bad joke ?!

[Lanciere84]

Has anyone ever considered the hypothesis of a "badly concluded joke" among the possible causes of panic. It is a theory that I am starting to consider. We know almost for certain that two or more people were out of the tent at the time the facts occurred and we also know that there were footprints that would show that two subjects joined the group about 50 meters down the slope towards the wood. So, in summary: if the two who were out had decided to play a stupid joke? alarming the rest of the team with an imminent threat? Perhaps they did not expect a reaction so exaggerated by the doors of the group that scared he cut the tent. The boys who made the joke, once they realized the problems they had committed, joined the group that was going downstream, hiding from them the fact that it was a joke for fear of being lynched. By now the tent had been destroyed and they kept the game to avoid being attacked. Has such a thing ever been considered? What do you think?

[Teddy]

This is original. I haven't heard it before. The closest someone has come is Josh Gates with the dare gone bad. But nothing like your theory.

[Lanciere84]

I imagined the tragedy as divided into two phases:
a first phase due to man, a second phase due to nature.
In the first phase: Two people in the group are outside the tent (guard duty or just for their need), so they decide to make a joke to the rest of the group. The joke can consist of throwing some snow on the tent and shouting at the avalanche, or simply alerting the group of an imminent danger. This can cause some of them to suddenly panic enough to break the tent to flee and head downstream. At this point the two who made the joke understand that the thing got out of hand and that with the cuts to the tent they caused very serious damage so they continued in their skit, also reaching the group and joining 50 meters from the tent (I was reading some tracks that would demonstrate this). Once united with the group they did not find the courage to tell them the truth for fear of being attacked. So they didn't tell the group it was a joke. They thought that after some time everything would calm down and they would all go back together to the tent to repair it and take the remaining things but this did not happen because at this point phase 2 takes over, or the nature that prevents them from comfortable return to the tent causing the death of some from hypothermia and others from bruises following a fall in a high ditch.