Interestingly , Sharavin says a number of things regarding the tent and the footprints .
MIHAIL SHARAVIN ANSWERS QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE DYATLOV PASS GROUP OF VKONTAKTE
M.Sharavin: We weren't so vulgar as to chop and eat the loin in the tent we found. The knife is not ours, we did not cut the loin. Slobtsov and I found the loin cut into slices and the piece remaining after cutting, as well as the skins from the already eaten pieces when we penetrated into the tent through the "top" on February 26 ,inmediately after its discovery. Of course, there could be no talk of eating and drinking alcohol in the tent. A flask with alcohol, which we found in a bucket, we took with us to the base camp and drank at a common table, remembering the guys.
( Interesting that Sharavin uses the word "penetrated "and from the top regarding his search of the tent on the 26th. Sharavin states that they didn't enter through the entrance of the tent , nor does he state they entered the tent from the underside, neither does he mention the finding the tent with cuts? But yet they do a reasonable search of the contents of the tent, enough to find a camera, vodka, search under blankets and look into rucksacks etc. Food for thought....)
Question: Why didn't you look into the tent through the entrance?
M.Sharavin: Why didn't we enter the tent through the "entrance"? Imagine a pole standing up, and immediately after the ridge part descending almost vertically down. Only the front pole stood vertically. The entire length of the tent was covered with 200 mm thick firn snow. Until the snow is removed from the roof, it will still not be possible to get into the tent. There was nothing to be seen through the entrance. In addition, I wanted to find out if there are bodies in the tent. Strange, but we were not warned about how we should behave in such a situation. But when the canvas of the tent was cleared, it became evident that there was no one inside."
Question:Tell us, is this how you found the tent? Or has something in the picture changed already? If so, what exactly is different form how you found it?
It was you and Boris Slobtsov who dug up the tent. Or was it someone else that dug up the tent after you?
Particularly interested in where, in what place was the ice ax. If possible, mark its position on the photo. Or describe in detail so that we can understand from the photo where he was. Where did you yanked it out from?
M.Sharavin: This photo is taken on February 27 by a someone from Karelin's group, who were led to the tent by Yuri Koptelov. He is in the photo. The snow was dug up by us the day before. The skis were set after us, initially they were in front of the tent, to the left of Koptelov. And a little to the right of Koptelov, we initially found an ice ax, in front of the entrance to the tent, which we used when chopping up the snow that was on top the tent. I don't find any other differences.
( The snow was moved on the 26)
Question: Mihail Petrovich, when you approached the tent, did you personally see any items scattered around the tent? Slobtsov talked about some kind of slippers, ski caps...
M.Sharavin: I did not notice any slippers when I approached the tent. Slobtsov maybe recollecting belongings that he saw the very next day. After all, he wrote the testimony one month later.
Question: regarding the blankets in the tent. Were they in a pile, or spread out? Can you maybe remember the color of some blanket?
M.Sharavin: The blankets in the tent were mostly spread out. Most of them were brown.
( It was reported that the blankets were found in a frozen ball also?)
Question: When you saw the blankets spread out in the tent, did you look under them?
M.Sharavin: Yes, we looked under the blankets in one place to make sure that there were empty backpacks on the bottom of the tent.
Question: Did you return everything that you took from the tent on February 26, taking into account that you drunk the flask before the arrival of the investigator?
M.Sharavin: The empty flask was returned to the tent on the 27th, and the rest - a diary and money, possibly returned to the investigator.
(Sharavin found a diary, flask and money on the 26th)
Question: How dense was the snow on the tent that you had to chop it up with an ice ax? Do you agree that the two skis were not set up as the center ridgepoles of the tent?
M.Sharavin: The snow on top of the tent was really so hard that it had to be chopped off with an ice axe. And the skis were in front of the tent and were not used as ridgepoles.
Question: About the rope at the entrance - did it tie the skate of the entrance with skis or an ice axe, or tied it to another pole?
M.Sharavin: I can't say anything about a rope. I don't remember such.
Question: Boris Slobtsov said in an interview that you took off your skis and walked in boots down the slope, almost following the very tracks on the slope. Do you think that the trace from the heel, which was later discovered by witnesses, could have been left by you, i.e. unintentionally left by your boots?
M.Sharavin: When we approached the tent, we really walked without skis, but our boots did not leave marks on the firn snow. In addition, footprints in boots were observed in the general track of all footprints left by the Dyatlov group ... they protruded above the surface of firn snow
M Sharavin:"We found the ice ax on the 26th and used it to free the tent from the snow. We did not move the skis on the 26th. But in a photo taken the next day and attributed to Brusnitsyn, these skis are next to the front and back stands of the tent. We did not move the skis there and it is not clear to us who did it. Moreover, Brusnitsyn on the 27th could not have taken take this picture, since he was at the base camp on the other side of the pass."
(However Slobtsov Boris Efimovich statement says the following)
Sheet 298
PROTOCOL
witness testimony
Near the entrance of the tent on the snow
an ice ax was stuck, 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 on it lit. I did not notice that day, but then I heard from other people involved in the search that there was a trace of urine in the snow near the tent.
In the immediate vicinity of the tent there were no footprints. Approximately 15-20 m from the tent in the direction where the bodies were subsequently discovered, footprints of the people's feet coming from the tent were visible on the snow, and it was evident that the tracks were left by the feet of a person without shoes in felt boots (valenki). The tracks protruded above the surrounding surface of the snow, for near the tracks the snow was blown out by the wind.
From the tent in the direction of the wind, i.e. in the direction where there were traces of people's feet, at a distance of about 0.5-1 m, we found several slippers from different pairs, and ski caps and other small objects were scattered. I do not remember and did not pay attention to how many people were the footprints from, but it should be noted that the tracks were initially together, next to each other, and the distant tracks diverged, but now I don't remember how they parted.
On February 26, 1959, we removed the snow from over the tent and made sure that there were no people inside, and we didn't touch the items that were in the tent. I was with student Sharavin. The items were taken out of the tent on February 27 and 28, 1959, when student Brusnitsyn and other searchers were present.
When on 26.2.59 I looked in the tent I saw the following: the tent itself was torn, there was food in a bucket near the entrance, there was a liquid in a flask - alcohol or vodka, there were food supplies in bags at the feet, the blankets were unfolded, under the blankets spread out were quilted jackets, storm jackets, and under them backpacks were laid on the floor. At the entrance hung Slobodin's jacket, in whose breast pocket were found about 800 rubles. In the tent, apparently, a sheet was hung, which was torn and part of it protruded outward.
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It almost seems that someone else went to the tent between the 26th and 27th . I know I need to read more of the statements but I think Slobtsov Boris was the first to mention the tent was torn. If the tent was found in the state we are familiar with in the examination office , why would Sharavin ,who penetrated the tent from the top ,not say, that once they had cleared the snow they found the tent cut?, I would also add that it looks more than just "torn" , more like shredded. I do wonder if the group that discovered the tent maybe thought to help themselves to the vodka and money. Sharavin states it was "Strange, but we were not warned about how we should behave in such a situation". I believe he means they were given no instruction on what to do if they found anything.
Slobtsov Boris says they didn't touch the items in the tent but Sharavin says they took the vodka( and drunk it) along with money , a camera and mentions taking a diary and taking them to the base camp, then returning the flask on the 27th. Maybe they got told off for taking stuff.
Sharavin also notes that they walked around the tent but left no prints as the snow was so hard. All very mind boggling as it shows the vast variety of snow conditions and annoying contradictions with all the statements.
Many of these statements may be errors in memory and as always confuse the case even more.....