Dyatlov Pass

The site of the Dyatlov group's deaths is a mountain pass in the Northern Urals, between Kholat Syakhl (1,096.7 m) and an unnamed peak of 905 m, in the Ivdel Municipal District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. Nine ski hikers led by Igor Dyatlov died here on the night of 2 February 1959. A tenth member of the group, Yuri Yudin, turned back early because of illness and became the expedition's sole survivor. In the Mansi language, Kholat Syakhl means "Dead Mountain" — a name the peak carried long before the hikers' deaths.

The search and the discovery of the tent

The group's route was reconstructed with help from Rimma Kolevatova, sister of hiker Alexander Kolevatov, who passed the hikers' plans on to rescuers. Search teams combed the area between Mount Otorten and Mount Oika-Chakur: on 23 February 1959 they found a fresh campsite in the Auspiya river valley, and local Mansi hunters confirmed the group had been heading from there toward Otorten.

On 26 February 1959, student Boris Slobtsov, hiker Mikhail Sharavin and Mansi hunter Ivan Pashin found the group's tent on the slope of Kholat Syakhl, half-buried in snow with one side cut open and torn. There was no one inside, but documents found in the tent confirmed it belonged to Dyatlov's group. Searchers spent several more months looking for the hikers' bodies; the last four were found only in May, under four metres of snow in a streambed.

Causes of death

The initial investigation ruled the deaths an accident caused by "a compelling natural force," without specifying what that force was. The lack of hard evidence has fuelled dozens of alternative theories over the decades, from an avalanche and a hurricane to man-made and supernatural explanations — these remain theories, never confirmed. In 2019–2020, Russia's Prosecutor General's Office reopened the case and examined three natural-cause versions; its official conclusion named an avalanche, after which the hikers, in the dark and with visibility of around 16 metres, could not find their way back to the tent and died of hypothermia in temperatures of about −40°C (Meduza, 11 July 2020).

The memorial plaque

A memorial plaque has stood on a large boulder at the pass since 1989, commemorating the group; the pass itself has been known as Dyatlov Pass ever since.

Getting there

The pass lies about 130 km from the town of Ivdel. Reaching it means camping in the taiga for several nights: first by car or train to Ivdel, then along forest roads through the villages of Vizhay and Ushma to the Auspiya river, and the final stretch on foot or skis across taiga and a treeless mountain slope. The trip takes several days, there is no mobile signal along the way, so hikers normally go in organised groups through tourist clubs and register with the Emergencies Ministry. Coordinates of the pass: 61°45′17″N, 59°27′46″E.