The mysterious death of a gaggle of tourists within the Urals (the Dyatlov Pass incident) has turn into for our contemporaries the mystery of the century.
However, there have been other skiers within the USSR who died in mysterious circumstances. But details about them has not turn into so widespread.
Orlov Group in Transbaikalia: 4 killed
Mikhail Orlov's group was not a tourist group. It included two young biologists: Mikhail Orlov and Sergei Konkin; they were each 25 years old, each graduated from the University of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), and each were in love with the Siberian taiga.
The scientists were accompanied by an worker of the Sokhondinsky Nature Reserve, 28-year-old Igor Bakholdin and his wife, 27-year-old Tatiana Terekhova. The couple got here from the world and knew the taiga well. They lived and worked within the Ingoda cordon and decided to accompany the scientists to the village of Kyra and rejoice the New Year with their son, who lived together with his parents.
On December 24, 1981, Igor Bakholdin radioed information that the group was moving to Byrkykht's winter quarters. This was his last message. The route was easy – 16 kilometers along a worn-out ski track. The places are beautiful: across the mountains.
The temperature was also right. The only difficulty on the route were the Byrkykhtyn-Yang Mountains, which, just like the Ural Mountain of the Dead, had a foul fame. The Evenks believed that an evil spirit lived there.
The day before, the primary group of scientists set off along the identical route with the identical task – recording animal tracks – and safely reached the winter hut. No one was frightened about Orlov's group. The guys were young, athletic and nobody had any chronic diseases.
However, neither on December 24 nor on December 25, Orlov's group went to Byrkykht's winter quarters, where colleagues from the primary group were waiting for them. On December 27, this person was reported missing in Kyru; The search began on December 28. On December 29, rescuers discovered that on the Byrkykhtyn-Yang Pass near the Arshan spring, Orlov's group turned across fresh snow towards the storks.
While walking along the ski trail, searchers found skis stuck within the snow, an unloaded gun stuck within the snow with the barrel raised, scattered backpacks, and even further – the bodies of Konkin, Terekhova and Bakholdin.
Moreover, Konkin was found lying a meter and a half away from the backpacks, Terekhov a meter and a half next to him, and Bakholdin was found 26 meters down the slope. Konkin's body was fully clothed. Tatyana was missing her hat and one glove, and Bakholdin had his sweater pulled up over his stomach.
They were all in the identical position – on their backs, heads thrown back, eyes open, arms out to the perimeters – the pose typical of a chilly person.
Their faces were brilliant red, like burnt skin. Matches were scattered on the boxes of Terekhova and Konkin. However, no attempt was made to guard against the cold – warm clothes remained in backpacks.
Mikhail Orlov was found only on January 3, 1982 – his body was seven hundred meters from his companions. He froze to death, curled up in a ball and buried his face within the snow. The examination showed that of the 4, only he drank a small amount of alcohol on the day of his death, which, nonetheless, couldn’t have influenced his behavior or death.
Terekhova's and Bakholdin's clocks stopped at 5:27 p.m., Konkin's clocks stopped an hour later, at 6:27 p.m., and Orlov's at 7:59 p.m. From the place of death of the group to the winter hut there have been only two kilometers – 10 minutes of skiing.
During conversations with residents, the investigator learned that they consider this place dangerous: they are saying that certain “phenomena” occur in charred areas – people find it difficult to breathe, they lose consciousness.
The reason behind death of three members of the group, nor its circumstances, have never been determined. The pathologist wrote down the official word: hypothermia. During the investigation, it was found that Orlov was the just one who fought for his life until the tip. The rest simply didn't have time for anything. It remains to be unknown what killed them.
Romanov Group within the Polar Urals: seven killed
Let us recall that the primary logical reason behind death of tourists under Dyatlov's leadership was the collapse of a small avalanche – a heavy ice board, which injured the tourists and drove them out of the tent.
A bunch of tourists from MEIIS led by Oleg Romanov faced an analogous death in February 1982 on the Medvezhiy Stream within the Polar Urals. On February 6, seven skiers went missing; they began their search on February 19, but after an extended search they were found only on July 8.
As it turned out, Romanov's group deviated from the route and left the 129th kilometer from the railway station to the Ledopadny pass. Unable to address this, the hikers went down the slope a little bit to Bear Creek and arrange two tents under the blowing snow, digging holes in them.
Here they were all found without delay: seven bodies with injuries typical of Dyatlov's group. The victims' watches showed the time 1:10. Officially, all of them died within the snowfall. There are also many unofficial versions, from thermobaric weapon (vacuum bomb) tests to UFOs.
Kuznetsov Group on the Kola Peninsula: 10 killed
This tragedy occurred in January 1973 within the Lovozero tundra on the Kola Peninsula. On January 25, a gaggle of ten skiers from Samara left the village of Ilma along a route of category II difficulty.
The group was led by an experienced tourist, Mikhail Kuznetsov. Samara intended to cross the Elmorayok Pass, reach Seydozero, climb the plateau, and carve a route through the mountains.
The first dead were found by accident: a gaggle of tourists leaving Ilma a couple of days later noticed a hand protruding of the snow on the mountainside near the Chivruay Pass – it was the body of the group's leader Kuznetsov.
The bodies of 4 more tourists were found next to him. The seek for the remaining five lasted 4 months. Later, enthusiasts recreated what happened as best they may.
Most likely, on the primary day, skiers crossed the Elmorajok Pass and spent the night on the river of the identical name. The next day the group hiked 20 kilometers to Chivruay Pass and at dusk went up, lost their way, emerged onto the Mannepahk Plateau and stopped on a cliff of the Kitkuai River, where Kuznetsov split the group, sending half of the skiers to reconnoitre and staying with the opposite half of the group.
Five scouts managed to seek out their way down and in turn also split up: two went to tell Kuznetsov and three went down. They all died. For some reason, the skiers who remained with Kuznetsov didn’t arrange the tent, but simply unfolded it, lay on top and froze.
Two returnees, Alexander Novoselov and Lidia Martina, failed to achieve Kuznetsov inside 120 meters. They didn't have enough strength. A storm was raging on the plateau, wind gusts reached 50 m/s, the temperature dropped to -30.
The tourists who descended scattered across the valley and froze, and one among them, Ilya Altshuller, fell into the abyss. All this happened on January 27 between 4 and five within the morning.
It seems that the expedition leader's mistakes are obvious. But relatives of the victims are still haunted by doubts. Why did Kuznetsov lead the group to the pass in deteriorating weather conditions and practically after dark? What or who took the skiers first up the mountain after which down?
Why didn't Kuznetsov pitch a tent? When G. Shapkin's group found themselves in an analogous situation here in 1965, it was the tent that allowed the tourists to survive. Kuznetsov couldn’t have been unaware of this.
The mystery of this story is added by rumors that the criminal case regarding the death of tourists has been kept secret, in addition to the indisputable fact that in 2019, Viktor Voroshilov, a resident of Nizhny Novgorod, was killed. He independently investigated the circumstances of the group's death, and on the eve of his death, he interviewed rescuers involved within the search. He believed that external circumstances led to the tourists' deaths.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
