E. Buyanov - Mystery of the Dyatlov group death

Attempts of researchers who had even studied this "criminal case" to give an answer to the mysteries of the Dyatlov incident caused new questions which didn't explain the situation, and made it more and more confused. Each «answer» to the question which rose a new question wasn't the answer, and didn't yield a correct result. Publications didn't give answers to mysteries and only gave assumptions. «Rearrangement» of facts, evidence, indications of witnesses and «versions» like «solitaire» didn't make up an integral picture of them.

Quite a few rumors, assumptions and legends arose around this story. Dozens of articles and a couple of books are dedicated to it, – Yuri Yarovoy's story «Highest category of difficulty», a documentary basis of the female novel by Anna Matveeva «Dyatlov's Pass», Anna Kiryanova's mystical thriller «Sorni-Nye\s hunting», A.Gushchin's books «A state mystery costs nine lives» (1999) and «Murder at the dead mountain» are devoted to it. Ural television agency created a TV series «The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass». This tragedy is regularly mentioned in TV programs and articles about ufologic, abnormal, paranormal and mysterious events. In the book «100 great mysteries» a story about this tragedy is narrated by the head of «Death of detachment from the Ural Polytechnical Institute».

What was this «Dyatlov incident»? Was it an ordinary "natural disaster" of a tourist group or did it involve any “technogenic” factors like falling of missiles, weapon tests? Or did the tragedy grow out of a crime, a deliberate, or undeliberate one? Or did any abnormal natural phenomena take place? And did it contain any pages «closed» by the authorities made in order to eliminate "leakage of information" about any «secrets» or actions of the authorities?

The current narration is a documentary one, – it tells about Evgeniy Buyanov's initiative investigation, assisted by a lot of other people – skilled experts and professionals. Without this help, without work of researchers’ «collective mind» the investigation wouldn’t have been able to achieve success within foreseeable terms. This book offers our explanation of the course and causes of the Dyatlov incident and analysis of false facts and versions.

The results of investigation can be understood faster, easier and in a more interesting way if the way the researchers had gone through is stated. Therefore here we have not only results, but also the process of their search, the process of overcoming numerous errors, false facts and speculations. The course of investigation was inseparable from this fight against errors. It turned out that rejecting them is even more difficult, rather than explaining the incident events because without a denial they turned into significant rejections of the main version of events. Speculation and errors became «malicious aura» of the tragedy which drove investigation into darkness of misunderstanding, and false ways of search for a «crime» in a false manner.

We gradually approached to understanding of the course of incident through vision of causes and effects of preceeding, accompanying and following events leaving out both mysteries and false imaginations. Gradually «the main lines» of investigation were determined, – those directions of search which led to detailed understanding of separate important facts. Examples are investigation lines of «injuries», «fireballs», «radiation» and others. The narration is conducted along these «lines» of investigation which give answers to the questions put. But first the narration touches upon history of disappearance of the group and its searches, earlier unprecedented in terms of scale on the huge territory of about 300 square kilometers is briefly stated. Let's begin with it before providing answers to mysteries, and to explaining, why and how the incident occurred. So:

The Dyatlov group" Hibina" [1] Khibiny, or «Khibiny tundra» – a mountain area in the western continental part of the Kola Peninsula, well mastered by tourists and rich in minerals (Apatitovy ores). The group name was probably cast by dreams to make a route in this area in the future. made up of nine tourists from the UPI sports club has disappeared:

– fоur students, four graduates of the UPI (Kolevatov, Krivonishchenko, Slobodin, Thibaut-Brinyol) and senior instructor of the Kourovsko-Slobodskaya tourist base Zolotaryov – the only professional sportsman and veteran, order bearer in the group.

Another member of the group, – Yuri Yudin, – fell ill on the way and returned from the settlement of the Second northern mine, from where The Dyatlov group had begun an active part of their route. Yuri Yudin reported about his return to the university sports club and went to his relatives in order to recover on holiday.

According to the route plan the Dyatlov group was supposed to send a telegram from Ivdel about the end of their campaign till February 12th, and was to get back to Sverdlovsk till February 15th. But on February 15th the telegram didn't arrive, and the group didn't return. The first people to raise an alarm were Galina Radosteva, member of the UPI tourist section, and Igor Krivonischenko, Georgiy Krivonischenko’s younger brother. Radosteva tracked the progress of all tourist groups in accordance with journal entries in the low-grade route commission of the UPI (which could coordinate only routes of the first category of difficulty, but was controlling the passing times of all UPI groups). Igor and her went to the UPI trade union committee and insisted that a telegraph request should be sent to Vizhay asking if the Dyatlob group had been there and if there had been a telegraph message confirming the end of their route. Vizhay replied that the Dyatlov group hadn’t been back to Vizhay and no telegram had been sent. Yuri Blinov, head of the group of UPI tourists who had been travelling from Sverdlovsk to Vizhay together with the Dyatlov group, also raised an alarm. Here their routes had dispersed: Blinov's group went west to to the Molebnyi Kamen ridge and mountain Isherim (1331), and The Dyatlov group went northwest towards the Poyasovyi ridge and mountain Otorten(1182, but on th emaps from those years: 1234). Rimma, Sascha Kolevatov’s sister, Dubinina, Krivonischenko and Slobodin's parents were also disturbed.

Gordo, head of sports club, and Vishnevsky, head of physical education chair at the UPI, still hesitated for a day or two expecting the group to come back, since there had been delays of groups on the route for various reasons. On February 16–17 they communicated with Vizhay again, trying to find out whether the group had come back from the campaign. But loss of group and negative answers to inquiries in Vizhay and Ivdel definitely specified that with it something happened.

They began to investigate, where The Dyatlov group had gone to. It turned out that there was no copy of the route commission (RC) protocol and route book ("marshrutka") in the sports club. Dyatlov had issued protocols in the route commission and left them there and in the city sports committee. And he took three copies of the" RC" with himself (it was discovered later). The RC protocol was found, but it had almost no information about the campaign route.

Absence of route description first complicated the work of rescuers. Action was also slowed down because Maslennikov, a person who made a final approval in the RC, who was the first one to consider and approve the plan of Dyatlov’s campaign, was not found and involved in searches at once. Other members of the RC (Korolyov, Novikova, Ufimtsev) were not aware of the route in detail. Maslennikov learned about the disappearance of the Dyatlov group only on February 20th and starting from 21.02 through Ufimtsev he actively joined the searches in order to organize the work of rescuers. After his joining the action of rescuers staff became properly organized and directed. Maslennikov, who had graduated from the UPI in 1948, a party organizer and branch manager chief of the Top-Isetsk plant (producing steel for transformers), was «in the wrong place» both in terms of his tourist experiment, and his knowledge of the route of the Dyatlov group. And also in terms of moral responsibility he felt towards the group he had approved before the campaign. And finally in terms of his organizer experience – both in tourism and in production. The plant director let Maslennikov go from work on22.02.59 in order to help UPI rescuers.