Expedition 2-12- July, 2025
24-07-2025
I'm happy to report that the expedition was a success in terms of goal achievement, and I'm starting to upload photos from it. Behind the scenes there are a lot of discussions going on about what we found and brought back from the pass. This includes tin cans, tin foil, rope, cartridges, tree cross section... The delay is not a result of procrastination, but my wish to spare you the anxiety of what it is in the photos. First, I want to confirm for myself. Samples have been submitted to Private Forensic Laboratory "Premium Expert" and Prof. Momchil Panayotov from the Dendrology Department of the University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria. Please bear with me, especially since the Dendrology expert requested more reference samples from the birch trees in the area and Aleksander Konstantinov, who is going to the pass in August said that he will try to bring back some, and then I need to get them in the mail and submit for analysis. Every time you feel impatient remember this is a 66 years old cold case and that we are only now trying to analyze samples from the site where the bodies were found. The problem now is not only how deep the 1959 items are buried, but how much modern junk is on top of them.
Yekaterinburg
The cemeteries
The three tags you see on the photos are for my top supporters. I promised to take their tokens to the Dyatlov Pass. They gave me the words to put on the tags. I thought they will give me their names but each of them, independently, gave me words that describe the lives lost. In the notebook are the names of the members of my group headed to the pass in couple of days. The idea is that they wanted to pay their respects to the graves but they didn't have the time, we were gathering on the train station and headed to Ivdel the same day. My flights was a couple of days earlier so I cane meet with some friends and comrades in Yekaterinburg, so I did the trip to both Mihaylovskoe and Ivannovskoe cemeteries on behalf of the whole team. Kolevatov's photo fell, not as a result of a vandalism. Aleksey Koskin from the Dyatlov group foundation has it, it just fell. Then Koskin had to be admitted in a hospital for a planned surgery. It will soon be replaced. The poem above Yuri Yudin's photo was torn down, presumed vandalism.
Ganina Yama
Visiting this holy place with Ayna, my friend painter, who goes to the Dyatlov Pass every year to recharge. I also brought with me the list of our group. Ayna will go to the pass in August, with a second group. The Romanov family were murdered in the Ipatiev's house. Then their bodies were dumped in Ganina Yama, only to be moved again to another location nearby called Romanov's Memorial. The Ipatiev's house doesn't exists anymore, it was demolished in 1977. After the Romanov's were canonized in 2000 the Church on Blood was built on its place, and the altar stands over the execution site. At the moment the bodies are buried at Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
Dom knigi
Today our store at Anton Valek, 12 was visited by Teodora Hadjiyska, author of the book "1079: The Overwhelming Force of Dyatlov Pass"!
The researcher arrived from Austria and dropped by the House of Books before her sixth expedition to the site of the mysterious death of the Dyatlov group.
Teodora signed her book and shared details of the mysterious story.
Source: https://vk.com/domknigiekaterinburg?w=wall-33375717_28661
Yekaterinburg-Passazhirskiy
Every expedition to the Dyatlov Pass starts on a overnight (19:23-8:02) train from Yekaterinburg to Ivdel. Most of the participants met for the first time. Two last minute additions from Moscow turn out to be very suspicious. Their names were different, equipment, manners, not your usual hiker. We named them KGB from the start. At the station we were closely monitored not to take videos and there was always someone watching.
Ivdel - Vizhay - Ushminka River - Izba v Kedrovnike
First encounter with the mosquitos and flooded roads. The enchanted forest with moss called Witch's hair (ведьмины волосы) and fungus – Witch's butter aka Yellow brain. The bearded "veil" on conifers (fir, spruce) is the so-called usnea lichen, or "witch's hair". They are less common on birches. As explained by the Ministry of Ecology of the Moscow Region, the presence of such "fringe" indicates that the air around is being purified. "These lichens are considered indicators of air purity. Where they grow, the air is the cleanest," the experts assure. By the way, "witch's hair" is used in modern pharmacology: antibiotics based on usnic acid, which has excellent antiseptic properties, are produced from them. So this "potion" is useful in every sense.
Bear country
Our group split into two. The more ambitious ones had plans to go to Otorten, so they pushed forward. Bears are roaming the forests of the Northern Urals. We constantly noticed their fresh tracks. What startled us was that we saw bear tracks on top of the tracks left by our friends. This meant that between them and us, the bears were walking along the road, stepping into the bushes when we approached, and watching us. But the exhaustion from dragging the heavy backpacks and some vodka made us fall asleep like a stone. And the weirdest realization - the sun never sets down in July in the Northern Urals. The nights are white. The last four photos from this sequence are taken in the dead of night. One essential piece of equipment, the headlight, turned out to be obsolete.
Dyatlov Pass
Each of the members of our group was carrying one tangerine for the Dyatlov group. The Otorten group didn't stop to place theirs so initially only 6 tangerines were photographed and they were gone the next day. I was explained that in the orthodox tradition the food on the graves is an offering for forgiveness that the visitors to the memorials can help themselves to. So it is ok that they disappeared, this is not disrespectful. Bikers and ATVs were swarming the Dyatlov Pass. The sky was foreboding. The tokens and Gates Nation's commemorative plate are hidden in the outlier. They are your connection to the Dyatlov Pass.
To Be Continued...
