You are right about the first picture, Nigel. It's the only slope where snow slides are possible there, namely on this really nice crater inside Mt. Otorten. Very untypical for the Northern Ural. I have to look into this. Naked rocks on a steep round slope.... with concentrical structures at the bottom, hmmmm.
You are also right about the third picture. It could be ambigous, though. The mountain in the background is not Otorten. And the guy wasn't standing on Otorten neither. I think it's interesting that they took their time to joke while searching for dead people. These were official pictures, weren't they? But what if this wasn't a joke and the mountain in the background just happened to align with his hands?
The second picture is indeed interesting. What they saw there seemed to fascinate the four search party members and the photographer. But unfortunately I can't tell where this picture was taken.
Thanks for pointing me into the right direction.
regards
Dominov