Standing guard

[GlennM]

Can someone give me an explanation for the process of standing guard duty overnight?

[Ziljoe]

My understanding is it's quite sensible and normal with all hiking groups.

Tending the wood stove , drying wood , gloves , boots, clothes,watching snow build up on the tent, unwanted fires from sparks , back draft , air holes in snow caves etc. this is winter.

In summer an extra observation for animals, rising rivers, changes in weather .

I have read it in action in other hiking reports and how the shifts change amongst a group.

Usually at the entrance and next to a stove but stoves and tent shapes were different..

It's just for practical safety. I believe?

[Hunter]

There were two types of shifts that are often confused. Regular shifts, where designated people were responsible for preparing food during the day, and night shifts. In the former case, those on duty were typically assigned for the entire day. Their job was to prepare breakfast in the morning before everyone woke up, perhaps even a snack for lunch, and wake up the others, and then prepare dinner in the evening. Typically, this was done by two or three people per day. The next day, others. And so on, rotating. At night, each group member took turns keeping watch by the stove. The time was calculated using the formula: the number of hours of sleep divided by the number of participants. This was usually up to two hours. Night shifts were planned so that the last person on duty by the stove was one of the day's shifts.

[GlennM]

Zoljoe, Hunter, thank you both for the information. I would like to put this in the context of the DPI. In the dead of winter, I can't imagine anybody doing outside the tent guard duty,  so I do not think they, the guards, would be bundled up compared to tentmates. That said, who among the hikers would have the duty on the fateful night? Is there any reason to believe that anyone was actually outside the tent when knifing the canvas was done? Any ideas about how much the guard(s) had to wear? I say this because any getting in and out of overclothes while othere were trying to sleep is bound to create a fuss.

[Hunter]

The only time a night watch could be outside the tent was if a fire of the "nodia" type was used for heating. In the US, this type is known as a "trapper's fire." In this case, the watchman would need to be outside the tent to monitor it.

[GlennM]

Hunter, this comment makes me believe they were all in the tent when it was time to leave. Some people would argue that some one or two people could have been answering the call of Nature at the crisis. It seems to me it made no difference whether some or all of them were in the tent.There was enough of a problem to make them give up any attempts to salvage anything. I think of Everest blizzards I've seen on film. It would be selfish for 8 people to wait because one person wanted to get something. Better to come back later. Whatever was wanted was not going anywhere. Then again, maybe it would.

[GlennM]

How does this sound? On the night of the 1st, there was no stove set up. It was going to be a cold night. We know the stove was packed away when the tent was found. We do not know if it was used and then stored. Does not really matter.

The night watchmen would be a required duty probably out of habit. Other than that, if the weather got bad, night watchmen would be assigned guard duty to monitor the integrity of the tent.

 At some point during others efforts to sleep in a howling wind, the the middle of the tent fell in on them.
The night watchman being awake would rouse the rest. if nobody was getting much sleep then everyone would be up.

It might be that someone nearest the front flap could get out that way, but to dig away snow when someone on the inside pulls out a Finnish knife would be risky. Too, it may have allowed that person to quickly decided that pulling the tent back up was a waste of time.

[Hunter]

It is unlikely that there would be people on duty if there was no stove or fire that needed to be kept burning all night.

[GlennM]

In that case they all could habe been caught off guard in the tent. Thanks for the added insight, Hunter.

[Senior Maldonado]

In that case they all could have been caught off guard in the tent.

That is how it was.

If anybody had been outside, then he/she would have helped the others to get out through the standard exit. It would not have been needed to cut the tent. Also, overnight guard means that somebody does not sleep, and in the morning he/she is quite exhausted to procced to Otorten with the group. Overnight guard is OK, when the group has no plan to get up early, move a long distance, and climb a peak.

[GlennM]

SM, I was thinking along the same lines.  If they all got rested,then they all could push as a team to the mailbox. This hints at them being settled in when the tent gave way.It hints that there was a lot of snow landing in the tent. There is just the flashlight to ponder.  I think it less likely as a homing device and more as a night time lavatory light. The presence of the light is curious,  but is it compelling?

[Senior Maldonado]

There is just the flashlight to ponder.  I think it less likely as a homing device and more as a night time lavatory light. The presence of the light is curious,  but is it compelling?

If I remember correctly, the flashlight was identified as Igor's flashlight, and it was switched off. I do not think the flashlight has any significance -- just one more thing lost, when the hikers left the tent in a hurry (in a panic?) through the cuts. What is important, none of them was injured at that time, all were able to descend to the forest on their feet.

[Hunter]

The situation with the flashlight isn't entirely clear. According to the testimony of those who found the tent (Slobtsov and Sharavin), the flashlight lit up when it was turned on. If it had been used as a nighttime emergency contact device, its battery would have been dead by the time it was discovered. Furthermore, the Soviet batteries available to civilians at the time weren't frost-resistant—they quickly lost their charge in the cold.

[bongyi]

The situation with the flashlight isn't entirely clear. According to the testimony of those who found the tent (Slobtsov and Sharavin), the flashlight lit up when it was turned on. If it had been used as a nighttime emergency contact device, its battery would have been dead by the time it was discovered. Furthermore, the Soviet batteries available to civilians at the time weren't frost-resistant—they quickly lost their charge in the cold.

"on the canvas of the tent, in the snow lay a pocket flashlight, Chinese make, which, as it was subsequently established, belonged to Dyatlov. It was strange that while there was a layer of snow let say 5-10 cm thick under the flashlight, there was no snow on top of it, and it was snowed slightly on either side. I took the flashlight first and found that it was not turned on. When I turned it on it lit."

from: https://dyatlovpass.com/case-files-298-300?rbid=17743

Questions:
Who determined if it was Gyatolv's lamp?  Maybe Yudin? How sure is that?

How come there is no snow on the lamp?

Has anyone tried to see if such a lamp drains in the cold in 3 weeks when switched off? Ivanov must not have thought that there was a problematic thing here that needed to be clarified, right!

How does the lamp get on the tent?  Did they mark the tent with it? Off?  This is not logical!

Why didn't Dyatlov take the lamp with him when they set off for the forest in the dark?

How many lamps were found at the forest? (none, as far as I know)

[GlennM]

I sse the flashlight along with other things left at the tent as being indicative of the hikers not thinking they were in immediate distress. I think they got out of the tent because they would have suffocated otherwise. They left the tent because there was no reason to stay. Put otherwise, the cleanup and patching of the tent was not going to happen in those conditions. The obvious next step is get out of the elements and wait out the weather. This, they did. I think the trek was both longer and more hazardous than they anticipated. That is another story.

What I have is a liklihood that with or without a tent guard on duty, the weather was going to compromise the tent.if no guard, then all gotmsurprised. If a guard was awake, it would change nothing because the tent was not a problem...until it was.

Of course, even as there was a rotation of duties,  as explained previously, I expect that Igor may have still been held as the decision maker for the group. I am comfortable with the idea, he commanded they all move downhill to the woods. It was an easy call. No other direction would have been as reliable, not beneficial.

[bongyi]

What happened happened before they went to sleep. At least that's more likely. The guard would only have a role if the event had happened while they were sleeping.
But the guard is unnecessary if the stove is not used! For what? It wouldn't make any sense!

Coming up the pass from Auspiya is extremely demanding. It is unlikely that they would have come all the way on skis! But the point is that they had to sweat completely by the time they got there! They had to sweat so much that the underwear had to be completely wet! You can't imagine the night without a stove! They wouldn't even be able to dry the clothes with the stove for the next morning! Not even if the stove keeps going. The guard should have changed the wet clothes, put them near the stove, turn them around, etc. Everyone would have woken up to the noise and packing associated with this activity. But no one would have slept under such conditions.

This was probably the problem the night before. The clothes did not dry after they climbed the pass on the 31st and returned to Auspiya.  Because of this and the labaz, the late departure took place on February 1.

That's why their clothes are burned. They were not burned by the fire at the cedar, but earlier on the way when they were dried by the fire in the evenings.