testimony:
«…Starting from the tent at the distance of 30–40 m …clear, well distinguishable human foot traces were found. These traces extended by parallel lines close to each other, as though people went, clinging to each other. The lines of traces stretched in some kind of two directions, – we counted 6 or 7 pairs of traces in the direction from the tent downwards, into the hollow, and more left from them, at the distance of 20 m there were 2 more pairs of traces. Then these traces (2 and 6–7 pairs) got together in 30–40 m and didn't disperse any more. The traces disappeared on stone ridges, and below the stones they appeared again, and then were lost. The traces were well distinguishable. It was visible in some traces that a person went either barefooted, or in one cotton sock since toes were left printed. Owing to pecularities of winds traces are well preserved in mountains, and they are visible not in the form of deepenings, but in the form of eroded columns, – snow under traces is condensed, pressed and not blown, and round the trace snow is blown out. Under the influence of sunshine the snow trace hardens even more and remains intact the whole winter. Below all the traces one trace in a boot was visible. The heel and a sole part were very well printed, and the medium part wasn't printed. All the traces led in the direction of the wood which began on the right in the hollow. There a little bit later the corpses were found…».
Tempalov's testimony:
«Beneath the tent on the slope at the distance of 50–60 m from us I came across 8 pairs of human traces which I carefully examined, but they were deformed in view of winds and temperature fluctuations. I didn’t manage to determine the 9th trace (it is underlined – a comment) and it was lacking. I took photos of them. They went downward from the tent. The traces showed me that people walked at a normal pace down from the mountain. The traces were visible only on the 50th meter site, there were no more traces farther as the lower you go down from the mountain the more snow there is. At the bottom of the mountain a small river with the depth up to 70 sm flows as though from a ravine in which the snow depth reaches from 2 to 6 meters thick in places.
It is possible to notice that Slobtsov, Sharavin, Karelin Tchernyshev, Tempalov's testimony should be trusted, as they were the first who saw the traces, – their observation isn't distorted by change of the traces the next days (as well as by the «false» traces left by the searchers and disappearance of these traces because of aeration).
The difference in the traces, seen in the pictures, on different parts of the mountain should be also taken into consideration. In many respects the nature of traces was defined by snow depth and its condition, – it is different in different parts of the mountain. In some places snow cover was absolutely thin, – for example, on stone ridges. And in other places the snow depth was considerable – over 2 m. Sometimes, on thick snow, the traces were in the form of «platforms» (columns) made of condensed snow. For formation of such a trace snow should be pressed through on a firm crust with consolidation which also occurs even after load removal. Then deepening of a trace was swept up partially or completely by fresh snow, and later all fresh snow was blown off from the trace on the crust and the «platform» from the condensed snow was bared which looked like a sastrugus on a firm crust. At violation of these conditions the platforms of traces weren't formed or didn't remain on other parts of the mountain. There were traces-holes (dents) in some places. The heavy snowfall could destroy completely all the traces, but it didn't fall out for 25 days before arrival of the rescuers, as it was noted by Maslennikov. Therefore the traces remained. The existence of traces – «platforms» definitely states that before arrival of the rescuers 20–30 sm of fresh snow was blown off by the wind on top parts of the mountain. In the last pictures of the Dyatlov group one cannot see that dense crust on which Slobtsov and Sharavin walked to the tent and which is visible in the photo of the place of tent excavation.
Traces – «platforms» down from the tent
Trace of soce and «trace» of «boot»
It becomes clear from the searchers’ statement about the traces that the Dyatlov group after their exit from the tent receded approximately 15–20 m down from it, there they gathered and lost some small things (slippers, hats). Here «the traces were settled down closely». Then 6–7 people went down in a rank. It seems that two of them went down 40 m separately (separately or together) before or after that, and then changed the direction of movement a little and joined the main group. The attentive analysis of the traces shows that there was an organized retreat by a dense group, but in any way it wasn’t the Dyatlov group’s chaotic «panic» flight from the tent. After all they would run up in different directions, dispersed, or went separately at the «panic», unaccountable flight.
The criminalists looked for the traces of the crime and at first they didn't understand, why the tent was cut and torn. They assumed that the attack was made on it. But the witness, invited by the inspector, – a professional seamstress, – said that three cuts on a slope are made with a knife from within, and not from the outside. After that the tent was given to the skilled expert Churkina who confirmed the seamstress’s evidence. Apart from many ruptures, the tent had three knife cuts from within on the external slope, 32, 89 and 42 cm long. It became clear that the tent was cut by the Dyatlov group, not by strangers.
Cuts (No. 1,2,3) and ruptures of the tent, – page from the criminal case protocol
After the analysis of rupture arrangement we came to the conclusion that 42-cm-long Cut #3 could be continuation of 89-cm-long Cut № 2, – a piece of fabric was absent between them. On all grounds this long cut passed over a fold of the lateral slope of the tent crushed by snow. A short 32-cm-long cut, probably, was the first unsuccessful attempt to cut the tent. The cut was made with a knife, but the knife was set against the tent folds, then they began to cut along the fold, but further the cut went too low. Therefore they made a new cut along the tent fold, having started it much higher. Two pieces of the slope are obviously pulled out by force, and the medium part of fabric between the extractions remained. The parts of the ruptures coming out of snow appeared uncombed, – they were blown about violently by the wind for a long time. The tent also had a roof crack along the back side of the external part of the slope and a crack of the internal slope of the roof at the entrance (where the fur jacket was pressed into the slope).
Unsuccessful searches of four members of the Dyatlov group continued up to the beginning of May until snow melted on most parts of the slope of Mount Holatchakhl. The Moscow tourist- masters Bardin and Shuleshko advised to stop the searches before snow melting, leaving only a small group of searchers at the place of accident. But from above, from the regional executive committee it was ordered not to stop the searches! The groups of mountain-climbers came there to replace the tourists (Kikoin's group arrived on March 6), so did the group of military personnel, and new tourists. The outskirts of the place of accident were unsuccessfully «combed» several times and explored by probes.
From the Dyatlov group’s diaries it became clear that a day before the accident they came out to the Lozva and Auspy's watershed (nowadays it is the Dyatlov pass), but met a strong western wind here «just the same as when a plane takes off». For an overnight stop they went approximately 1 km down in the Auspiya's valley and spent the night in a wood zone, in the heat. They warmed the tent, stoking the furnace. Next day they built a warehouse to lessen the weight of their backpacks at the radial exit towards Mount Otorten. At the beginning of their campaign this load was still considerable, and male backpacks weighed over 30 kg. Discharge for 60 kg allowed the group to reduce this weight by 5–6 kg. After a storage construction in the afternoon the Dyatlov group moved towards Mount Otorten along the slopes of Mount Holatchakhl. But they walked a little, – about 2 km. The group stopped on the slopes of a northern spur of Mount Holatchakhl.
Why
