Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Igor Dyatlov, 1936–1959

Holatchahl mountain (a.k.a. Dead Mountain), 1959. The location of the Dyatlov tent is in the middle right of the frame.

To my son Dashiel,
never stop wondering.
And to my beautiful Julia,
without you it would not be.
I love you
.
—
D.E
.

Text copyright © 2013 by DONNIE EICHAR.

Photographs courtesy of the Dyatlov Foundation,
copyright © 2013.Used by permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-2956-3
The Library of Congress has previously cataloged this title under
Eichar, Donnie, author.
  Dead Mountain: the untold true story of the Dyatlov Pass incident / by
Donnie Eichar.
       pages cm
  ISBN 978-1-4521-1274-9
 1. Hiking — Russia (Federation) — Ural Mountains Region. 2. Eichar,
Donnie — Travel — Russia (Federation) — Ural Mountains Region. 3. Mountaineering
accidents — Russia (Federation) — Ural Mountains Region — 20th
century. 4. Ural Mountains Region (Russia) — History — 20th century. I.
Title.
  GV199.44.R82U734 2013
   914.743 — dc23

                                             2013014843                          

Poem and song translations by Eugene Alper. “Snow” copyright © 1958
Aleksandr Gorodnitsky, translation presented by permission.

Designed by EMILY DUBIN
Map by TIM TOMKINSON
Typeset by HOWIE SEVERSON

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CONTENTS

“If I could ask God just one question it would be
what really happened to my friends that night?
”

—YURI YUDIN

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The following account is based on years of research into the case of the Dyatlov hikers. All facts are derived from the criminal case files in the Soviet archives, the hikers’ own journals and photographs, and interviews conducted in Russia with the hikers’ friends and family, as well as with those involved in the search efforts. This has been supported by interviews with scientists and various experts on the case. This book would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of Vladimir Borzenkov, Yuri Kuntsevich and Yuri Yudin. When we set out to retrace the Dyatlov group’s final steps in the winter of 2012, we had one goal: to piece together the truth of this half-century-old Russian mystery.

Prologue

FEBRUARY 1959 NORTHERN URAL MOUNTAINS, USSR

TWO FIGURES TRUDGE ACROSS A SNOWY EXPANSE. THE
peak of Otorten Mountain stands icy and grim in the distance, a lone witness to their miserable progress. It is afternoon, though difficult to say how late. Time of day tends to lose its meaning in this wilderness, where the sun is a mere smudge behind cloud cover, and the haze is so pervasive as to make earth and sky indistinguishable. The pair push forward into the headwind, their bundled bodies a fleck of punctuation on this vast, wintry page.

The men are university students in search of friends who have been missing ten days. They tell themselves that this is a rescue mission, not a recovery. After all, the nine missing hikers—seven men, two women—are highly accomplished, having completed numerous mountaineering expeditions into this region. In fact, the missing are members of the most esteemed hiking group at their school, and there is no reason to believe that they are not alive, counting the days until rescue. Perhaps the two men imagine a reunion of schoolmates just ahead, beyond the next snowdrift. . . . But, other than the occasional dwarf pine, there is nothing to see.