Another take on the mat at the den

[GlennM]

What if the purpose of the branch mat with its scraps of clothes was not for a few people to sit on? Instead, what if the idea was to burn the mat using the cloth as tinder in order to dry the ground and warm it and then rest and recover over the warm ashes? Perhaps the R4 were found as they were was because they had not yet brought in enough long branches to overlay the ash which would be spread out under.

[Hunter]

Unlikely. To warm the ground in winter, even when the temperature is well below freezing, you need a lot of firewood, and dry firewood at that. The trees that were cut down were damp, so getting them to light is quite a challenge. If it were that easy, hikers wouldn't bother with spruce branches, stoves, and the like. There's a similar method, but it's used in the fall, before the ground freezes. It involves digging a hole the size of the bottom of the tent, about the depth of a small infantry shovel. A fire is built across the entire area, then covered with earth, and the tent is pitched. Someone who used this method said it was possible to live in the tent in their underwear for a couple of days. In winter, in the Urals, you'll need a lot of firewood to warm the ground and retain heat for several hours. It's more cost-effective to build a shelter and a so-called "long" fire. In the US, it's known as a trapper's fire. By the way, here's a video where a person demonstrates that trying to warm the ground in winter is useless.

[amashilu]

What if the purpose of the branch mat with its scraps of clothes was not for a few people to sit on? Instead, what if the idea was to burn the mat using the cloth as tinder in order to dry the ground and warm it and then rest and recover over the warm ashes? Perhaps the R4 were found as they were was because they had not yet brought in enough long branches to overlay the ash which would be spread out under.

Here's some good advice I read somewhere:  "We don't have to say everything that comes into our head."

[GlennM]

Ad hominum attack. Below your horizon, I think.

 If you have Amazon Prime video, check out episode 3 of Histories greatest mysteries. It is about the DPI and even Teddy is in it. It is small wonder about the enduring fascination and the challenges in the forum. There is so very much ground we have covered in discussion, we should all be proud of our efforts. Though no survivor lived to tell the tale, I feel we all subscribe to the idea that " you do not have to be a chicken to know how one lays an egg". 

I am well satisfied about what got them out of the tent and their transit to the woods. I am pretty well convinced that IRZ's attempt on the tent was the last event. What happened in between, especially with the Yuris is a puzzle. Did they really climb up that cedar, fall, got concussed and went to sleep?

[Ziljoe]

As hunter says, that wood will not burn unfortunately. Again this gives us a reasonable assumption that no one else was at the cedar and ravine. There is no other cutting of trees or wood that "others" would also need to do to thrive in the environment. The scene is for the want of a better word, virgin or untouched.

The cut small trees were observed around the cedar and only one was found. The two Yuris were found lying on fir and compacted snow was found around the fire that suggest a number of the hikers gathered there.

It is also noted that it is easy to break the small tree's that were used for the flooring and the use of cutting them was seen as that the hikers were weakened.

Interestingly,  scanning the winter hike reports they mention the problem of wood to burn in these conditions. Also , and this surprised me. Setting up camp took 3-4 hours, this includes digging the fire pit, processing wood for the fire pit, the wood stove , fir branches for under the tent and the erection of a tent and stove.

I've actually forgotten the detail about finding the labaz. Was the labaz not the same location of their camp on the 31st of January. For the life of me I can't remember where they said the last camp was before the night on the slope?.

[Osi]

If I had been the one fleeing the tent in inadequate clothing, I likely would have taken on the task of building the fire. It appears the two Yuris had left the tent poorly dressed; it makes perfect sense that they would tend the fire and be the first to warm up. While the injured lay on the ground, the uninjured—Zina, Igor, and Kolovatov—dug a windbreak pit and prepared a bed of branches inside for the four likely injured members. The most plausible reason for digging the pit 70 meters away from the cedar tree and the fire was the lack of a suitable snowdrift to excavate right next to the tree. Had the fire strengthened, everyone would have regained energy, and embers could have been moved to the pit, or the injured could have been dressed in warmed clothing. The wet branches failed to burn. The Yuris died of hypothermia. By then, keeping the four injured people in an open-topped pit was futile; a snow cave was needed. They must have noticed the same spot that caught Ashkinadzi’s eye: a massive snowdrift just a few meters away—ideal for tunneling into.

[Hunter]

I think the guys took advantage of the available natural shelter, although Oleg Taimen's experiments showed that digging a shelter using only one's hands and a felled tree trunk is possible. The main question is where Zolotarev, Thibault, and Dubinina were injured. Clearly not near the tent.

[Osi]

Judging by the activities carried out across the triangle formed by the Cedar, Ravin 4, and the campfire, the workload exceeded what three or four people could reasonably handle. Nevertheless, while adhering to the theory that the critically injured were carried out of the tent, I also respect the widely accepted evidence regarding the eight or nine sets of footprints left by able-bodied individuals. If they had sought refuge in the forest due to a snow slab striking the tent, the survivors—after the "Yuris" had perished and the fire proved ineffective—must have faced a disagreement. Four of them chose to wait out the morning in a natural snow hollow—which would later collapse and kill them—while the other three opted to try and salvage the tent.