yes, it's a joke. But using an improvised canopy is quite feasible. Something similar can be seen among the military in the field, sometimes in homes and dachas.

[Ziljoe]

The population of head count was last recorded to be 7488 in 1939. The next census was 1959 or count .
If they read or were taught anything about the indigenous people's , I suspect they got mixed up because it's probably from estimation and written from memory as they are hiking. They did not have a library or smart phone to cross reference. So the last known head count before their deaths is 7488.

Steam heating and steam rooms are mentioned in other hikes . I e seen two references to it already. . It is a joke.

[GlennM]

Ziljoe, than you for your recent post.

[Ziljoe]

Slobtsov states .

 "...At the entrance hung Slobodin's jacket, in whose breast pocket were found about 800 rubles. In the tent, apparently, a sheet was hung, which was torn and part of it protruded outward...."


We can see what looks like a sheet on the floor of the tent. The fact that it was found torn suggests a commotion inside the tent. That by it's self doesn't tell us a lot but add it to the alleged cutting of the tent from the inside and the foot prints down hill does suggest that the incident happened whilst in the tent and there was a need to exit in a compromised way , the immediate preservation of the tent was not a concern to the hikers .

[GlennM]

I do not think lights in the sky are sufficient. I do not think being force marched at gun point works. For me, only the inability to breathe is going to produce the kind of damage shown in the tent photo. Excellent detective work Ziljoe.

[sarapuk]

And Sarapuk has just learned something, perhaps.

Thanks to responsible forum members who contributed  the inputs.

If at the time of impact, there was a divider in place and the women were separated by the curtain, then it obvious that Zina and Lyuda were affected similarly. This suggests that if Lyuda got crushed at the tent, so should Zina. Additionally, because Zina was obviously able to move on her own, supposedly to the cedar and surely back toward the tent, so too should Lyuda have been able to walk to the forest below. Nothing about the footprints suggests crippling. This is then indirect evidence that Lyuda's fatal injuries were not sustained at the tent, but in all probability the ravine. Her posture looks like she was caught napping when the cornice caught her and others exhausted from their efforts.

Learned something! There is always something for all of us to learn on this Forum. It's the best of its kind in the World. There has been some great input over the years. Such severe injuries that occurred to 2 of the group who were found at the ravine in the stream mean they likely met their demise at the ravine. However, we can not rule out that they were placed or dropped there.

[Hunter]

The partition in the tent could have been there only if the girls wanted to change their clothes and underwear. But the question remains: if part of the sheet was sticking out, where did they hang it? There were two girls, so a relatively small section of the tent needed to be partitioned off so they could change. But the idea of ​​changing clothes and a curtain dividing the tent into "men's" and "women's" doesn't fit with the discovery of the uncollected lard and knife. Furthermore, there's no point in giving the girls a separate space, given that each member of the group took turns tending the stove every night, and accordingly, they moved around as their shifts progressed. Unless, out of sheer generosity, the boys decided to relieve Zina and Lyuda of night duty. And how the sheet curtain, used as a divider between "men's" and "women's" areas, connects to the fire-hazardous stovepipe. There, the curtain had to be attached not to the roof of the tent, but to the sides, leaving quite a lot of space between the top edge of the curtain and the pipe.

[GlennM]

The baffle or divider couldnhave more than one use. I interpreted the diary entry about justification for reserving space for modesty. I understand that like a rain fly over an outddoor tent, a baffle could mitigate a draft if people exit the tent through the flap and baffle in some combination.

The point to all of this is to determine the liklihood that Zina and Lyuda were shoulder to shoulder when the tent needed leaving. By extension, Lyudas injuries were severe enough that Zina should have suffered similarly. This is not so. Lyuda and Zolo are more alike, but their damage is not distributed to their companions. I believe the forum will soon get some compelling analysis of Lyudas remains.

As a result, the sleeping arrangement of the women does not add to my understanding of the case, except that it supports the idea that each was wounded elsewhere.Again, watch for new posts in the forum.

I am not alone in my suspicion that crisis happened when the group was caught in the morning while preparing for the Feb 2nd push, rather than settling down for the night of the 1st. They had eaten and food was left out in the tent. Each was found to be closer to being dressed than undressed. The emergency prevented Rustem and Igor from grabbing their jackets. Nine pair of boots were accounted for by one inventory. I could easily believe that a night's worth of accumulated snow and maybe not much more than normal shuffling around inside the tent caused the outdoor mid tent support poles and rope to give way, collapsing the tent on the inside.  Here is where I get stuck. If the collapse happened Feb 2, and if it was dawning or past dawn, common sense would have then dig out the tent, finish dressing and bug out.

I am additionally not clear on the night watchman duties. I can appreciate they may have tended the fire, if there was one. They could check outside rigging, but over the loud,complaints of friends getting a cold draft...twice. As such I doubt the guard left the tent. If it works, don't fix it, is what I mean. Besides, if somebody just had to attend to needs ojtside, they would notice something.

[Hunter]

Nochnyye dezhurstva svyazany s tem, chto pechki, ispol'zovavshiyesya v zimnikh pokhodakh, trebovali regulyarnoy podkladki drov. Plyus nado bylo sledit', chtoby ne zagorelas' palatka ot iskr ili zhara truby. Poetomu kazhdyy uchastnik pokhoda dezhuril noch'yu opredelennoye vremya. Vremya dezhurstva vyschityvalos' po formule - vremya sna podelennoye na kolichestvo uchastnikov pokhoda.
353 / 5 000
Night shifts were necessary because the stoves used on winter hikes required regular refilling. Additionally, care had to be taken to ensure that the tent didn't catch fire from sparks or the heat from the chimney. Therefore, each hiker was assigned a set amount of time to keep watch at night. The shift time was calculated using the formula: sleep time divided by the number of hikers.

[GlennM]

Thanks Hunter.