Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident

If you dislike my review, then please feel free to write your own, but the following is my personal take on the book.

The book is written in workmanlike fashion, and almost overwhelms you with details, as well as Russian names that you cannot pronounce.

It is set against the backdrop of the cult-like, insular, and highly paranoid world of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The military had installations virtually all over the countryside. Some were secret, some not, but there appeared to be no limit to the number and kind of weapons systems they were experimenting with in order to get a leg up on NATO and the United States. Could this have somehow been a factor in the tragedy? Perhaps.

When you examine something like this, you need to avoid the two extremes: What I (and others) refer to as "know nothing skepticism", where you insist there MUST be be a "simple" explanation (there may not be). You also need to steer clear of wild speculation, where you assume there MUST be some paranormal, or extraterrestrial, "answer" even when there is no hard evidence for it. While the freaky and wholly inexplicable "light show" observed by other credible individuals in that same general area in would definitely be enough to seriously spook anyone, there is nothing to indicate the doomed hikers ever encountered it, or anything like it.

Three things - but little else - seem certain. The first is that none of the speculations as to what happened - however mundane or fantastic - seem to fit all the facts. That is part of what makes this story so captivating.

The infrasound theory is intriguing, but remains unsubstantiated. We can say that infrasound is capable of this, or that, but so what? Absent empirical evidence, it remains a somewhat plausible but unrprovable and to some extent inadequate scenario in my estimation.

The second is that whatever the perceived threat was, it was not likely viewed by the group as emanating from the forest below. Otherwise, it would have made no sense for them to descend the slope and attempt to find some cover at the treeline. Thus, the danger was probably either at - or approaching - the tent, or somehow above them; either in the sky, or higher up the hill. I have not personally seen anything that points to a Yeti - or any other animal for that matter, real or mythical - being involved in this. Tracks of such a creature would have been fairly evident. I suspect some people like the abominable snowman scenario because it would definitely provide the requisite fear level that could cause otherwise sane people to panic.

Lastly, whatever transpired, something extraordinary occurred that was bizarre enough to cause intelligent, experienced back country skiers to completely lose their wits and behave in an irrational way that essentially ensured their own destruction.

When you add up all the evidence, including the condition and location of the bodies when they were found, it really does appear that something quite strange and out of the ordinary took place here. Remember, this was not some clueless suburban family out for a weekend trip to the snow. These were fit, equipped, and capable people who knew exactly what they were getting into. Yet, they all perished under highly mysterious circumstances.

The fact that high ranking Soviets were so involved in the search - and that the government closed off the area for years after the incident - suggests the authorities knew (or at least thought they knew) more about what had actually happened than they were willing to admit publicly.

A enduring, genuine true life mystery and an entertaining read.

This book was solidly written and researched but breaks no new ground. There are some theories presented but over all it is worth reading but not enough to buy.

Keith McCloskey obviously spent a considerable amount of time on researching this book about the strange case of nine adventurers who died in Russia’s Ural Mountains in February 1959. His enquiries have taken him to Russia itself. Helpfully, the book contains maps, photographs, a timeline of the principal events (Appendix I), and an index, although the latter is rather thin. McCloskey gives biographical details about the deceased, and discusses the historical context. He also considers numerous theories about what actually happened. Some of them are very speculative, but I found them interesting nonetheless.

THE CORE STORY

Ekaterinburg or Yekaterinburg, formerly known as Sverdlovsk, is an industrial city to the east of the central Ural Mountains. On 23rd January 1959, 10 members of the Sports Club of the Ural Polytechnic Institute (UPI) in Sverdlovsk departed from the city for a hiking, ski-ing and camping expedition in the northern Ural Mountains. They planned to visit Mount Otorten (4,049 ft), which is about 340 miles NNW of Ekaterinburg/Sverdlovsk. On 28th January, one man dropped out of the trip on account of severe back and leg pain. He was fortunate, because his nine companions (seven men and two women) were to perish just days later. Judging from the ‘official’ account, on 1st February, before sunset, they pitched their tent on the eastern slope of a 3,540 ft mountain called Kholat Syakhl. They were apparently less than 1,000 feet below the summit, and nine miles to the SSE of Mount Otorten. (Maybe they’d unintentionally deviated from their planned route.) Later, something impelled them to abandon the tent hurriedly, by slashing their way out of it, not pausing to collect the necessary items for surviving in the bitterly cold weather. Indeed, it seems that some of them, if not all, exited without shoes or boots. They apparently descended towards the tree line in the pass to their east, which is now known as the 'Dyatlov Pass’, in memory of Igor Dyatlov, the leader of the ill-fated expedition.

The party were expected back in Sverdlovsk in mid-February, and Dyatlov was meant to send a telegram to the UPI, on 12th February, confirming that they were on their way. With no message being received and with the non-arrival of the group, anxiety grew about their wellbeing. Search parties were eventually organized. The group’s abandoned tent was discovered on 26th February. The next day, the bodies of four of them, including Dyatlov, were found. Another corpse was found on 5th March. In early May, the bodies of the remaining four were found, close to a den apparently made to try to afford protection from the severe weather.

Judging from the autopsy reports, some of the party had suffered severe injuries. The worst case was that of Lyudmila Dubinina. Among other things, she had broken ribs, and her tongue and eyes were missing.

THE CONTEXT

These events occurred during the Cold War. Russia was then part of a larger political entity, the USSR, and governed by an authoritarian, communist regime that went to great lengths to control the information reaching its citizens. McCloskey notes (p. 119) that even as late as the 1970s, crashes of commercial passenger aircraft in “Russia” (he probably means the USSR as a whole) were seldom publicized. Therefore, if the authorities didn’t want the public to know the full facts concerning the fate of the Dyatlov group, it’s quite likely that there would have been a cover-up.

DOUBTS ABOUT THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT

The book gives reasons for questioning the standard or ‘official’ version of what happened to the Dyatlov party as summarized above. The case became the subject of a criminal investigation. Interestingly, the front of a case file, which became available after the fall of Soviet communism, indicated that the inquiry had opened on 6th February 1959. That’s odd, because it wasn’t until nearly a week later that someone from the Dyatlov group was supposed to send a message to the UPI, saying that they were returning. In other words, if the investigation really was opened on 6th February 1959, ‘officialdom’ must have known, at an early stage, that something bad had happened to the group.

THEORIES

McCloskey considers a wide range of possible explanations for the tragedy. Most of them are couched in prosaic (i.e. non-paranormal) terms. For instance, the Dyatlov party may have fled from their tent, thinking that they were about to be engulfed in an avalanche. That would explain the lack of footwear and adequate clothing. However, it wouldn’t satisfactorily explain the strange injuries that some of them, such as Lyudmila Dubinina, sustained.

The book discusses the possibility that some sort of accident occurred involving the military (e.g. parachute-borne air mines being blown off course and descending outside an intended test area). Indeed, McCloskey adduces evidence for the notion that the tent, bodies and belongings of the Dyatlov group had been moved to the eastern slope of Kholat Syakhl, to help cover up something that had happened elsewhere. For example, a photograph of the tent, taken immediately after its supposed discovery, suggested that it had been set up differently from the way that the Dyatlov group would have assembled it (pp. 135-136). At any rate, McCloskey (p. 202) concludes that, in all probability, the deaths resulted from some sort of accident caused by the military.

Chapter 8 of the book sets out what could be called a UFO- or paranormal-based theory, proffered by a Yury Yakimov: the ‘light set’ theory. Indeed, the bulk of the chapter is a translated and condensed presentation in Yakimov’s own words. One night in September 2002, he encountered some unusual light phenomena, which he subsequently discussed with a Valentin Rudkovsky, who’d had a similar experience one night in late August of that year, albeit in a different location. The two men found that looking at the lights attracted their attention. Yakimov suggests that the Dyatlov group encountered this phenomenon, but he proposes, conjecturally (given that neither he nor Rudkovsky apparently suffered any serious physical injury during their experiences), that the ‘light set’ could direct harmful energy emissions at anyone who looked at the lights. He suggests that some of the Dyatlov group were injured in this way, which induced the party to abandon their tent, to get away from the danger. Had they known, they could have avoided injury simply by not looking at the lights. Yakimov suggests that after they descended to the tree line, they may have refrained from lighting a big, warming fire, because they feared that it would attract further unwelcome attention from the dangerous lights. However, in Yakimov’s view, although the ‘light set’ would respond to a human glance, it wouldn’t have reacted to the light of a campfire.

PROBLEMS WITH THE BOOK

I noticed a few typos and grammatical slips, although they don’t seriously affect the readability of the book. However, some passages are unclear. For example, on p. 116, there’s a section headed ‘The lair of the golden woman’, which refers to some sort of study (yet-to-be-published, at the time of McCloskey’s writing) by two other researchers. But McCloskey gives so little detail that the section is virtually meaningless. On p. 122, McCloskey refers to a couple of bombers that flew “north-west” from a base south of Kiev (Ukraine) to the northern Urals. He should have said “north-east”. On p. 126, he suggests that the Dyatlov group was at “high altitude”. However, even if they’d been on the very summit of Mount Otorten, they would hardly have been at high altitude, since it’s a mountain of very modest height.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

Despite its minor flaws, I found this book a compelling read. In my view, McCloskey has successfully amassed a lot of interesting information and speculation about a very intriguing mystery. Sadly, though, given the passage of time, I doubt whether we’ll ever know for sure what led to the tragic deaths of the Dyatlov group.

Very interesting. I like the fact that the author views different angles of the possible cause of these horrific deaths.

Great book. Most info I've found on the subject

Read of this incident and find it very tragic indeed these young people just starting out there lives to have it cut short way to soon, not in agreement of the authors ultimate opinion at the end of the events that ended there lives it is still an interesting book.

One of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century==must read all the books available to get perspective.

Never solved!

Not as good as Dead Mountain.

A true tale of mystery and death in the mountains of Russia. Still - - - the mystery has yet to be solved . . .

A rehash of sorts - lots of information that I had already seen on TV. They simply do not know what happened, and even though there is lots of information there is no definitive explanation just opinion after opinion. A bit gory here and there. Save your money and check out a UTube.