Experiment with raised tracks

[Teddy]

These are tracks of skis and snowshoes left by us exactly a month ago when the snow cover was at least 0.5 m thicker. You can see the raised prints. What surprised me is that when the snow melts it doesn't lose the top layer but the relief sinks down. In the last 3 photos you can see 3 occurrences of "snow bloom" which is one of the theories about the orange tinge of the bodies on Dyatlov Pass (see #Orange)

One month old snowshoes tracks



One month old ski tracks




Pink snow thermophilic algae called "snow bloom"

[Jean Daniel Reuss]

         1°  - Thanks so much for the last 3 photos
They make a possible reddening by  "snow bloom" more concrete than
https://forum.dyatlovpass.com/index.php?topic=500.
    Theories Discussion > General Discussion > #Orange  -  September 20, 2019, 07:33:49 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlamydomonas_nivalis

I notice this interesting passage on page 102 of : Thesis by BISCHOFF Yannick,  2007,  132 pages in French - free access:

[These=The] favourable conditions for the development of snow algae can be found, for example, on sunny slopes, close to mountain ridges or quite late in the season. Most of the time, these conditions last only a few days or at best a few weeks. Then, the rapid disappearance of the snow cover threatens this environment. The rapid development of algae is therefore probably an important factor.

https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:516
Diversité et mobilité des algues de neige dans les Alpes suisses
Diversity and mobility of snow algae in the Swiss Alps

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        2° -  A question for skiers.
I have been influenced by Eduard Tumanov and by Per Inge Oestermoen and many others therefore I am working on my hypothesis N° 2 according to which:

The 9 hikers are pursued by attackers on skis who carefully follows the traces in the snow left by the 9 hikers.

The attackers are coming from, or have left, settlement 41 (or maybe even North 2: cf. Yuri Yudin "There so much - many houses, warehouses, premises, forgotten old vehicles, machine tools." )

On January 31, 1959 at about 4 p.m. the pursuer who was in the lead reached Thibeaux-Brignolle which was then the last in the line of 9 hikers.

This is the famous photo N° 17.

Now you understand my question:

What would be the speed  of an average lightly loaded skier  following a trail in the snow that was compacted by the nine skiers in front ?

[MDGross]

Teddy, Thanks for posting. Two valuable observations.

[Naufragia]

Really interesting to see, thank you. I have so little experience of snow, I just can't grasp the snow side of the Dyatlov Pass incident. I would never have imagined that footprints can end up raised and last for weeks, for example.

[sarapuk]

Really interesting to see, thank you. I have so little experience of snow, I just can't grasp the snow side of the Dyatlov Pass incident. I would never have imagined that footprints can end up raised and last for weeks, for example.

Yes. I remember when we used to get proper winters in Britain. I remember 6 foot snow drifts where I lived about 7 miles form Birmingham. And long cold spells where snow would last for weeks and I remember seeing similar footprints in the snow.