Question-why did you choose Dyatlov?

[KFinn]

Or for some of us, why did it chose you?

What about this incident has drawn your interest enough to spend hours reading the case files and interviews and looking through pictures and such?  What draws you here to ask questions and discuss topics that non-Dyatlov people may not understand? 

Is it the mystery?  Is it your love for mountaineering and desire to see justice for for other mountaineers?  Is it the chance to maybe prove that Menk or alien UFO's exist?  Is it the criminal aspect that draws you?   Why does this case from 1959, from a land that many of us are half way around the world from draw our interests? 

What is your ultimate goal with being a Dyatlov researcher?   Is it the truth?  Is it to write a book?  Is it just something you want to learn more about?   

[Nigel Evans]

For me it started with ball lightning, i discovered the photos and thought "hey this is a candidate for one of the biggest death tolls in modern times and they even photographed it/them" and then later discovered the chief investigator's opinion was exactly the same!!! Then you start to dig and realise that this is one hell of a mystery with multiple paradoxical facets each with it's own subtleties.

[MDGross]

Fascination combined with the macabre. Reality that is stranger than fiction. A chance to spar with smart folks like Nigel. 

[KFinn]

Fascination combined with the macabre. Reality that is stranger than fiction. A chance to spar with smart folks like Nigel. 

Meeting (virtually) other people with such diverse backgrounds and strong opinions is the icing on the cake!!  I've had strong opinions about certain aspects of Dyatlov that I've now learned to look at in a fresh light, by discussions here. 

I don't remember how long ago it was that I first heard about the DPI but it was sometime around the mid 2000's, I think.  My first response was "well, that's weird."  But at the time, I was a single mom, working part time, finishing my bachelors and preparing to go to grad school and my hobby life was already overfull so I couldn't really spend any time looking into it.  It just kept coming to mind through the years and I'd check in on it via Google when I had time.  Then the unthinkable happened and I was declared disabled and suddenly there was way too much time.
 I think it was three or four years ago that I found this site and I started reading voraciously everything I could, but I was not confident enough to actually engage on the forum.  I'm glad that I finally did because I've been really loving the different subjects of theories...such a wide variety and yet, all based on the same circumstances.  As an adult, I've always seen the world as black and white, but I'm now discovering that gray areas can be valuable!

[sarapuk]

Or for some of us, why did it chose you?

What about this incident has drawn your interest enough to spend hours reading the case files and interviews and looking through pictures and such?  What draws you here to ask questions and discuss topics that non-Dyatlov people may not understand? 

Is it the mystery?  Is it your love for mountaineering and desire to see justice for for other mountaineers?  Is it the chance to maybe prove that Menk or alien UFO's exist?  Is it the criminal aspect that draws you?   Why does this case from 1959, from a land that many of us are half way around the world from draw our interests? 

What is your ultimate goal with being a Dyatlov researcher?   Is it the truth?  Is it to write a book?  Is it just something you want to learn more about?   

Well done for this Post. Its a fitting time to reflect on what brought us all to this Mystery. As for me well I have always had an interest in the unknown. Having experienced some interesting things myself it wasnt difficult to get captivated by the Dyatlov Mystery.

[KFinn]

Or for some of us, why did it chose you?

What about this incident has drawn your interest enough to spend hours reading the case files and interviews and looking through pictures and such?  What draws you here to ask questions and discuss topics that non-Dyatlov people may not understand? 

Is it the mystery?  Is it your love for mountaineering and desire to see justice for for other mountaineers?  Is it the chance to maybe prove that Menk or alien UFO's exist?  Is it the criminal aspect that draws you?   Why does this case from 1959, from a land that many of us are half way around the world from draw our interests? 

What is your ultimate goal with being a Dyatlov researcher?   Is it the truth?  Is it to write a book?  Is it just something you want to learn more about?   

Well done for this Post. Its a fitting time to reflect on what brought us all to this Mystery. As for me well I have always had an interest in the unknown. Having experienced some interesting things myself it wasnt difficult to get captivated by the Dyatlov Mystery.

Everyone has such a broad range of experiences and perspectives!  Some folks have a more scientific background, others come from practical experience...  It really is cool to see Dyatlov through other people's eyes!  I think you nailed it; this mystery really is captivating.  Its as if once you start, you just have to keep going no matter where it takes you!

[RMK]

I first learned of the DPI in 2009, when I read a news article online about it.  I don't remember exactly what the article was about...it was probably about the 9 hikers' diaries entering public domain in the Russian Federation that year.  But it also provided a brief summary of what was known about the Incident.  At the time, there didn't seem to be any mystery to me--it's not exactly hard to get yourself killed in the remote wilderness if something goes wrong and you make a mistake in how you handle the situation.  I figured the hikers either got caught in an avalanche, or panicked because they thought an avalanche was imminent for some reason.

Then, last summer, I saw an offhand reference to the DPI while I was reading something online.  I decided to look up the DPI Wikipedia entry to see if my memory of the facts was accurate.  Wikipedia had more detail on the facts of the case than the article I had read more than a decade before, and I realized that there were more weird details to the case than I thought.  I was surprised to learn that there are good reasons to doubt "avalanche" theories.  I was also surprised to learn that Zolotaryov's remains had been exhumed in 2018, and that a new preliminary investigation into the Incident had been opened in 2019.  When I did a web search for information about Zolotaryov, I was then surprised to learn he was a WW2 veteran, and, unlike the rest of the team, had no ties to UPI.  As Igor and Teddy write in their book, the first alarm goes off.  It was the mysterious figure of Semyon Zolotaryov that captured my interest.  I had to learn more about the case, and it wasn't long until I found dyatlovpass.com .

[marieuk]

Great question.  i've always loved a mystery, which was the first reason I became interested.  Why this one more than others, I don't know.  There's something that draws me to it. 

[Star man]

Happened upon a documentary about the dpi about 2 years ago.  Thought it was interesting and googled it.  Found this web site and started reading about it.  Found it even more interesting.  It is a compelling mystery with a human story behind it.  It is a story with the last few pages torn out of the book.   

I think what makes it interesting is that there is still a reason for it to be solved.  Closure for the remaining families and friends.  Also, the amount of detailed information available (thanks to Teddy) makes it possible for anyone to try to piece together what happened, like the answer is just within reach.

I think the dpi mystery attracts a certain type of person.  Those with a large "Be Perfect" driver.  People who are "Completer Finishers".  People who have these traits like to live in a logical world where everything makes sense and everything fits together as it should do.  The dpi doesn't fit so they have to try to make sense of it.

Regards

Star man

[ash73]

For me it's like contemplating whether there's other life in the universe, there are multiple possibilities and logical arguments but there is only one truth... and I'd love to know what it is.

And it's more fun than sudoku.

[eurocentric]

Curiosity saw me find this site after reading an article at the BBC last summer. I'm always intrigued by mysteries, and this had that Mary Celeste feel to it, in the sense that they abandoned their 'ship', their tent.

I have an avid interest in disasters and what causes them, something which usually involves an element of human error and a sequence of events coming into alignment, the rarity of which nobody believed probable or even possible.

Ordinarily my interest in the DPI should have been satisfied within a week or so, but the almost unique thing about the DPI is the victims are made all the more personal through there being so much information about their lives, not just their deaths.

I've been able to remain detached when studying the fate of people in other tragedies, and generally all you get to know is their name, age, occupation and where they were from, but the DPI is very different.

Almost literally everything from cradle-to-grave is included; letters, diaries, and family photo's with parents, grandparents, siblings, or with friends and pets. And school photo's, holidays and previous hikes. To my Western eyes it has been a rare window into a closed society and political system I never knew, a world set against mine, a fascinating insight into a 1950s Soviet soap opera.

The other draw, I feel, is the charismatic power of Igor Dyatlov. Not only is the incident and location named after him, but because he was highly photogenic at all ages, looking part Dickensian chimney sweep boy, part Banksy character, his image has helped make him and his mystery stand out across history.

You'd only need show the photo below to someone without prior knowledge of the DPI, maybe they'd randomly see it in a magazine, and they'd likely be intrigued enough to want to find out more about him and the event named after him.

[KFinn]

Curiosity saw me find this site after reading an article at the BBC last summer. I'm always intrigued by mysteries, and this had that Mary Celeste feel to it, in the sense that they abandoned their 'ship', their tent.

I have an avid interest in disasters and what causes them, something which usually involves an element of human error and a sequence of events coming into alignment, the rarity of which nobody believed probable or even possible.

Ordinarily my interest in the DPI should have been satisfied within a week or so, but the almost unique thing about the DPI is the victims are made all the more personal through there being so much information about their lives, not just their deaths.

I've been able to remain detached when studying the fate of people in other tragedies, and generally all you get to know is their name, age, occupation and where they were from, but the DPI is very different.

Almost literally everything from cradle-to-grave is included; letters, diaries, and family photo's with parents, grandparents, siblings, or with friends and pets. And school photo's, holidays and previous hikes. To my Western eyes it has been a rare window into a closed society and political system I never knew, a world set against mine, a fascinating insight into a 1950s Soviet soap opera.

The other draw, I feel, is the charismatic power of Igor Dyatlov. Not only is the incident and location named after him, but because he was highly photogenic at all ages, looking part Dickensian chimney sweep boy, part Banksy character, his image has helped make him and his mystery stand out across history.

You'd only need show the photo below to someone without prior knowledge of the DPI, maybe they'd randomly see it in a magazine, and they'd likely be intrigued enough to want to find out more about him and the event named after him.

I very much understand!  I think the cultural education aspect of DPI has really been fascinating.  Not just learning about the tenacity and determination of the Russian people but the culture if outdoor sports of the time, as well.  I love reading about various greats in that respect; Shackleton, Mallory, Hillary...  I also do have such an enormous amount if respect for the Dyatlov group.  As children, they survived war, famine, mass forced migrations, the Great Purge, suppression of academics...  And yet they went on to become successful young adults, who found a love in conquering nature.  I try to remember that at least they died doing something they loved, to help ease the seriousness of the tragedy. 

In a different age, in a similar culture, this group would be the type of people I'd seek out as friends.  Sad to think that if they hadn't died under such strange circumstances, we'd probably never have even known they existed :(

[Manti]

I have been interested in unsolved problems, mostly scientific ones, for a long time. But I've found out about the Dyatlov case (and this forum) by mistake. I was looking for a forum to discuss issues with a software I had which is called Dyalog, and Google decided to treat it as a typo  , so I ended up here and it snowballed from there.

And part of what makes the DPI stand out in my opinion is the sheer amount of original material that is available to the public, the case files, witness statements, original photographs, even though it's true that there seem to be missing pieces.

[sarapuk]

I have been interested in unsolved problems, mostly scientific ones, for a long time. But I've found out about the Dyatlov case (and this forum) by mistake. I was looking for a forum to discuss issues with a software I had which is called Dyalog, and Google decided to treat it as a typo  , so I ended up here and it snowballed from there.

And part of what makes the DPI stand out in my opinion is the sheer amount of original material that is available to the public, the case files, witness statements, original photographs, even though it's true that there seem to be missing pieces.

That typo has introduced you to one of the great mysteries of the World.

[KFinn]

I have been interested in unsolved problems, mostly scientific ones, for a long time. But I've found out about the Dyatlov case (and this forum) by mistake. I was looking for a forum to discuss issues with a software I had which is called Dyalog, and Google decided to treat it as a typo  , so I ended up here and it snowballed from there.

And part of what makes the DPI stand out in my opinion is the sheer amount of original material that is available to the public, the case files, witness statements, original photographs, even though it's true that there seem to be missing pieces.

That is pretty cool, that a typo led you to Dyatlov!!!!!