January 16, 2025 • 28 mins
Explore The Dyatlov Pass Incident as we delve into the greatest of unsolved mysteries from Russia's Ural Mountains. Uncover the Dyatlov Pass Mystery, the theories, and the tragic fate of Igor Dyatlov and his team, in this compelling mini Dyatlov Pass documentary.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Strange mysteries, unexplained phenomena.
And the shadows in between.
This is The InBetween Official Podcastwith your host,
Carol Ann!
February 1959.
Nine students traverse
(00:36):
the Ural Mountains, making campon the slopes of Dead Mountain.
That night, some dark presence descends,
driving them to fleehalf clothed into subzero temperatures.
By morning all are doomed to fates defyingall reason.
60 years later,the terrifying truth of those deaths
remains buried beneath the ice.
(00:57):
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm Carol Ann, and this is the mysterioustale of the Dyatlov Pass
Now the Ural Mountains
may not be the biggestor most famous range in Russia.
That honorgoes to the Caucasus in the south.
(01:18):
But make no mistake, the Urals can be just
as harsh and unforgiving,especially in wintertime.
We're talking heavysnowfall, winds that cut right through
you and temperatures cold enough to freezeexposed skin solid in minutes.
Not exactly your beginners track.
Yet for some reason, that's exactlywhere our group of hikers wants to go.
(01:42):
The group originally consists of eight menand two women.
were students or graduatesof Ural Polytechnical Institute or UPI.
The goal of the 14 dayexpedition is to reach Mt.
Otorten, a 3900 footor 1200 meter high mountain.
group is led by Igor Dyatlov,
(02:04):
an experienced 23 yearold hiking and skiing enthusiast.
The other nineare basically handpicked by Igor.
This is not going to be an easy trip,so he wants to make sure
that everyone on the team is qualified.
The other nine teammates are ZinaidaKolmogorova Lyudmila Dubinina
(02:25):
Alexander Kolevatov RustamSlobodin Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles
Semyon Zolotarev Yuri Yudin
Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivonischenko.
All members are experienced in longski tours and mountain expeditions.
Which is goodbecause this route, in this season,
(02:46):
is estimated as a CategoryIII hike - The most difficult level.
And let me just take a quick minuteto say that I do not speak Russian.
So my sincerest apologiesif I mispronounce any names or places
in this video.
On January 23rd, 1959,the hour of departure finally arrives.
(03:08):
And our bold crew loads up their heftypacks, bids farewell
to friends and family,and board a train from Sverdlovsk
City (today Yekaterinburg),bound for Ivdel.
They arrive at Ivdel on January 25thand then take a truck
to Vizhay, the last inhabited settlementso far north.
They start their march to Mt.
(03:30):
Otorten from Vizhay on January 27th
The very next
day, one of the members, Yuri Yudin,who had several health ailments,
including rheumatismand a congenital heart defect.
Which really makes me wonder why he'sincluded in the team in the first place.
But I guess he was fine most of the timeand only had occasional rheumatism
(03:54):
flare ups, and has donethese crazy winter expeditions before.
But he decides that the pain in his kneesand joints is just too much,
and he makes the difficult decisionto abandon the expedition
and remain behind in Vizhaywhile his comrades press onwards.
Now, it had been agreed beforehandthat Igor would send a telegram
(04:17):
to their sports club back at UPIas soon as the group returned to Vizhay.
They expectedthat would be no later than February 12th.
But Dyatlov tells Yuri,“Hey, don't be surprised
if it takes us a little longer.”Hugs and farewells are exchanged,
and on January 28th,the group continues on while Yuri
(04:38):
turns back toward Vizhayto wait for his friends’ return.
Over the next few days, the group of ninetreks deep into the frozen
northern Urals, relying on their compassand maps to navigate the snowy wilderness.
The physical exertion is intense,requiring frequent rest breaks.
Each nightthey huddle in their one huge tent,
(05:00):
their only refuge from the whippingwind and frigid air.
During the day,the endless pines and unbroken
snow tests their stamina and resolve.
Igor leads the way through the deep snowas best he can.
February 1st they get kind of a late startand only make it about
(05:22):
two and a half miles or four kilometersthat day.
They stop around 5 p.m.
and set up camp on a slope of Mt.
Kholat Syakhl, just 10 milesor 16 kilometers from Mount Otorten.
Kholat Syakhl translates to Dead Mountain
in the language of the indigenousMansi people.
How creepy and foreshadowing is that?
(05:46):
They stow awaysome of their extra provisions
for their return trip and settle downto dinner about 6:00 or 7:00.
Then Somethinggoes catastrophically wrong.
February 12th comes and goes.
Nothing. Not a peep.
And at first people think, well,maybe the weather delayed them
(06:07):
a few days, or maybe they changed upthe route a bit at the last minute.
Remember Igor told Yuri before they parted
that even he thought that they wouldn'tmake it back by the 12th.
February 20th comeswithout any word from the hikers.
Their families start to pleadwith the authorities at this point
to send out search teams convincedsomething has gone
(06:29):
terribly wrong out there.
So the first rescue groupsconsisting of volunteers,
studentsand teachers are sent out on the 20th.
By the 26thwith still no word from anybody,
the army and police forcesbecome involved with planes
and helicopters being orderedto join the rescue operation.
After days spent slogging through subzero
(06:51):
temperatures and endless snow- finally, a discovery.
In a clearing at the base of the mountain.
the searchers spot something - a shock ofcolor against the icy wasteland.
It's the group's tent, still pitched.
But as rescuers rush closer,the scene only deepens the dread.
The tents been ripped open from the inside
(07:13):
with no sign of the nine outsideor anywhere nearby.
It appears as if the team had hastilyfled, wearing
almost no gear or protectionfrom the bitter elements.
Searchers are baffledby the chaotic scene of disorder
and the reckless, illogical escapefrom the tent,
Abandoning their stove, shoesand everything else?
(07:37):
A chain of eight or ninesets of footprints wearing only slacks
or a single shoe or even barefootcan be seen that lead down towards
the edge of the woods almost a mile awayor one and a half kilometers.
But at that point, they covered with snow.
Keep in mind that at the timethe hikers are thought to flee their tent,
(07:58):
the temperature is just below zeroor 20 below Celsius,
and that's not factoring in any wind.
Once the icy wind touched their skin,delirium would have set in within minutes.
At the forest edge under a largeold cedar,
the search party findsthe remains of a fire
(08:18):
along with the first two bodies,those of Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri
Doroshenko lying side by side, shoelessand dressed only in their underwear.
On February 27th,between the cedar and the tent,
the searchers find IgorDyatlov and Zina Kolmogorova.
And six days later, on March5th, Rustem Slobodin.
(08:41):
The three seem to have died in posesand locations,
suggesting that they were attemptingto return to the tent.
Five comrades are now accounted for.
A medical examination found no injurieswhich might have led to their deaths,
so it’s concludedthat they had died of hypothermia.
But four are still missingsomewhere out in that icy abyss.
(09:03):
Could any of the remaining fourstill be clinging to life out there?
Maybe they escaped together beforethe brutal elements could take them.
Searchers cling to this last feeble
hope as they continuecombing the endless pines and ravines.
But they find nothing.
No sign of the other four hikers.
(09:24):
In the days following the abandoned tent’sdiscovery, the search party perseveres
in combing the area of Kholat Syakhlfor survivors or remains.
Spotter planesscan the endless forests and ravines,
to no avail, as rescuers on footsystematically widen their search area.
On May 5th, they make a ghastly find.
(09:48):
The final four bodies,They're found under 12 feet
or four meters of snowin a ravine, 150 feet
or 50 meters farther into the woodsfrom the cedar tree.
These four are better dressedthan the others
and clearly had the presence of mindto know that they were in trouble
(10:08):
and did everything they couldto preserve themselves,
because they're wearing clothes
that belonged to some of the otherswho were apparently already dead.
But they managed to dig outa den in the snow
and line it with branches in an effortto keep themselves warm.
And some of the clothestaken from the bodies
underneath the cedar treewere placed on the cedar branches.
(10:32):
So they knew they were in trouble, butthey were certainly working the problem.
But the examination of these four bodies
changes everything.
Alexander did die of hypothermia,but his eyebrows are missing.
And his body has turneda grayish, greenish, purple color.
(10:54):
But the other three did not.
Their bodiestell a completely different story.
A story we are still trying to figure outto this day.
These three all have fatal injuries.
Nikolai’s skull is totally shattered
and both Lyudmilaand Semyon's ribs are smashed laterally.
(11:18):
So not like a blow to the frontor the back, but more like
they were squeezed from the sides.
According to one of the forensicexperts, the force required to cause
this kind of damage would have been
extreme, really high, like a car crash.
But none of the bodieshad any external wounds.
(11:39):
It's like they were hit withsome kind of massive pressure wave.
Lyudmila is missing her eyesand her tongue
and has ten broken ribs,four of them in two places.
Semyon's eyes are gone, too,and he has five broken ribs -
all of them in two places.
(12:01):
skull is smashed with such forcethat an attack from another
human is ruled outbecause humans can't hit that hard.
Yet not even a bruise or cut on his scalp.
It defies logic.
No animal attacks like thisor scavengers like this.
And there's no external woundsoutside of Alexander's missing eyebrows.
(12:24):
It's like some powerful outside force
systematically destroyed themfrom the inside out.
Even stranger,the four are neatly buried side
by side, under the snow,almost as if deliberately arranged.
The government totally fails to identify
any rational causefor the horrific mutilations.
(12:46):
The families beg for answers,but all the medical experts
and investigatorskeep coming back empty handed.
whatever did this left no measurabletraces besides the devastated bodies.
And there are so many more anomaliesthat I haven't even touched on.
Messed up DNA, connections to the KGB,
(13:09):
radioactive clothing,missing axes and knives.
Eyewitness testimony that says that he sawthe first two bodies covered over
with the blanket, obviously postmortem,and that the KGB staged the scene.
Testimony that government officialswere quietly taking
an overly active interest in the case
while at the same timepressuring investigators to shut it down.
(13:33):
If you are interestedin a deep dive on this,
I highly recommendvisiting DyatlovPass.com.
I will put a link to it in the listof sources in the description below.
Oh my God.
It is a wealth of information.
So many details and whatnot.
(13:53):
I couldn't even begin to dig into it all.
But let me know if you would like meto do a deeper dive video in the future.
So with the whole country watching,the Soviet authorities
are under massive pressureto explain what happened.
But they have zero answers.
Finally, after months of fumbling around,they throw up their hands and declare,
(14:16):
“...it is concluded thatthe cause of their demise was overwhelming
force, which the hikers were not ableto overcome.” Nice non-answer.
The families scream, cover up, demandingmore evidence, but the government sticks
firmly to the “natural phenomena”line and seals off the area.
Records get locked down.
(14:37):
Physical evidence is declaredtotally off limits.
The Kremlin absolutely shuts downany deeper
digging into this thing Until 2019.
In 2019, Russian authoritiessuddenly re-open the investigation,
saying they'll utilize modern scienceto crack the case once and for all,
reigniting sparks of hope that maybenow we'll get some real answers.
(15:01):
The bodies get exhumed for new autopsiesand testing.
DNA analysis to confirm identities,which it kind of does.
Scans check radiation levels.
Again, nothing anomalous.
But the core questionssurrounding the shocking injuries?
All the examiners ultimatelyshake their heads,
saying the original autopsy datastill stands.
(15:23):
After all the hype, the 2019-2020 inquest
just kind of fizzles out and peters awayinconclusively.
No single theoryfully explains all these freaky facts.
So short of a bombshell confession,this is as close as we may
ever get to what actually happenedon that lonely pass.
(15:43):
honor of the nine doomed hikers,the site of the incident
is formally named Dyatlov Passin the early 1960s.
A memorial plaque is latererected at the pass to commemorate
the fateful eventsand pay tribute to the victims.
And Yuri Yudin,the hiker who stays behind,
lives with the mysteryof what happened to his comrades
(16:06):
for over 50 years until his death
in 2013 at the age of 75.
His name is then added to the memorialof his fallen friends.
Now, of course, there are tons of theoriesas to what happened.
Who can resist that?
So let's take a look at the list,starting with the easiest ones.
(16:28):
Avalanche.
A slide
crushing the tent causes the team to panic
and rush out into the frigid nightunprepared.
Well, the tent wasn't buried in snow,and there's no
evidence of a large debris fieldthat would come from an avalanche.
Also, there has never been an avalanche
recorded on that slope.
(16:51):
Animal attacks.
There are no external wounds,
prints,or typical attack patterns evident.
I'm sure some of the post-morteminjuries are likely caused
by scavengers, but not the major injuries.
And the Mansi people calledthat mountain Death Mountain
because there are no animals up there.
(17:14):
Attacked by tribespeople theory.
some have theorized that local tribalgroups like the Mansi might have ambushed
the hikers, seeing their presenceon the peaks as disrespectful.
But the Mansi generally avoided contactwith outsiders rather than attacking them.
And there are several footprintsin the snow
showing a calmand orderly evacuation of the tent,
(17:36):
not a frenzied defensefrom attacking forces.
Plus, you'd think a human ambushwould leave more obvious,
traumatic wounds instead of the creepy,
bloodless precision stuff we see here.
With no history of violenceagainst strangers
and no tangible indicationsof a tribal attack.
(17:56):
It's pretty unlikely that the Mansi wenton some random rampage.
Secret weapons testing theory.
Some theories think that the Sovietmilitary could have been running
secret operationsin the remote Urals that went haywire
and killed the hikers - maybe testingsome experimental ray gun or sound weapon
that accidentally amplified to lethallevels.
(18:19):
Could explainthe freakish internal damage, at least.
But no records show the USSR
conducting any classified testsin that area back then.
And while there is radiationdetected on a few articles of clothing,
the radiation levels on the bodieschecks out normal too,
ruling out exposure from a nuclear mishap.
(18:42):
You'd think if the governmentwas responsible, they'd cover it up
by any means necessary - not do a sloppyinvestigation, leaving weird clues.
While it's possiblethat the KGB still hides details.
Nothing directly pointsto a deadly military accident
in the mountains that night.
Katabatic winds theory.
(19:04):
Some researcherspropose fierce katabatic winds,
which are winds of high density airthat get pulled
down the side of a mountain dueto gravity, that these winds
may have swooped downthe slope that night,
frightening the groupinto fleeing their tents.
These powerful gusts can reachhurricane speeds
(19:24):
and could have damaged the tentand whipped up a frenzy.
Additionally,infrasound waves at frequencies
below human hearingcan induce panic and hallucinations.
The alleged windstorm may have generated
these disturbing sub-audible vibrations.
Together, the deafeningwind and disorienting infrasound
(19:47):
could have sparked irrational terror,luring the hikers out
improperly dresseduntil they succumbed to hypothermia.
However,some point out that winds typically
leaving visible damagewhich was missing at the campsite.
infrasound alone cannot accountfor the catastrophic injuries
(20:08):
found in some of the hikers.
Could both kayabatic gustsand infrasound have contributed
to the confusion and poor decisionsthat doomed the group that night?
Sure.
But those forces certainlydon't cover every base.
Yeti attack theory.
Now, giventhe remote location, I'd be remiss
(20:30):
not to address the legends of the Yeti,possibly lurking in those mountains.
Some have proposed it was one of theseelusive creatures that savaged the hikers.
And it is truethat sightings have persisted in the area
over the years- enough that we can't completely rule out
some giant primate roaming the Ural snows.
(20:52):
Many believers have pointed to
this photographas evidence of the creature in the area.
I, for one,believe this photo is just a blurry image
of one of the hikers dressed for the cold.
But if the rumors of such a creatureare true,
it certainly would havethe horrendous force necessary to inflict
(21:14):
the rib and skull fracturesseen on some of the bodies.
But just like the animal attack theory.
Where are the signs of a struggle?
UFO Encounter Theory.
There are documentedreports of orange orbs
floating in the sky in a townjust 50 miles from where the hikers were.
(21:34):
And some injuries, like Lyudmilamissing her eyes and her tongue,
sure are reminiscent of injuriesincurred in animal mutilation
cases reported around the world.
But what would make them leave their tent?
If they're in the tent,they wouldn't see any UFOs
or even orange orbsfloating around in the sky.
(21:55):
Something would have had to come to themand make them leave the tent.
But again, no other footprints of any kindare found anywhere in the area.
Psychic or paranormal phenomena.
There has been some speculation
that some kind of psychic paranormal forcewas responsible - like maybe
(22:17):
a malevolent spirit or vortexof dark energy descended on the campsite,
triggering irrational panicand luring them to their gruesome
At this point,I guess anything is possible.
It would explain why they fledso frantically without a clear threat
and the lack of measurablephysical evidence at the scene.
(22:39):
But without hard scientific proof
or any evidence of any kind,
this one's just wild speculation.
Now, herewe come to the latest and greatest theory
that might just be the bestcandidate of them all.
The Slab Avalanche Theory.
Alexander, Puzrin of the SwissFederal Institute of Technology in Zurich,
(23:04):
who has studied slab avalanches,and Johan Gaume of the Snow Avalanche
Simulation Laboratory at the SwissFederal Institute of Technology
in Lausanne, used computer modelsto recreate the event
by using the animation code from the movie“Frozen”, they modeled the movement
(23:24):
of the snow, given the conditionspresent on the mountain that night.
First, the hikers cut into the snowto level an area for the tent,
and the resulting vertical wall helpsto shield the tent from the wind.
Common practice at that time.
But according to this theory,the hikers do not realize
that under the toplayer of snow is a layer of sugary snow
(23:48):
that can move with much less frictionthan other types of snow.
Then the katabatic winds come into play.
The winds are coming downthe side of the mountain and likely
bringing all the snow from the topof the mountain down to the bottom
and depositingat least some of it right above the tent,
(24:08):
increasing the weight on that toplayer of snow.
At some critical mass point,the weight of the top layer
gets to be too muchand the sugar snow gives way,
sending that top layer off the edgeand on to the tent.
And since it's only the top layer of snowthat comes down,
you don't see the large debris fieldassociated with a normal avalanche.
(24:32):
Crash test data from General Motors isthen used to simulate
an avalanches impact on humans.
The researchers show that a block snowno bigger than an SUV
can cause the resulting injurieswhen it rams into the tent.
The victims with chest and head injuriessurvive for a time before succumbing
(24:54):
to their wounds, which coincideswith what the computer models revealed.
Pretty good theory.
It's definitely plausible and coversa lot of the bases,
but I'm still not convinced.
Rib fractures?
Sure,they're probably sleeping on their sides.
Nikolai. Skull fractures?
That I don't know about.
(25:15):
skull fracture patternlooks like more of a localized hit
than the wider spread pressure of heavysnow.
But, okay, let's go with that.
Then it stands to reason that oncethe snow hits, they cut themselves
out of the tent with the uninjured onescarrying the injured.
But if they're all lined upin the same tent,
(25:36):
why don't they all sufferfrom these catastrophic
And not all experts
agree that there were katabaticwinds on the mountain that night.
I don't know.
It certainly comes the closest,but I don't think it covers everything.
So 60 years later,what do we make of this whole mess?
Well, here's the frustrating truth.
(25:58):
No single explanation, normalor paranormal,
perfectly fits all the crazy facts.
Even with new theories,the story endures over the decades.
As one of Russia'smost iconic unsolved mysteries.
That perfect mix of creepy discoveries,
macabre clues,and utter bafflement at the end.
(26:21):
I mean, just look at the cultural ripples.
Books, movies, podcasts and more.
Dissecting the puzzle from every angle.
Tourists and amateur web sleuths flockto the pass, trying to find something,
anything, the tiniest, unfound cluethat could bring light to this craziness.
(26:42):
True crime junkies and paranormalenthusiasts can't get enough.
It's totally part of the modernfolklore now.
Sixty years later,the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
draws us still with the memorials that beg
the living, never to forget the dead.
(27:03):
In the end, what lingers most across
the decades are the faces of those nine
shining youths,full of spirit, snuffed out too soon.
the secrets of
Dyatlov Pass may never be unearthedfrom that snow covered mountain,
but our quest for understandingthe strange and unexplained never ends.
(27:27):
the world of the unknownhas even more to offer.
Because the next thrilling mysteryis just the tiniest click away
- in this special video right here, chosenjust for you.
Why risk regret by passing it up?
Go on.
Click it.
And as always, be careful out there
and I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
(27:52):
Thanks for tuning into The InBetween Podcast.
Enjoy the full visual experiencewith me over on YouTube.
Just search for @TheInBetweentales.
I'm Carol Ann,and until next time, be careful
out there.
Strange mysteries, unexplained phenomena.
And the shadows in between.
This is The InBetween Official Podcastwith your host,
Carol Ann!
February 1959.
Nine students traverse
(00:36):
the Ural Mountains, making campon the slopes of Dead Mountain.
That night, some dark presence descends,
driving them to fleehalf clothed into subzero temperatures.
By morning all are doomed to fates defyingall reason.
60 years later,the terrifying truth of those deaths
remains buried beneath the ice.
(00:57):
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm Carol Ann, and this is the mysterioustale of the Dyatlov Pass
Now the Ural Mountains
may not be the biggestor most famous range in Russia.
That honorgoes to the Caucasus in the south.
(01:18):
But make no mistake, the Urals can be just
as harsh and unforgiving,especially in wintertime.
We're talking heavysnowfall, winds that cut right through
you and temperatures cold enough to freezeexposed skin solid in minutes.
Not exactly your beginners track.
Yet for some reason, that's exactlywhere our group of hikers wants to go.
(01:42):
The group originally consists of eight menand two women.
were students or graduatesof Ural Polytechnical Institute or UPI.
The goal of the 14 dayexpedition is to reach Mt.
Otorten, a 3900 footor 1200 meter high mountain.
group is led by Igor Dyatlov,
(02:04):
an experienced 23 yearold hiking and skiing enthusiast.
The other nineare basically handpicked by Igor.
This is not going to be an easy trip,so he wants to make sure
that everyone on the team is qualified.
The other nine teammates are ZinaidaKolmogorova Lyudmila Dubinina
(02:25):
Alexander Kolevatov RustamSlobodin Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles
Semyon Zolotarev Yuri Yudin
Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivonischenko.
All members are experienced in longski tours and mountain expeditions.
Which is goodbecause this route, in this season,
(02:46):
is estimated as a CategoryIII hike - The most difficult level.
And let me just take a quick minuteto say that I do not speak Russian.
So my sincerest apologiesif I mispronounce any names or places
in this video.
On January 23rd, 1959,the hour of departure finally arrives.
(03:08):
And our bold crew loads up their heftypacks, bids farewell
to friends and family,and board a train from Sverdlovsk
City (today Yekaterinburg),bound for Ivdel.
They arrive at Ivdel on January 25thand then take a truck
to Vizhay, the last inhabited settlementso far north.
They start their march to Mt.
(03:30):
Otorten from Vizhay on January 27th
The very next
day, one of the members, Yuri Yudin,who had several health ailments,
including rheumatismand a congenital heart defect.
Which really makes me wonder why he'sincluded in the team in the first place.
But I guess he was fine most of the timeand only had occasional rheumatism
(03:54):
flare ups, and has donethese crazy winter expeditions before.
But he decides that the pain in his kneesand joints is just too much,
and he makes the difficult decisionto abandon the expedition
and remain behind in Vizhaywhile his comrades press onwards.
Now, it had been agreed beforehandthat Igor would send a telegram
(04:17):
to their sports club back at UPIas soon as the group returned to Vizhay.
They expectedthat would be no later than February 12th.
But Dyatlov tells Yuri,“Hey, don't be surprised
if it takes us a little longer.”Hugs and farewells are exchanged,
and on January 28th,the group continues on while Yuri
(04:38):
turns back toward Vizhayto wait for his friends’ return.
Over the next few days, the group of ninetreks deep into the frozen
northern Urals, relying on their compassand maps to navigate the snowy wilderness.
The physical exertion is intense,requiring frequent rest breaks.
Each nightthey huddle in their one huge tent,
(05:00):
their only refuge from the whippingwind and frigid air.
During the day,the endless pines and unbroken
snow tests their stamina and resolve.
Igor leads the way through the deep snowas best he can.
February 1st they get kind of a late startand only make it about
(05:22):
two and a half miles or four kilometersthat day.
They stop around 5 p.m.
and set up camp on a slope of Mt.
Kholat Syakhl, just 10 milesor 16 kilometers from Mount Otorten.
Kholat Syakhl translates to Dead Mountain
in the language of the indigenousMansi people.
How creepy and foreshadowing is that?
(05:46):
They stow awaysome of their extra provisions
for their return trip and settle downto dinner about 6:00 or 7:00.
Then Somethinggoes catastrophically wrong.
February 12th comes and goes.
Nothing. Not a peep.
And at first people think, well,maybe the weather delayed them
(06:07):
a few days, or maybe they changed upthe route a bit at the last minute.
Remember Igor told Yuri before they parted
that even he thought that they wouldn'tmake it back by the 12th.
February 20th comeswithout any word from the hikers.
Their families start to pleadwith the authorities at this point
to send out search teams convincedsomething has gone
(06:29):
terribly wrong out there.
So the first rescue groupsconsisting of volunteers,
studentsand teachers are sent out on the 20th.
By the 26thwith still no word from anybody,
the army and police forcesbecome involved with planes
and helicopters being orderedto join the rescue operation.
After days spent slogging through subzero
(06:51):
temperatures and endless snow- finally, a discovery.
In a clearing at the base of the mountain.
the searchers spot something - a shock ofcolor against the icy wasteland.
It's the group's tent, still pitched.
But as rescuers rush closer,the scene only deepens the dread.
The tents been ripped open from the inside
(07:13):
with no sign of the nine outsideor anywhere nearby.
It appears as if the team had hastilyfled, wearing
almost no gear or protectionfrom the bitter elements.
Searchers are baffledby the chaotic scene of disorder
and the reckless, illogical escapefrom the tent,
Abandoning their stove, shoesand everything else?
(07:37):
A chain of eight or ninesets of footprints wearing only slacks
or a single shoe or even barefootcan be seen that lead down towards
the edge of the woods almost a mile awayor one and a half kilometers.
But at that point, they covered with snow.
Keep in mind that at the timethe hikers are thought to flee their tent,
(07:58):
the temperature is just below zeroor 20 below Celsius,
and that's not factoring in any wind.
Once the icy wind touched their skin,delirium would have set in within minutes.
At the forest edge under a largeold cedar,
the search party findsthe remains of a fire
(08:18):
along with the first two bodies,those of Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri
Doroshenko lying side by side, shoelessand dressed only in their underwear.
On February 27th,between the cedar and the tent,
the searchers find IgorDyatlov and Zina Kolmogorova.
And six days later, on March5th, Rustem Slobodin.
(08:41):
The three seem to have died in posesand locations,
suggesting that they were attemptingto return to the tent.
Five comrades are now accounted for.
A medical examination found no injurieswhich might have led to their deaths,
so it’s concludedthat they had died of hypothermia.
But four are still missingsomewhere out in that icy abyss.
(09:03):
Could any of the remaining fourstill be clinging to life out there?
Maybe they escaped together beforethe brutal elements could take them.
Searchers cling to this last feeble
hope as they continuecombing the endless pines and ravines.
But they find nothing.
No sign of the other four hikers.
(09:24):
In the days following the abandoned tent’sdiscovery, the search party perseveres
in combing the area of Kholat Syakhlfor survivors or remains.
Spotter planesscan the endless forests and ravines,
to no avail, as rescuers on footsystematically widen their search area.
On May 5th, they make a ghastly find.
(09:48):
The final four bodies,They're found under 12 feet
or four meters of snowin a ravine, 150 feet
or 50 meters farther into the woodsfrom the cedar tree.
These four are better dressedthan the others
and clearly had the presence of mindto know that they were in trouble
(10:08):
and did everything they couldto preserve themselves,
because they're wearing clothes
that belonged to some of the otherswho were apparently already dead.
But they managed to dig outa den in the snow
and line it with branches in an effortto keep themselves warm.
And some of the clothestaken from the bodies
underneath the cedar treewere placed on the cedar branches.
(10:32):
So they knew they were in trouble, butthey were certainly working the problem.
But the examination of these four bodies
changes everything.
Alexander did die of hypothermia,but his eyebrows are missing.
And his body has turneda grayish, greenish, purple color.
(10:54):
But the other three did not.
Their bodiestell a completely different story.
A story we are still trying to figure outto this day.
These three all have fatal injuries.
Nikolai’s skull is totally shattered
and both Lyudmilaand Semyon's ribs are smashed laterally.
(11:18):
So not like a blow to the frontor the back, but more like
they were squeezed from the sides.
According to one of the forensicexperts, the force required to cause
this kind of damage would have been
extreme, really high, like a car crash.
But none of the bodieshad any external wounds.
(11:39):
It's like they were hit withsome kind of massive pressure wave.
Lyudmila is missing her eyesand her tongue
and has ten broken ribs,four of them in two places.
Semyon's eyes are gone, too,and he has five broken ribs -
all of them in two places.
(12:01):
skull is smashed with such forcethat an attack from another
human is ruled outbecause humans can't hit that hard.
Yet not even a bruise or cut on his scalp.
It defies logic.
No animal attacks like thisor scavengers like this.
And there's no external woundsoutside of Alexander's missing eyebrows.
(12:24):
It's like some powerful outside force
systematically destroyed themfrom the inside out.
Even stranger,the four are neatly buried side
by side, under the snow,almost as if deliberately arranged.
The government totally fails to identify
any rational causefor the horrific mutilations.
(12:46):
The families beg for answers,but all the medical experts
and investigatorskeep coming back empty handed.
whatever did this left no measurabletraces besides the devastated bodies.
And there are so many more anomaliesthat I haven't even touched on.
Messed up DNA, connections to the KGB,
(13:09):
radioactive clothing,missing axes and knives.
Eyewitness testimony that says that he sawthe first two bodies covered over
with the blanket, obviously postmortem,and that the KGB staged the scene.
Testimony that government officialswere quietly taking
an overly active interest in the case
while at the same timepressuring investigators to shut it down.
(13:33):
If you are interestedin a deep dive on this,
I highly recommendvisiting DyatlovPass.com.
I will put a link to it in the listof sources in the description below.
Oh my God.
It is a wealth of information.
So many details and whatnot.
(13:53):
I couldn't even begin to dig into it all.
But let me know if you would like meto do a deeper dive video in the future.
So with the whole country watching,the Soviet authorities
are under massive pressureto explain what happened.
But they have zero answers.
Finally, after months of fumbling around,they throw up their hands and declare,
(14:16):
“...it is concluded thatthe cause of their demise was overwhelming
force, which the hikers were not ableto overcome.” Nice non-answer.
The families scream, cover up, demandingmore evidence, but the government sticks
firmly to the “natural phenomena”line and seals off the area.
Records get locked down.
(14:37):
Physical evidence is declaredtotally off limits.
The Kremlin absolutely shuts downany deeper
digging into this thing Until 2019.
In 2019, Russian authoritiessuddenly re-open the investigation,
saying they'll utilize modern scienceto crack the case once and for all,
reigniting sparks of hope that maybenow we'll get some real answers.
(15:01):
The bodies get exhumed for new autopsiesand testing.
DNA analysis to confirm identities,which it kind of does.
Scans check radiation levels.
Again, nothing anomalous.
But the core questionssurrounding the shocking injuries?
All the examiners ultimatelyshake their heads,
saying the original autopsy datastill stands.
(15:23):
After all the hype, the 2019-2020 inquest
just kind of fizzles out and peters awayinconclusively.
No single theoryfully explains all these freaky facts.
So short of a bombshell confession,this is as close as we may
ever get to what actually happenedon that lonely pass.
(15:43):
honor of the nine doomed hikers,the site of the incident
is formally named Dyatlov Passin the early 1960s.
A memorial plaque is latererected at the pass to commemorate
the fateful eventsand pay tribute to the victims.
And Yuri Yudin,the hiker who stays behind,
lives with the mysteryof what happened to his comrades
(16:06):
for over 50 years until his death
in 2013 at the age of 75.
His name is then added to the memorialof his fallen friends.
Now, of course, there are tons of theoriesas to what happened.
Who can resist that?
So let's take a look at the list,starting with the easiest ones.
(16:28):
Avalanche.
A slide
crushing the tent causes the team to panic
and rush out into the frigid nightunprepared.
Well, the tent wasn't buried in snow,and there's no
evidence of a large debris fieldthat would come from an avalanche.
Also, there has never been an avalanche
recorded on that slope.
(16:51):
Animal attacks.
There are no external wounds,
prints,or typical attack patterns evident.
I'm sure some of the post-morteminjuries are likely caused
by scavengers, but not the major injuries.
And the Mansi people calledthat mountain Death Mountain
because there are no animals up there.
(17:14):
Attacked by tribespeople theory.
some have theorized that local tribalgroups like the Mansi might have ambushed
the hikers, seeing their presenceon the peaks as disrespectful.
But the Mansi generally avoided contactwith outsiders rather than attacking them.
And there are several footprintsin the snow
showing a calmand orderly evacuation of the tent,
(17:36):
not a frenzied defensefrom attacking forces.
Plus, you'd think a human ambushwould leave more obvious,
traumatic wounds instead of the creepy,
bloodless precision stuff we see here.
With no history of violenceagainst strangers
and no tangible indicationsof a tribal attack.
(17:56):
It's pretty unlikely that the Mansi wenton some random rampage.
Secret weapons testing theory.
Some theories think that the Sovietmilitary could have been running
secret operationsin the remote Urals that went haywire
and killed the hikers - maybe testingsome experimental ray gun or sound weapon
that accidentally amplified to lethallevels.
(18:19):
Could explainthe freakish internal damage, at least.
But no records show the USSR
conducting any classified testsin that area back then.
And while there is radiationdetected on a few articles of clothing,
the radiation levels on the bodieschecks out normal too,
ruling out exposure from a nuclear mishap.
(18:42):
You'd think if the governmentwas responsible, they'd cover it up
by any means necessary - not do a sloppyinvestigation, leaving weird clues.
While it's possiblethat the KGB still hides details.
Nothing directly pointsto a deadly military accident
in the mountains that night.
Katabatic winds theory.
(19:04):
Some researcherspropose fierce katabatic winds,
which are winds of high density airthat get pulled
down the side of a mountain dueto gravity, that these winds
may have swooped downthe slope that night,
frightening the groupinto fleeing their tents.
These powerful gusts can reachhurricane speeds
(19:24):
and could have damaged the tentand whipped up a frenzy.
Additionally,infrasound waves at frequencies
below human hearingcan induce panic and hallucinations.
The alleged windstorm may have generated
these disturbing sub-audible vibrations.
Together, the deafeningwind and disorienting infrasound
(19:47):
could have sparked irrational terror,luring the hikers out
improperly dresseduntil they succumbed to hypothermia.
However,some point out that winds typically
leaving visible damagewhich was missing at the campsite.
infrasound alone cannot accountfor the catastrophic injuries
(20:08):
found in some of the hikers.
Could both kayabatic gustsand infrasound have contributed
to the confusion and poor decisionsthat doomed the group that night?
Sure.
But those forces certainlydon't cover every base.
Yeti attack theory.
Now, giventhe remote location, I'd be remiss
(20:30):
not to address the legends of the Yeti,possibly lurking in those mountains.
Some have proposed it was one of theseelusive creatures that savaged the hikers.
And it is truethat sightings have persisted in the area
over the years- enough that we can't completely rule out
some giant primate roaming the Ural snows.
(20:52):
Many believers have pointed to
this photographas evidence of the creature in the area.
I, for one,believe this photo is just a blurry image
of one of the hikers dressed for the cold.
But if the rumors of such a creatureare true,
it certainly would havethe horrendous force necessary to inflict
(21:14):
the rib and skull fracturesseen on some of the bodies.
But just like the animal attack theory.
Where are the signs of a struggle?
UFO Encounter Theory.
There are documentedreports of orange orbs
floating in the sky in a townjust 50 miles from where the hikers were.
(21:34):
And some injuries, like Lyudmilamissing her eyes and her tongue,
sure are reminiscent of injuriesincurred in animal mutilation
cases reported around the world.
But what would make them leave their tent?
If they're in the tent,they wouldn't see any UFOs
or even orange orbsfloating around in the sky.
(21:55):
Something would have had to come to themand make them leave the tent.
But again, no other footprints of any kindare found anywhere in the area.
Psychic or paranormal phenomena.
There has been some speculation
that some kind of psychic paranormal forcewas responsible - like maybe
(22:17):
a malevolent spirit or vortexof dark energy descended on the campsite,
triggering irrational panicand luring them to their gruesome
At this point,I guess anything is possible.
It would explain why they fledso frantically without a clear threat
and the lack of measurablephysical evidence at the scene.
(22:39):
But without hard scientific proof
or any evidence of any kind,
this one's just wild speculation.
Now, herewe come to the latest and greatest theory
that might just be the bestcandidate of them all.
The Slab Avalanche Theory.
Alexander, Puzrin of the SwissFederal Institute of Technology in Zurich,
(23:04):
who has studied slab avalanches,and Johan Gaume of the Snow Avalanche
Simulation Laboratory at the SwissFederal Institute of Technology
in Lausanne, used computer modelsto recreate the event
by using the animation code from the movie“Frozen”, they modeled the movement
(23:24):
of the snow, given the conditionspresent on the mountain that night.
First, the hikers cut into the snowto level an area for the tent,
and the resulting vertical wall helpsto shield the tent from the wind.
Common practice at that time.
But according to this theory,the hikers do not realize
that under the toplayer of snow is a layer of sugary snow
(23:48):
that can move with much less frictionthan other types of snow.
Then the katabatic winds come into play.
The winds are coming downthe side of the mountain and likely
bringing all the snow from the topof the mountain down to the bottom
and depositingat least some of it right above the tent,
(24:08):
increasing the weight on that toplayer of snow.
At some critical mass point,the weight of the top layer
gets to be too muchand the sugar snow gives way,
sending that top layer off the edgeand on to the tent.
And since it's only the top layer of snowthat comes down,
you don't see the large debris fieldassociated with a normal avalanche.
(24:32):
Crash test data from General Motors isthen used to simulate
an avalanches impact on humans.
The researchers show that a block snowno bigger than an SUV
can cause the resulting injurieswhen it rams into the tent.
The victims with chest and head injuriessurvive for a time before succumbing
(24:54):
to their wounds, which coincideswith what the computer models revealed.
Pretty good theory.
It's definitely plausible and coversa lot of the bases,
but I'm still not convinced.
Rib fractures?
Sure,they're probably sleeping on their sides.
Nikolai. Skull fractures?
That I don't know about.
(25:15):
skull fracture patternlooks like more of a localized hit
than the wider spread pressure of heavysnow.
But, okay, let's go with that.
Then it stands to reason that oncethe snow hits, they cut themselves
out of the tent with the uninjured onescarrying the injured.
But if they're all lined upin the same tent,
(25:36):
why don't they all sufferfrom these catastrophic
And not all experts
agree that there were katabaticwinds on the mountain that night.
I don't know.
It certainly comes the closest,but I don't think it covers everything.
So 60 years later,what do we make of this whole mess?
Well, here's the frustrating truth.
(25:58):
No single explanation, normalor paranormal,
perfectly fits all the crazy facts.
Even with new theories,the story endures over the decades.
As one of Russia'smost iconic unsolved mysteries.
That perfect mix of creepy discoveries,
macabre clues,and utter bafflement at the end.
(26:21):
I mean, just look at the cultural ripples.
Books, movies, podcasts and more.
Dissecting the puzzle from every angle.
Tourists and amateur web sleuths flockto the pass, trying to find something,
anything, the tiniest, unfound cluethat could bring light to this craziness.
(26:42):
True crime junkies and paranormalenthusiasts can't get enough.
It's totally part of the modernfolklore now.
Sixty years later,the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
draws us still with the memorials that beg
the living, never to forget the dead.
(27:03):
In the end, what lingers most across
the decades are the faces of those nine
shining youths,full of spirit, snuffed out too soon.
the secrets of
Dyatlov Pass may never be unearthedfrom that snow covered mountain,
but our quest for understandingthe strange and unexplained never ends.
(27:27):
the world of the unknownhas even more to offer.
Because the next thrilling mysteryis just the tiniest click away
- in this special video right here, chosenjust for you.
Why risk regret by passing it up?
Go on.
Click it.
And as always, be careful out there
and I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
(27:52):
Thanks for tuning into The InBetween Podcast.
Enjoy the full visual experiencewith me over on YouTube.
Just search for @TheInBetweentales.
I'm Carol Ann,and until next time, be careful
out there.
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