Mountain Otorten is located in the Northern Urals. You can get there on foot from the abandoned village of Ushma (100 km from Ivdel) through.
The pass and the nearby Mount of the Dead are notorious for the fact that in 1959, tourists from the Dyatlov group tragically died there. What is known about Otorten? One of the most competent researchers of the Northern Urals, Alexander Matveev, claims that this name, established on the map at a height of 1234 m, is erroneous. In fact, the Mansi call this mountain Lunt-Khusap-Syakhyl, which translated means “Mountain of the Goose Nest”.
The fact is that the southeastern slope of this mountain is steep and drops off to Goose Nest Lake, where the Lozva River originates. According to Mansi legend, during the Great Flood, a single goose was saved in this lake, and Otorten from the point of view of the Mansi, this is a completely different mountain - 1182 m high, located several kilometers northeast of the peak of 1234 m. And the name Otorten itself is changed beyond recognition by Vot-Tartan-Syakhyl, i.e. " Mountain blowing the wind"
Fragment (about 7 min) of the TAU film "Mystical Campaign 2 series"
In 1999, exactly 40 years after the tragedy of the Dyatlov group, tourists from the same UPI under the leadership of Sergei Markov decided to repeat their route. They called their journey "Mystical Trek". The film in 2 episodes can be found and watched on YouTube.
The Markovites set out on the route on the same dates at the end of January and, having climbed the Dyatlov Pass, they even tried to find the site of the Dyatlovites’ tent as accurately as possible. We set up camp and spent two nights at this place. From February 1 to 2, the night when the tragedy occurred exactly 40 years ago. This time everything went well. The next day, the guys made a radio bridge with Yekaterinburg, examined the surrounding area, found a cedar tree, near which the Dyatlovites allegedly tried to escape and nailed an icon to it, honoring the memory of the victims. Then Markov’s group went to Otorten. While climbing Otorten, tourists saw an unusual atmospheric phenomenon - the Halo effect.
Daughters of Otorten. Mansi legend.
In the b/w photo we are on Otorten on a hike 3 k/s 1989 (Dyatlova-Otorten-Manpupuner-Torre-Porre-Iz-rafting to Ust-Unya)
Once upon a time lived in these places a young shepherd named Otorten. He had a bow and sharp arrows, and he was known as a brave man and a strong man. He knew the habits of animals and could talk to the wind and birds. He was cunning and dexterous. So he lived completely alone until finally, while walking along the Tosemya River, he met a beautiful girl with lake-blue eyes, who was also tender and slender. It looks like the river Tosemya turned into a girl. She shouted to him: “Hide, Otorten! The Siverko wind is flying behind you! Come to me, hide under the shore, I will cover you!” And Otorten turned into a large stone, and the murmur of the waters of the Tosemya River caressed him. And then two streams formed, as if their two daughters: Pechora and Vishera. Year after year they expanded and finally they said to their father: “Let them go free!”
Otorten became stern and threw off the stones, chaining his daughters in stone cliffs. A couple of years passed like this. The geese flew in and said: “We don’t have enough water!” And geese are sacred birds among the Mansi people. And Otorten relented and said to his daughters: “Okay, I’ll open my stone shoulders and let you out, let there be a lot of fish in you, let forests grow along the banks and let geese and other birds swim and build nests on you.” The daughters were delighted, escaped into the open space, and flowed through the meadows. They did not know that their father had two other daughters - Lozva and Sosva, but they were on the other side of the mountain. Her father probably loved Sosva more and gave her a strange fish - the famous Sosva herring. There is nothing like it anywhere else. Well, that's about it.
Many articles have been written about the tragedy on Mount Otorten, and a film has been made. Experts from various fields are still wondering what happened on February 1, 1959 on one of the slopes of the mountain, the name of which is translated from the Mansi language quite unambiguously - “don’t go there.” For young, healthy people eager to fight, this name is akin to a spell. The mountain, where the ancients did not advise going, still attracts people to this day. Experienced and novice climbers correspond in forums: I’ll go, take the ninth one. Then, at the end of the 50s of the last century, there were also nine climbers. They started from the village of Vizhay, Sverdlovsk region, and local residents did not fail to talk about nine Mansi hunters who died on the cursed mountain. The Komsomol members only laughed at the superstitions. And let's go.
High terrain with low frequencies
It is noteworthy that ten people had to go. But just before the start of the hike, one of them felt ill and left the route.
Mount Otorten is located on the border between the Komi Republic and the Sverdlovsk region. From the conquest of this peak, a group of students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute planned to begin a hike in the Northern Urals. Today, Mount Otorten has two more names - unofficial: “Mountain of the Dead” and “Dyatlov Pass” - in honor of the leader of a group of tourists who died here in 1959. This is what evidence from the materials of the prosecutor's office, declassified 40 years after the deaths of the tourists. “Having used the daylight hours to climb to “peak 1079” in conditions of strong wind, which is common in this area, and low temperatures of about 25-30 degrees below zero, Dyatlov found himself in unfavorable overnight conditions and decided to pitch a tent on the “1079” slope “So that in the morning of the next day, without losing altitude, we can go to Mount Otorten, which was 10 km away in a straight line.”
After the tourists did not get in touch, several rescue teams were organized. It was possible to discover the camp of the Dyatlov group only three weeks later, on February 26. “The group’s tent was discovered with all its equipment and food. The location and presence of objects in the tent indicated that the tent was abandoned suddenly, simultaneously by all tourists, and the leeward side of the tent was cut from the inside in two places, in areas that provided free exit for a person through these cuts.
Below the tent, for 500 m in the snow, there are well-preserved traces of people walking from the tent into the valley and forest. An examination of the footprints (there were 8-9 pairs of them) showed that some of them were left by an almost bare foot (for example, in one sock), while others were left by felt boots. “No signs of a struggle or the presence of other people were found either in the tent or near it.”
The tracks of people running along the mountainside diverged and converged in such a way as if the fugitives were blind or completely disoriented. A forensic medical examination established that several people died from the effects of low temperatures (frozen), while none of them had any bodily injuries, except for minor scratches and abrasions. However, the death of three victims occurred as a result of many severe injuries (fractured ribs, depressed fracture of the skull bones).
Some researchers blame infrasound for the sudden panicked flight and death of the guys from Dyatlov’s group. It turns out that the aurora produces low-frequency electromagnetic waves. It has been established that when a person is exposed to infrasound with frequencies close to 6 Hz, the pictures created by the left and right eyes may differ from each other, the horizon begins to “break,” problems arise with orientation in space, inexplicable anxiety, and fear.
Exposure session
There is much that is mysterious and incomprehensible in the evidence about the death of the Dyatlov group. For example, some rescuers who went out to search for the group claimed that the skin of the corpses was “an unnatural purple or orange color.” This, as well as the strange flashes in the sky observed at the same time, confirms the “rocket version”. It lies in the fact that at this time secret tests of new weapons were being carried out in this area. They killed the tourists. Supporters of the version of a UFO encounter also refer to the same facts.
However, doctor Maria Ivanova Salter, who helped with the autopsies of the dead, says that in fact the skin “was just dark, like that of ordinary corpses.”
One of the researchers of the death of the Dyatlov group, Evgeniy Buyanov from St. Petersburg, is extremely skeptical about these fantastic assumptions. According to his version, the tourists were forced to leave the tent by an avalanche that “drove” through it. The exit from the tent was filled with things, so we had to cut it in order to quickly get out and, fleeing from a new avalanche wave, head towards the forest. There, lacking equipment and the ability to start a fire, some of the guys died from hypothermia. Several people died from their injuries. “The nature of the injuries of all participants, especially Dubinina and Zolotarev,” explains E. Buyanov, “directly points to the mechanism of compression, and not simple compression, but impulsive. A mass of snow rolled over them and went down. And the static weight of the snow residue was already less, otherwise they would not have been able to free themselves and would quickly suffocate...” E. Buyanov’s version, it would seem, completely clarifies the situation. However, as one of the pieces of evidence to support the “avalanche version,” the researcher cites a photo taken at the scene of the tragedy. In the photograph, behind a tent crushed by snow, some dense foggy formations are clearly visible - light and dark. Most of all, it resembles a photo from a haunted house.
The fog has not cleared
E. Buyanov's version, however, raises doubts. On the one hand, the death of tourists is, of course, tragic, on the other hand, at all times many people have become victims of a sudden avalanche. But usually the circumstances of their death were not hidden. What really happened if all the results of the investigation into the tragedy were classified for forty years? The already mentioned doctor M.I. Salter spoke about the autopsy of the bodies of the dead, which was carried out in a closed hospital. Then a certain military man, turning to Doctor Prutkov, whom Salter was assisting, asked to remove her from the premises. Maria Salter, who did not have time to really see anything, was required to sign a “non-disclosure and non-discussion of the incident” agreement. And they didn’t even show one of the bodies; they immediately took them to Sverdlovsk.
Criminologist L.N. Lukin, who took part in the investigation, recalls what surprised him most in 1959: “When, together with the regional prosecutor, I reported the initial data to the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU A.S. Kirilenko, he gave a clear command - to classify all the work. Kirilenko ordered to bury the tourists in nailed coffins and tell relatives that everyone died from hypothermia.” The experts' conclusion noted that the examined clothing samples contained a slightly overestimated amount of radioactive substance.
And on February 18, 1959, that is, even before the dead tourists were discovered, a note entitled “An Unusual Celestial Phenomenon” appeared in the Tagilsky Rabochiy newspaper. It reported: “At 6:55 a.m. local time yesterday, a luminous ball the size of the apparent diameter of the moon appeared in the east-southeast at an altitude of 20 degrees from the horizon. The ball was moving towards the northeast. At about seven o'clock a flash occurred near it and the very bright core of the ball became visible. He himself began to glow more intensely, and a luminous cloud appeared near him, bent towards the south.
The cloud spread over the entire eastern part of the sky. Shortly after this, a second flash occurred; it looked like a crescent moon. Gradually the cloud grew larger; a luminous point remained in the center (the glow was variable in magnitude). The ball moved in the east-northeast direction. The highest altitude above the horizon – 30 degrees – was reached at approximately 7:05 am. Continuing to move, this unusual celestial phenomenon weakened and blurred. Thinking that it was somehow connected with the satellite, they turned on the receiver, but there was no signal reception.” This information was signed by the Deputy Head of Communications of the Vysokogorny Mine A. Kiselev. This note echoes the story from the investigative case of meteorological technician Tokarev: “On February 17, at 6:50 a.m., an unusual phenomenon appeared in the sky - the movement of stars with a tail. The tail looked like dense cirrus clouds. Then this star freed itself from its tail, became brighter than all the stars and flew away, gradually beginning to swell. A large ball was formed, shrouded in haze. Then a star lit up inside this ball, from which a small ball was first formed, not so bright. The large ball gradually sank and became like a blur. At 7.05 he disappeared completely. Moved from south to northeast."
So far, there are many versions, from completely skeptical to fantastic. But none of the researchers over the past 10 years have come closer to solving the tragedy that occurred 50 years ago.
In the Urals there is Mount Otorten (in the Mansi language - Kholat Syakhyl, Mountain of the Dead). It got its name because of a long-standing tragedy, when nine Mansi found their death on its peak... And on February 2, 1959, on the slopes of the mountain, under mysterious circumstances, death overtook a group of tourists. By a strange coincidence, their number was also nine.
A group of students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by an experienced leader Igor Dyatlov, went on a hike. We had to go through a route of the third category of difficulty (according to the sports classification of mountain tourist routes of those years, this was the highest category of difficulty).
The lack of news from Dyatlov's group for several weeks caused alarm, and several search expeditions were sent along the route of the departed tourists, and then teams of soldiers and officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, planes and helicopters of civil and military aviation.
The prosecutor's report states:
“On February 26, on the eastern slope of “peak 1079,” a group tent with all equipment and food was discovered. The tent and everything that was in it were well preserved. The location and presence of objects in the tent (almost all shoes, all outerwear, personal belongings and diaries) indicated that the shelter was abandoned suddenly, simultaneously by all tourists, and, as was subsequently established by forensic examination, the leeward side of the tent, where the tourists were located heads, turned out to be cut from the inside, in two places, in areas that provided free exit for a person through these cuts.
Below the tent, for 500 meters, traces of people walking into the valley and into the forest are well preserved in the snow. An examination of the footprints (there were eight to nine pairs of them) showed that some of them were left by an almost bare foot (for example, in one sock), while others were left by felt boots. No signs of a struggle or the presence of other people were found either in the tent or near it. 1500 meters from the tent, at the border of the forest, the remains of a fire were found, and near it, the corpses of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko, stripped to their underwear. 300 meters from the fire, towards the tent, the corpse of Dyatlov was discovered, another 180 meters from him - the corpse of Slobodin, and 150 meters from Slobodin - the corpse of Kolmogorova. The last three corpses are located in a straight line from the fire to the tent. Dyatlov was lying on his back, with his head towards the abandoned shelter, his hand clasping the trunk of a small birch tree. Slobodin and Kolmogorova were lying face down, their posture indicated that they were crawling towards the tent. Money and personal items (pens, pencils, etc.) were found in the pockets.
A forensic medical examination established that they died from the effects of low temperature (frozen); none of them had any bodily injuries, apart from minor scratches and abrasions. Slobodin had a crack in his skull, but he died from cold. 75 meters from the fire, towards the valley of the fourth tributary of the Lozva River, under a layer of snow of 4-4.5 meters, the corpses of Dubinina, Zolotarev, Thibault-Brenol and Kolevatov were discovered.”
A variety of assumptions have been put forward regarding the death of young people: poisoning, a ball lightning strike, the harmful effects of some gases, rays, etc. One version says that perhaps the tourists ended up in an area where secret tests of vacuum weapons were being conducted. The fact is that the victims had a strange reddish tint to their skin, internal injuries and bleeding. The same symptoms should be observed when injured by a vacuum bomb, which creates a strong vacuum of air over a large area. At the periphery of such a zone, a person’s blood vessels burst from internal pressure, and at the epicenter the body is torn into pieces. The version of a nuclear explosion was also analyzed. But nuclear tests in the atmosphere were not carried out on Russian territory at that time.
The most plausible version is the explosion of a rocket, possibly with a nuclear warhead. Many eyewitnesses testify that rockets flying in the sky were not uncommon in those parts in the 50-60s of the last century. By the way, subsequently, not far from the place of death of Dyatlov’s group, in the remote taiga, several duralumin fragments were found (one of them is kept in the editorial office of the newspaper “Uralsky Rabochiy”).
Alas, none of the hypotheses put forward to explain the tragedy have ever found official confirmation. Despite a detailed investigation into the circumstances of the case and all the efforts of journalists and enthusiasts, the mystery of the terrible events of half a century ago still remains unsolved.
One of the biggest mysteries of the Urals is connected with Mount Otorten (in the Mansi language - Kholat Syakhyl, “Mountain of the Dead”). The surrounding areas are forested - deserted and deaf. Frosts in winter reach 50 degrees, and deep snow makes approaches difficult. But local hunters rarely come here for another reason: the mountain has a bad reputation - people often died here. It got its name because of a long-standing tragedy, when nine Mansi died at its peak.
To the old disastrous glory was added a new one. On February 2, 1959, on the slopes of the mountain, under mysterious circumstances, death overtook a group of tourists. (By a strange coincidence, their number was also nine.) They were all healthy young people who had gone on mountain hikes more than once. A variety of assumptions have been put forward regarding the death: poisoning, a ball lightning strike, the harmful effects of some gases, rays, etc.
In the brief information of the “Encyclopedia of the Unknown” there are the following lines: “One of the assumptions is that the hikers entered the area where secret tests of vacuum weapons were being carried out. The fact is that the victims had a strange reddish tint to their skin, internal injuries and bleeding. The same symptoms should be observed when injured by a vacuum bomb, which creates a strong vacuum of air over a large area. At the periphery of such a zone, a person’s blood vessels burst from internal pressure, and at the epicenter the body is torn into pieces. None of the put forward versions have been confirmed.”
But everything secret, even if it does not receive a clear solution, sooner or later lifts the veil. In connection with the tragedy on the Mountain of the Dead, a prosecutor's investigation was launched, but for reinsurance or for some other reasons the authorities remained classified. The journalists turned out to be more persistent in their search, but they were also slow to move towards the solution. Only forty years later, after the materials of the prosecutor’s office were declassified, it became possible to finally gain at least some understanding of what happened.
A group of students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by an experienced leader Igor Dyatlov, went on a hike through the Northern Urals. We had to go through a route of the third category of difficulty (according to the sports classification of mountain tourism routes of those years, this was the highest category of difficulty).
Why did tourists go to the top of Otorten? (It is located in the northernmost part of the Sverdlovsk region, on the border of the Komi Republic and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.) Perhaps they were attracted by the mysterious history of the mountain, which followed from the stories of hunters, and even the translation of the name itself - don’t go there. This is what emerged from the investigation materials.
Having used the daylight hours to climb to the top of “1079” in conditions of strong wind, which is common in this area, and low temperatures of about 25–30 degrees below zero, Dyatlov found himself in unfavorable overnight conditions and decided to pitch a tent on the slope of “1079” so that in the morning of the next day, without losing altitude, we could go to Mount Otorten, which was 10 km away in a straight line. One of the cameras contains a photo frame (the last one taken), which depicts the moment of digging up snow to set up a tent.
Taking into account the frame density, we can assume that the installation of the tent began around 5 pm on February 1st. A similar photograph was taken by another device. After this time, not a single record or photograph was found.
The text further states that the lack of news from Dyatlov’s group for several weeks caused alarm and several search groups were sent along the route of the departed tourists, and then teams of soldiers and officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, planes and helicopters of civil and military aviation. Among the search engines was Sverdlovsk journalist Yuri Yarovoy. What he saw on the slope of Otorten made such a deep impression on him that immediately upon returning to the city he sat down to write a story on this tragic, mysterious topic. It was impossible to document what happened, and the author moved the action to another place and time, of course, changing the names. The then Soviet “optimistic” censorship did not allow a tragic ending.
But the prosecutor's materials were documented in detail. On February 26, a group tent with all equipment and food was discovered on the eastern slope of Peak 1079. The tent and everything that was in it were well preserved. The location and presence of objects in the tent (almost all shoes, all outerwear, personal belongings and diaries) indicated that the shelter was abandoned suddenly, simultaneously by all tourists, and, as was subsequently established by forensic examination, the leeward side of the tent, where the tourists were located heads, turned out to be cut from the inside, in two places, in areas that provided free exit for a person through these cuts.
Below the tent, for 500 m in the snow, there are well-preserved traces of people walking from it into the valley and into the forest. An examination of the footprints (there were 8–9 pairs of them) showed that some of them were left by an almost bare foot (for example, in one sock), while others were left by felt boots. No signs of a struggle or the presence of other people were found either in the tent or near it. 1500 m from the tent, at the border of the forest, the remains of a fire were discovered, and near it, the corpses of Doroshenko and Krivoni-shchenko, stripped to their underwear. 300 m from the fire, in the direction of the tent, the corpse of Dyatlov was discovered, another 180 m from him - the corpse of Slobodin, and 150 m from Slobodin - the corpse of Kolmogorova. The last three corpses are located in a straight line from the fire to the tent. Dyatlov was lying on his back, with his head towards the abandoned shelter, his hand clasping the trunk of a small birch tree. Slobodin and Kolmogorova were lying face down, their posture indicated that they were crawling towards the tent. Money and personal items (pens, pencils, etc.) were found in the pockets.
A forensic medical examination established that they died from the effects of low temperature (frozen); none of them had any bodily injuries, apart from minor scratches and abrasions. Slobodin had a crack in his skull, but he died from cold. 75 m from the fire towards the valley of the fourth tributary of the river. In Lozva, under a layer of snow of 4–4.5 m, the corpses of Dubinina, Zolotarev, Thibault-Brenol and Kolevatov were discovered.
Next comes a description of the clothes of the dead, and the time of each stopped watch is noted. And, what is even more significant, for the four dead, as was established by autopsy, death occurred as a result of multiple bodily injuries (fractured ribs, depressed fracture of the skull bones). All these protocol details are important in view of the subsequent conclusion and new questions that have arisen.
“An investigation carried out on February 1 and 2, 1959 in the area of Height 1079 did not reveal any other people except Dyatlov’s group of tourists. It has also been established that the population of the Mansi people, living 80-100 km from this place, is friendly towards Russians, provides tourists with overnight accommodation, provides them with assistance, etc. The place where the group died is considered unsuitable for Mansi in winter. hunting and reindeer herding. Considering the absence of external bodily injuries and signs of struggle on the corpses, the presence of all the group’s valuables, and also taking into account the conclusion of the forensic medical examination on the causes of death of the tourists, it should be considered that the cause of the death of the tourists was a natural force, which the tourists were not able to overcome.” . The text was signed by the prosecutor-criminologist Ivanov and the head of the investigative department Lukin.
Let us note this inexplicable elemental force. Let us turn to the press of those days. It turns out that on February 18, 1959, a note entitled “An Unusual Celestial Phenomenon” appeared in the Tagilsky Rabochiy newspaper. It reported: At 6:55 a.m. local time yesterday, a luminous ball the size of the apparent diameter of the moon appeared in the east-southeast at an altitude of 20 degrees from the horizon. The ball was moving towards the northeast. At about seven o'clock a flash occurred near it and the very bright core of the ball became visible. He himself began to glow more intensely, and a luminous cloud appeared around him, bent towards the south.
The cloud spread over the entire eastern part of the sky. Shortly after this, a second flash occurred; it looked like a crescent moon. Gradually the cloud grew larger; a luminous point remained in the center (the glow was variable in magnitude). The ball moved in the east-northeast direction. The highest altitude above the horizon - 30 degrees - was reached at approximately 7:05 am. Continuing to move, this unusual celestial phenomenon weakened and blurred. Thinking that it was somehow connected with the satellite, they turned on the receiver, but there was no signal reception.
This information was signed by the Deputy Head of Communications of the Vysokogorny Mine A. Kiselev. For this publication, the leading comrades of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU announced a serious penalty to the editor of the newspaper. According to a long tradition, the party made sure that nothing distracted the Soviet people from heroic work and exceeding plans. And even more so if this is some kind of incomprehensible phenomenon. The situation in those years and in subsequent years was well conveyed by the phrase that A. Raikin issued from the stage (it even appeared on TV!): “As the party teaches us, gases expand when heated.”
Therefore, the searchers for the missing group in the area of Mount Otorten and the surrounding area turned not to meteorologists, seismologists or astrophysicists, but to the Sverdlovsk City Committee of the CPSU. Their telephone message was as follows: “03/31/59 at 4:00 in the south-east direction the duty officer Meshcheryakov noticed a large ring of fire that moved towards us for 20 minutes, then disappearing behind height 880.
And before that, a star appeared from the center of the ring, which gradually increased to the size of the moon and began to fall down, moving away from the ring. The unusual phenomenon was observed by many people who were alarmed. Please explain this phenomenon and its safety, since in our conditions this creates an alarming impression. Avenburg, Potapov, Sogrin.”
The Gorkomov comrades could not answer without consulting with the regional committee comrades, and they without coordinating their decision with the higher leadership. And valuable instructions were sent down.
Forty years after the case was closed, former prosecutor L.N. gave his testimony to journalists. Ivanov: “In May 1959, we examined the surrounding area of the incident and found that some young fir trees on the border of the forest seemed to be burned - these traces were not concentric or any other shape, there was no epicenter. This was confirmed by the direction of the beam or strong, but completely unknown, at least to us, energy acting selectively: the snow was not melted, the trees were not damaged. It seemed that when the tourists walked more than five hundred meters down the mountain on their own feet, someone dealt with some of them in a targeted manner. When the regional prosecutor and I reported the initial data to the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU A.P. Kirilenko, he gave a clear command - to classify all the work. Kirilenko ordered to bury the tourists in nailed coffins and tell relatives that everyone died from hypothermia.”
Ivanov further said that he then conducted extensive radiation studies of the clothes and individual organs of those killed. The expert opinion stated that the examined clothing samples contained a slightly overestimated amount of radioactive substance caused by beta radiation. But suspicions of induced radioactivity or neutron flux of rays were not confirmed. Geologists with radiometers carefully combed Mount Otorten and the surrounding area, and did not find any excess radiation.
They also analyzed the version of a nuclear explosion somewhere in this area; There were constant rumors about this among the local population. But nuclear tests in the atmosphere were not carried out on Russian territory at that time. Experts also rejected the assumption associated with a radioactive cloud coming from Novaya Zemlya, where nuclear weapons tests had been carried out since 1954. (The last nuclear explosion there was recorded on October 25, 1958.).
According to later recollections, it turned out that one of the participants in this campaign, A. Kolevatov, dealt with radioactive substances, and the other, Yu. Krivonischenko, worked in Chelyabinsk-40 and was near Kyshtym when a container with radioactive waste exploded there in 1957. So the radioactive dust on their clothes could have remained with them from those times.
When climbers or tourists die while hiking and climbing, questions naturally arise: what was the reason for what happened, who is to blame for the misfortune? As a rule, the investigation is carried out by both employees of sports organizations and law enforcement officers. But the incident at Mount Otorten was out of the ordinary. This is why all the evidence collected is so important.
Here is a story from the investigative case of meteorological technician Tokarev: “On February 17, at 6:50 a.m., an unusual phenomenon appeared in the sky - the movement of stars with a tail. The tail looked like dense cirrus clouds. Then this star freed itself from its tail, became brighter than all the stars and flew away, gradually swelling. A large ball was formed, shrouded in haze. Then a star lit up inside this ball, from which a small ball was first formed, not so bright. The large ball gradually descended and finally turned into a blur. At 7:05 he disappeared completely. Moved from south to northeast."
Similar information about the unusual movement of objects observed in the sky at that time was reported to the prosecutor's office by military personnel Savchenko and Atamaki, students of the geography department of the Sverdlovsk Pedagogical Institute. Lawyer L.N. Ivanov became interested in this matter not only because of his duty. Interest in “flying saucers” and mysterious objects was universal. In connection with this emergency at Otorten, Lev Nikitich began to study fireballs with increased attention. He collected information from many eyewitnesses about the flights and hovering of UFOs in the Subpolar Urals.
A thorough study of the case led to the belief that the cause of the death of tourists was the impact of unidentified flying objects. Ivanov reported his opinion to the regional committee, but from there came an unambiguous categorical instruction - not to develop the topic, to classify absolutely everything, seal it, hand it over to a special unit and generally forget about it. But 40 years later, the journalists of the newspaper “Uralsky Rabochiy” remembered this, among other information for reflection there was the following conclusion from everything meaningful: “I suppose it all happened like this. The guys had dinner and went to bed. One of them went out of necessity (there were footprints) and saw something that made everyone leave the tent and run downstairs. I think it was a glowing ball. And he finally overtook them, or it happened by chance, at the edge of the forest. Three are seriously injured. The file must include testimony from a forensic expert. In his opinion, it was something like a strong shock wave or impact, like a car accident. Well, then the struggle for survival began. Never have I seen a more striking display of courage, such a fierce fight for the lives of myself and my comrades. But strength breaks strength. I don't remember the names, unfortunately. The two who were found under the cedar tried to light a fire, climbed onto the cedar for twigs, and shreds of their skin and muscles remained on its bark. Their comrade, who had fallen behind due to illness, helped a lot. He knew who was wearing what and helped establish who was wearing what. All the clothes were mixed up. And they undressed the dead in order to save the living.”
Ufologists who analyzed what happened came to this assumption. It is possible that these tourists who ran out of the tent were blinded by the rays of the UFO. They experienced a feeling of horror comparable to what people experience during earthquakes: they cannot speak for tens of minutes. There are known cases when, under the influence of UFO rays, eyewitnesses deteriorate or lose their vision. Taking into account this version, the reason for the panicky flight of the guys from the cut tent becomes clear.
After some time after the shock, they began to come to their senses. The blindness they received from the rays disoriented them. Perhaps it began to pass for the stronger members of the group; they crawled towards the tent. But there was not enough strength to overcome the climb up the slope. The unnatural color of the skin of the dead also indicates the radiation received. Similar cases of burns and laser-like irradiations have also been observed when people come close to certain types of UFOs.
The tragedy on Mount Otorten is another reminder and warning to gullible contactees with messengers and aliens. Communicating with them or approaching them to observe UFOs turns out to be much more risky and unsafe than meeting random people and scammers.
It is now former prosecutor Ivanov who believes that the tourists were killed by a strong shock wave from an exploding UFO. Then he simply tore out the sheets with expert opinions that were not suitable for the spontaneous version (the experts themselves signed a non-disclosure agreement), classified the case and handed it over to the archives. And there was reason to show hypervigilance and official zeal. After all, the course of the investigation was controlled by Moscow itself, the Union and Russian prosecutors. Former Ural Worker correspondent G. Grigoriev claims that Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev himself was in the know. And the then second secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, Eshtokin, directly supervised the investigation: he listened to Ivanov’s reports and gave valuable instructions. These are the high officials who were involved in the death of an ordinary tourist group.
While searching for the reasons for the mysterious death, we also remembered the amazing phenomenon that residents of the north often encounter. In winter, during the long polar night, when the aurora appears, some people fall into a strange state. They are completely detached from the world around them, talking excitedly with an invisible interlocutor, swaying to the beat of the music they only hear. Often they move like sleepwalkers, without choosing a path, they leave home for the tundra. Having come to their senses after some time, people vaguely remember that they heard fabulously beautiful sounds and obeyed the North Star, calling them to the ancient land of their ancestors. The phenomenon was called “The Call of the Ancestors.”
There is a scientific explanation for the strange effect of the aurora on the human psyche. The culprit is, firstly, low-frequency electromagnetic waves produced by the aurora. Their range is 8-13 hertz, similar to the frequencies of the alpha and beta rhythms of the brain. Hence the irresistible desire of a person to merge with something more reliable than himself. Secondly, such a natural phenomenon as the aurora is accompanied by infrasound. It is indistinguishable by ear, but biologically active. The human brain and cardiovascular system perceive sound in the infrasonic range in a unique way, so the consequences for the body can be the most unpredictable. The existence of the “Flying Dutchmen” - ships without a crew - is precisely explained by the birth of infrasounds from storm waves. Under their influence, people experience incomprehensible fear and even horror, in panic they begin to behave in a completely unreasonable manner and ultimately abandon the ship. Maybe something similar happened to tourists in the Subpolar Urals in 1959?
There is another version that connects all the testimony and documentary evidence. Quite earthly, not anomalous, however, also from the category of secret materials. Some kind of rocket exploded in the air near the mountain where the group spent the night. Possibly with a warhead. This could explain the blast wave, the radioactivity, the strange skin color of the dead, and the mysterious glow in the sky - they say that such phenomena are also observed in the area of the Plesetsk test site during testing. However, it is still not possible to find out exactly whether any tests were carried out in that region.
True, many eyewitnesses testify that rockets flying in the sky were not uncommon in the 50-60s of the last century in those parts. Subsequently, not far from the place of death of Dyatlov’s group, several duralumin fragments were found in the remote taiga (one of them is kept in the editorial office of the Ural Worker).
The likelihood of such an explosion can be confirmed by military developments in the West reflected in the press in the 50s. In the description of tests of some types of weapons, there are details reminiscent of the 1959 tragedy at Mount Otorten.
That's all that is known so far about those events half a century ago.
Photo from a position 10-20 m above the tent on the slope. Approximately the same angle at 1017 in the modern photo (Timur in the photo)
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The Dyatlovites’ tent stood in the zone of white ellipses (or close to them) below the steep talus fault at the top of the spur - a zone of grassy mounds and steps. The center of the red circle is the place where Timur and Shura’s red flag was installed, 150 m from Sharavin’s tours along the slope. The center of the yellow circle is “Timur’s yellow flag” at one of the possible tent sites. The photographer’s position when taking a photo of the excavation of the tent is by all indications – in the area between the two red lines, and the tent is 10-20 m below. The lower white oval is the zone of the “crater” position in the photo of the search work. Even further to the left is a yellow ellipse – a red tape of adhesive tape on A. Koshkin’s fir, a red circle – “Sharavin’s fir” with a flag, red ovals – “Sharavin’s tours”
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I myself found the flag-marked points in the photographs and compared the photographs with my marks with the photos of Timur and Shura and came to the conclusion that the flag-marked control points coincided. The photo of Timur and Shura shows their own designations for these points. Point T10 VAB is, apparently, “the place of the tent according to Borzenkov” (Vladimir Alekseevich - hence the “VAB”). The circles in the photo are not very clear, but they can be seen when the photo is enlarged. Their photos indicate points T22 (yellow flag), T30 - the place where the pot and the “trough” of the fuzzy scree couloir were found. “Christmas tree with tape” is a fir with a “red ribbon”, marked by Sasha Koshkin.
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Morning preparations for departure
On August 7, our entire group was supposed to start going down in order to leave for Ivdel by car on the morning of the 9th, and by train to Yekaterinburg in the evening of the same day. There are two days left for the trip to Otorten – the 5th and 6th. Only Igor Ivlyaev expressed a desire to go with me. Having collected food and equipment the day before, we set out at about 10 a.m. on August 5th. Beyond the pass the road went slightly downhill, avoiding the scree below Mount Kholatchakhl. Then it climbs to the left onto the ridge west of the peak and smoothly climbs along the ridge towards Mount Otorten. We cut off the lowest section of the descent by crossing a stream flowing to the left from the slopes of Kholatchakhl. They collected water at the stream - higher up on the ridge, in a significant area, as I assumed, there is no water (of course, there is no forest on the ridge - it’s high here, and among this tundra there are only small fir trees). Having climbed the lintel to the west of the peak and passed a couple of ridges, we stopped for lunch. It’s so nice to relax after trekking and it’s a pleasure to cook on gas, on a compact burner MFX (Multy Fuel EX). A small pot boils instantly. But the soup still had to be boiled for 25 minutes before cooking.
Just as you “digest” food and “roll over on your side” at night, so will you “overcrowd”(truth of mountain tourists)
As soon as you sleep, eat and drink, you will climb the mountain, you vigorous louse!(truth of climbers)
The climb up the ridge is not steep. And although the sky was gloomy, there was no rain. The conditions for the transition were ideal: not hot and not cold. Cooking lunch. It's nice to take off your boots and walk on the moss in your socks... The last scree ridge of the ridge on the way to Otorten.
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To get to the lake, you need to go around it on the right, and right through it you can continue the ascent to Otorten along the southern spur. Behind the three ridges of the ridge, two more were visible, and behind them - the top of Mount Otorten. The road crossed the next ridge and before the last hill, behind which Mount Otorten was visible, it turned left, bypassing the stone screes on the slope of the ridge. We deviated along the road, although it was better to go around the talus hill (see photo of the “last ridge”) on the right and along the slope to the lake “Lunt-Khusap” - “lake of the mountain goose”, from which the Mansi name of Mount Otorten came from: “Lunt -Khusap-Syakhyl,” - “mountain near the lake of the goose’s nest.” The name on the maps “Otorten” comes from the name of another mountain “Ot-Tarkhan-Syakhyl” - or “the mountain from which the wind blows”, located a few kilometers from Otorten. The false name “Don’t go there” came, by all indications, from Ivan Sobolev’s article “Legends of the Northern Urals” in No. 11 of the magazine “Youth Technology for 2003.” It was possible to go around the hill on the left with access to the right onto a spur leading to Otorten. But we must take into account that there is no water on this path along the spur. The lake has water, and there are probably convenient overnight stops. Walking along the road is physically easier and simpler than walking on moss because the road is hard and fairly level. But the moss falls through, and walking on it for a long time with a backpack is quite tiring. The scree of the kurumniks is hard, but uneven, and walking on them requires care and accuracy. When it rains, the kurumnik stones become very slippery due to the wetness of the lichens that cover the stones. Everyone can choose their own path here, based on their “walking style” preferences. Because the slopes are not steep. Before the scree hill, the road passed through a depression with a swampy area - if you wish, you can get water from a stream here. Beyond the swamp, the road turned left and, after descending in a long arc, slightly to the right, it gradually climbed onto a side spur that separates the main source of the Elima River, visible below, from its right tributary, flowing west from the slopes of Otorten. After reaching the spur, we deviated to the right - towards the visible peak of Otorten. On the slope of the mountain spur we stopped for the night, choosing a flat place for a tent. At the crossing there was another swampy area with a small stream, where you can get water if you wish. To reach the large stream in the gorge, you have to go down about a kilometer and return back.
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Sunset view to the west
The top of Mount Otorten – view from the south. A group of large rocks is located on the eastern side of the peak (on the right in the photo), and on the west, on the lower part of the peak plateau, there is another group of high rocks (including the “Black Gate”) In the morning, after gathering along the slope of the spur from Otorten, we climbed to the top in just over an hour . To the right we came to the highest group of large rocks on the summit. They climbed the two highest rocks and left notes on the tours. There was no tour on the highest rock, and on the other high rock the tour was empty. The top of Otorten is a fairly flat plateau, covered with moss, with rock outcrops made of black rock. Its western part has a depression and there is its own group of rocks standing at some distance from the high, summit part. There is an interestingly shaped rock called the Black Gate. “According to legend,” a misfortune will happen to anyone who passes through them. In order to “deceive the tradition” we went through them both there and back. The “legend” regarding us, apparently, was that on the way back we got a little lost in the wrong direction.
At the top there was a strong wind blowing with a slight burning smell. We have not heard about any large local fires. Kuntsevich later told me that it could have been smoke from smoldering peat bogs in Yamal, which do not go out even in winter. And there was a strong haze over the mountains, which prevented us from taking clear photographs throughout the entire hike. The groups of rocks at the top had bizarre shapes - it’s worth looking at during inspection. They are not as large as the “boobs” of the Malpupuner plateau (up to 80 m high) - up to 20 m in height. After examining the summit rocks, we went down to the lower part of the western part of the mountain and examined the “Black Gate” rock. From the height of the ridge - a view of the endless distances of the mountains of the Northern Urals. The haze made it difficult to see at a great distance, especially to the north. But in the evening the views to the west were visible quite far away. To the south and north the main ridge is treeless, but at a lower altitude there are mountains under a green blanket of mixed forests. The highest point of the peak is the eastern summit rock of Mount Otorten (“Birds”) Large rocks of the peak of Otorten Rock “Black Gate”. For some reason she remembered Vizbor’s lines:
“Through the rocky “Wolf Gate” we walked along a high path.
There was something very gloomy about them, and I wanted to go and not sing...” This time we were often blessed with such forest “charms”...
On the way back we thought about cutting off part of the crossing, but at first the exit turned out to be a little “wrong”. I figured it out when I took the card out and had to go back. But then, nevertheless, they took a shortcut and went out onto the road. They also cut when going around Mount Kholatchakhl towards the pass. We reached the Dyatlov Pass in complete darkness, and descended to the camp with flashlights. We were very tired, but were very pleased. Bartholomew! Don’t wander around at night and don’t pretend to be a “holy saint”!.. Igor endured the difficulties steadfastly, although it was not easy for him. But it was easier for me simply because I had long been accustomed to such hiking “adventures.” He seemed to understand that “it’s not a sin to get infected with the romance of tourism,” and “it’s not a sin to go broke” on good equipment... It became clear to me that Dyatlov’s group needed at least one walking day to cross to Otorten. And the same goes for returning to their warehouse. And at least another half a day, or even a day, to reach the top. Especially taking into account the short duration of the winter day, and with our “summer schedule” in this regard we had more running time. Moreover, the Dyatlov group could have been seriously hampered by a strong headwind blowing on the ridge. In general, the ascent to Otorten during a winter ski trip was quite difficult and lengthy. And the “whims of the weather” here could significantly slow down and even disrupt this radial transition with a significant increase in wind. In general, in the open part of the mountains, Dyatlov’s group found itself in a situation of complicated hiking conditions, which required time, effort and caution. I got a better feel for the problems of their transition, albeit in the “lighter summer version” of the hike. Of course, we didn’t have any “special” problems on this route.
Supporters of heavy backpacks enjoy the weight of their shackles!
Let's storm the peaks with weights! Backpacks are our “chains”...
After visiting the museum, Margarita drove us in her car through the evening Yekaterinburg - as an experienced driver, I appreciated her great driving! The excursion turned out to be wonderful. I didn’t think that there was such a large historical museum of military equipment in Yekaterinburg. I involuntarily compared it with two other large and familiar open-air exhibitions in my native cities: in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Troops in Leningrad and the museum on the Hill of Military Glory in Saratov. All three exhibitions are very large, but the museum in Yekaterinburg is certainly the largest in terms of the number of large exhibits (standing outdoors) (and we did not see the internal exhibition of light weapons in the pavilion - the pavilion was closed).
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At the station in Ivdel 08/09/13: in the top row: A. Alekseenkov, S. Davydov, M. Cherepkov, Y. Shadrina, V. Vatto, in the middle row: T. Voskoboynikov, E. Buyanov, I. Ivlyaev, bottom row: D. Vedernikov, A. Gaisin, D. Antonov
Yes, maybe someone will think that everything we did was “mouse fuss.” But we were doing something that interests us. And we talked to people who were interesting. And thanks to this, such trips and research are possible. Drinking pleasure!..
Here is what I also jokingly wrote about “morons” on this path and after it:
“Bolvanam” (Otortena and Mulpupuner plateau)
Something very strange happened
Throughout the history of the Earth, -
When the cheerful "boobs"
They came to the “stony fools”, - The stars in the sky shone for us,
And warmed the light and warmth of the fires
The rocks sang songs to us
Crazy melody of the winds! "Bolvanov" friendly family
Got hooked in the evening in a crowd:
“Hello, “dummy” - pour some tea,
And sing Vizbor’s song to us!.. Strike the strings - don’t be sorry!
Let the song soften the stone
And our long “bench”
With their hearts knocking together, give me candy, gingerbread, waffle, -
Where are you going - explain,
And tell me a joke
And pour it into a glass of vodka! - “Stump-stone,” - and not a bit boring, -
“For millions of years” to stand like this, -
Cheeky is better than cheeky
Should I go on a hike and run away? - What should we do with such a fate -
Longevity is a crapshoot,
Stand on guard without “groaning”
If our life is a “wall”... But there are good neighbors here, -
To eat, drink and sing
Either dinosaurs or bears
They come to sit with us... Our guard is important for tourists, -
Friends to all visitors -
We are “stumps” - exotic landscape -
And you can’t live without it! It has “amazing” sunsets,
White outfits in winter -
You are given the destiny to walk, guys, -
And the “stumps” love the work: “Stop!..”
Buyanov E.V., MS USSR
28.07 - 10.10.2013
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