Boris Slobtsov 2014

Question: Boris Efimovich, there is one point in your testimony. You said that there was a belt under the cedar. Who it belonged to - no one knew. Was it really a belt or maybe it was some other part? Yudin was asked about it and he said that it did not belong to anyone in the group. If it was a belt with lanyards that are worn on the body, then the question arises - what could have been in this belt?

BS: I don't remember.

Question: Boris Efimovich, you yourself went on a lot of hikes, did you come up with anything with clothes to hide something? Did you sew on inside pockets, for example?

BS: No.

Question: Whose clothes were they more often – their own or taken from the hiking club?

BS: No, from the very beginning we sewed and made them ourselves.

Question: Did they try to have everything of their own? Because Vladimir Askinadzi said that there were generally big problems getting anything from the hiking club, that there was nothing special there...

BS: There simply was nothing.

Question: But then quite a lot of things from Igor Dyatlov's group were returned to the hiking club...

BS: Well, that's something very primitive. These green jackets are 100 years old. There were no shoes at all.

Question: What were ski boots like back then? They didn't have modern bindings, did they?

BS: No, why not? Back then, there were already normal ski boots with bindings.

Question: With a nose like that in front with holes?

BS: Yes, with holes.

Question: But the group didn't have rigid bindings, did they? They could wear any kind of footwear. They say Krivonischenko wore felt boots...

BS: Yes, that was true.

Question: How did you walk? What kind of footwear? What was more comfortable?

BS: Real boots. I had older brothers who got into hiking much earlier. I took something from them.

Question: Wasn't it cold? They were thin.

BS: The size was bigger. And not even under socks, we wore fur ones... leather and thin fur... such fur boots. Like burkas.

Question: Many people say that it was hard to ski on the pass, that they took them off and walked...

BS: It was hard to ski... When Sharavin and I went, we started skiing from the pass. It was okay until about the middle. Sharavin was moving his binoculars... sometimes he was looking through the binoculars, sometimes I was looking through the binoculars. And the first time he saw something similar to... an object resembling a tent... (ed. note - Sharavin doesn't remember any binoculars)

Question: Did you see it by chance?

BS: No...

Question: Did you not get the impression that Pashin, the guide who was from Ivdel, knew where he was taking you?

BS: The guide... when we saw from the pass an as yet incomprehensible object resembling a tent... Sharavin saw it, gave me the binoculars... And this guide... What did you say his last name was, Pashin? So. We were still just kids - in our third year. We were 19 years old then. Maybe we were young and stupid? After that, I gave up hiking, after that story. Not because I was scared... I went into mountaineering, got a master of sports, etc. I have several medals - for the best ascent of the season and so on. I got carried away, what were we talking about?

Question: Did you ever get the impression that the guide was deliberately pointing you to the tent?

BS: No, no, no.

Question: Probably by chance? After all, you were looking and found it?

BS: No. I clearly felt it then, and I never changed my opinion later, that he realized that things were getting hot here... He is twice our age, a local, experienced. And when... he looked through the binoculars...

Question: So he did look through the binoculars? Or are you together?

BS: Yes, when we were standing at the pass.

Question: Did he go on wide skis with skins (kamus) or narrow skis?

BS: Yes, such... wide skis. And he, you know, somehow... Both Sharavin and I understood that he did not want to go, afraid that something unpleasant would happen there for him, well, and for us. So he said: "you know, I'll wait for you here". We agreed: "okay, okay"...

Question: What time was it approximately? Was it already the second half of the day or the morning?

BS: No... not morning. It was daytime.

Question: It was always interesting - you come to the tent, quickly realize that there is no one there...

BS: We did not understand anything! I'll get ahead of myself a little... even when we saw all this... a normal person... immediately realized that, well, things are bad. For us, well, at least for me, as we told everyone later and wrote in the book, we thought someone twisted his ankle... And he's hiding out somewhere. How can anyone hide for 22 days? When we, for better or worse, still looked at the contents of the tent. Everything was there! Well, how was everything? There was food...

Question: Did you look in? Or did you clear it?

BS: We cleared a piece so that this...

Question: Where? Closer to the entrance?

BS: No, where is the hole, in the middle.

Question: Was it impossible to look into the entrance? Here in the photos it seems that it was easier to look through the entrance...

BS: Snow had piled up through it too. But even taking into account the snow piled up, everything was covered – it was clear that there was a lot of stuff there. But in our youth it never occurred to us that there was food and clothes there... Well, that's it, we went. The guide stayed where he was, and we went, went there... Well, and we saw something right next to the tent, some clothes...

Question: So there were some clothes next to the tent after all? There were some slippers, something else... Do you think the avalanche could have carried all this out? It seems to me that you yourself don't believe in an avalanche. What are your feelings? How did the avalanche not break the ropes? There was one stand left...

BS: Well, although I don't deny it, it's even written in the book...

Question: Okay, the hell with it, the avalanche. And the skis - were they standing or lying next to the tent?

BS: They were standing.

Question: Were they standing right there? And they were sports skis, i.e., undoubtedly from the group, not Mansi?

BS: No, not Mansi.

Question: Boris Efimovich, but what kind of person do you think Ivanov is? He interrogated you... objectively, fairly, harshly, attentively?

BS: You see, I'll tell you again... we were young, i.e. we sincerely told him what we saw. We didn't embellish anything, since we were both convinced that they were still alive somewhere down there.

Question: And on that day, when you found the tent, did you see any footprints?

BS: Yes, there were footprints there.

Question: Right on that day, when you found the tent?

BS: Yes.

Question: And you followed the footprints?

BS: Well, yes.

Question: And you went straight down to the forest?

BS: Well, in the middle part... there was a terrible wind, so it blew out there right away. There was crust...

Question: So you lost them, it turns out?

BS: What do you mean lost? When we saw that the tent was empty... that they had left. And in our youth, in our stupidity, we simply assumed that they had dug a cave for themselves down below... We came and told that the footprints were going down... that we had started looking and all that. We rummaged around in the tent a bit and found a flask. A full one. Up to the neck.

Question: And the army flask?

BS: In tarpaulin, metal.

Question: Well, did you warm up...

BS: When we arrived, our guide made some food there, we sat down to eat, poured this alcohol. That's what I remember... "to health". Those are the words I remember: "you shouldn't drink to health, but to the rest of their souls". I say: "Do you want to get punched in the face?" That's what I remember. He kind of ignored it and that's it. He knew that we didn't understand the tragic significance of the discovery. We told him there was a ton of stuff there. And he understood perfectly well... well, and we brought alcohol.

Question: And did he drink alcohol? He, well, who else was there? Mansi, Cheglakov? So, 50 grams for everyone?

BS: Yes. Everyone drank, of course.

Question: Boris Efimovich, but you also found documents right away? A bag?

BS: We found the documents in the pocket of the jacket. This windbreaker was hanging... not in the middle, but inside. Inside the entrance to the tent. Since it was still slightly open - it did not come out, but hung. We took it out. But there were not only documents, but we saw money. There was money... not three rubles. A lot of money, so there was no suspicion that they could... We knew, we were warned when we went, that "guys, do not meet strangers...". Such a place. Camps and everything else, escapees. So we were warned. We were not very afraid in our youth, but we knew. Therefore, when we saw that there were documents and there was money - this once again spoke in our favor, that no one attacked them. And why they ran - the devil knows.

Question: And what kind of documents were in the jacket?

BS: It was someone's passport, but not Dyatlov's... Either Zina's, or someone else's... (see Passports in Dyatlov group)

Question: And in general, was this how they took passports with them?

BS: Yes, of course, in those days... It was normal in those days.

Question: And did you see the topos (ed. - hand drawn maps on the go)?

BS: I don't remember.

Question: Then you looked for the labaz. They were probably looking for the labaz based on some documents, weren't they?

BS: The diary was...

Question: According to the diaries that are now known, it's not clear. Because Zina wrote 2 days before that we are probably going to make a labaz, and in the last entry Igor wrote that there was no point in even thinking about making a labaz. According to the known diaries, it's not clear at all whether they made a labaz or not, and if they did, then where. Maybe there were other diaries that weren't included in the criminal case?

BS: Maybe...

Question: They should have marked on the sketches where they made the labaz, right?

BS: Well, probably...

Question: And when you went to look for the labaz, did you have any documents? Maps? Or did Ortyukov or Maslennikov tell you where to go?

BS: They said, but I don't remember who said it.

Question: Boris Efimovich, you knew Lyuda personally. What kind of person was she? Secretive, open, sociable?

BS: Sociable! Open. We dragged her along for a while, she injured her leg. Sturdy, very correct...

Question: And is she quick-witted? Or did she keep quiet? Well, you always found it easy to communicate with her, simple? Her parents were high-ranking...

BS: A normal, ordinary girl. We didn't know about the parents. Somehow it wasn't customary to ask about family trees back then.

Question: You knew her father, didn't you? It's clear that later he was emotional, but did he have his own ideas? What happened to him?

BS: Well, later he definitely knew him. But it was useless to talk to him, he didn't share anything.

Question: Boris Efimovich, here's another thing about the boots. Was it possible that they would wrap some wire or chain around their boots to imitate crampons, to make it easier to walk?

BS: We didn't do that. The more experienced hikers made some kind of devices, but we didn't. I was the leader of this group, and I had no experience in these very hikes. 3 hikes. And a lot of enthusiasm. So if we analyze it all now, then the hike really wasn't that easy and quite dangerous. Well, not in any other way... but fools have luck. I understand that now. There were practically no fatal accidents like this in our time.

Question: Boris Efimovich, you started looking for them on the 23rd. Were you taken away by helicopter?

BS: Yes. But we were dropped off by mistake, the pilot made a mistake, the devil knows... Well, relatively far from Otorten.

Question: Did you have maps, a compass? Maps were in short supply back then. That is, were they given to you on purpose? Were there good maps?

BS: Of course, there were maps. But there weren't any good ones in principle. There weren't any normal maps at our disposal...

Question: And how did you go? Did the guide lead you more or did you use the maps?

BS: Both the compass, and the maps, and the guide. Of course, the guide eventually brought us to the pass.

Question: And you went through the forest, not along the rivers?

BS: No.

Question: And the clearings that were cut there? Mansi trails?

BS: Yes, we went along them when they coincided with our direction. [The discussion continues on the map]

BS: We are on the Dyatlov trail... i.e. onto some ski trail, not a Mansi one, from narrow skis... We were sure that this was the Dyatlov trail... They dropped us off here (gestures to the Auspiya valley)... They were supposed to drop us off at Otorten, but we quickly realized that they dropped us off before we reached it. They were wrong. That's why we went to Otorten. We came out on this pass.

Question: And you only walked through the forest? You didn’t go out onto the ridge?

BS: Nope. We saw the ridge when we reached the pass. And from the pass... where the hell is Otorten? And from the pass we saw the tent.

Question: And you weren’t here, in this area (the Lozva valley)?

BS: No.

Question: And who took the note?

BS: Others. They made sure that there was no note [from Dyatlov], i.e. they didn’t get there either. (ed. - Akselrod group retrieved this note from Otorten on Feb 27, 1959 Case file vol.2 66)

Question: So you were walking along the ski track and at some point it ended? I.e. when you were looking for the tent, the ski track was no longer there?

BS: It wasn't just that it ended, it was lost. That's when we came out onto this pass, we lost the ski track. We lost it not long before that. We'd walk part of the last two kilometers, and we'd scatter in groups of 2-3 people. We didn't go far from each other. Well, consider ourselves lucky...

Question: And when you were looking did Pashin, the guide, and Cheglakov advise you anything? "You go right, you go left"? Or were they also actively involved, like everyone else?

BS: No, they were actively searching. I made the decisions, and we walked. And they either walked with someone, or stood like that, like when we went to the pass. When we saw some object that looked like a tent – ​​he didn’t go with us, did he?

Question: Did you see the group’s camp sites? Or just parts of the ski track?

BS: We saw them. I don’t remember how many, but we saw them.

Question: Did you become friends with anyone from the search party later, did you communicate with them? Or did you try to forget this story?

BS: We were young and stupid. Well, no, I continued to communicate and am still in touch with Brusnitsyn.

Question: Here’s a question about Brusnitsyn... about the cut ski pole. Did you see it?

BS: No.

Question: When the military arrived, did you communicate with them? What did you say most often? Especially the military?

BS: Well, we lived in the same tent... everyone had their own assumptions all these days... But the military didn't say anything. Since everyone there had practically zero experience, there were no substantiated versions.

Question: Could a hurricane have been the cause? Even with the experience of your subsequent search operations?

BS: We were lucky with the weather, it was generally fine the whole time. There was just a completely terrible wind. When we had already found them and were climbing the pass, we were blown away. We didn't have crampons. We were dragging one corpse... one of them. Either Doroshenko or Kolmogorova. No, they couldn't have been Kolmogorova. Maybe Krivonischenko, yes. I remember one fragment, when once again there was a gust on the climb, I flew and grabbed the leg of this corpse to hold on. This cut me. This fragment is imprinted in my memory.

Question: Why didn't they take them away for so long? Maybe the helicopters didn't fly in?

BS: Well, there must have been some problems with the helicopters there.

Question: Boris Efimovich, was the cedar tree clearly visible from the tent? It's hard to judge now because it's all grown over. Have you been by the cedar many times since then?

BS: It was visible then. We were taken out almost immediately, among the first. Apparently they thought we had completed our task.

Question: And here's the stream where they'll find the last four. Was it clearly visible? Or was everything covered up?

BS: Flat terrain.

Question: Maybe there was some kind of ice hole? Did you even suspect that there might be a stream with a ravine there?

BS: No.

Question: That is, you perceived that there were cedars and cedars, and snow all around?

BS: Yes.

Question: And which tributary of the Lozva? When you go down from the tent to the cedar? Were there gullies, water? Anything at all?

BS: No, I don't remember that.

Question: It's a shame you don't remember anything about the belt.

BS: You need to talk to Vadik [Brusnitsyn]. Vadik, first of all, was... I don't know why they made me the leader, although Vladik had more experience in tourism than I did. Well, that's what they said.

Question: And what is this notorious straight cedar tent? Everyone says that the bodies were lying straight. And were the tracks also straight? And were they really in a line?

BS: They were walking straight... When we found the first ones, there should have been a lot of tracks that were in a line...

Question: And you weren't surprised then, why in a line?

BS: Well, we were walking in a line and poking with sticks.

Question: No, you're talking about the searchers' tracks, but specifically the tracks of the Dyatlov group?

BS: No, well first of all the tracks were no longer visible, because it was all swept away...

Question: So, that means, on the first day, when you found the tent, you still didn’t see tracks that went down?

BS: No... Well, how do we know if they were someone else’s or not. Well, the tracks go down, but whose are they...? They went in a line, more like one after another. They diverged here and there...

Question: Where did they start? If you say you saw tracks, does that mean they weren’t far from the tent?

BS: Well, I don’t know, 8 meters or whatever, but close...

Question: And you didn’t see any urine tracks there either? Tempalov mentions that there was a trace of urine.

BS: I don't remember that. There must have been one. And more than one.

Question: When you slept in the tent, did you take off our outerwear? The jackets, the outer pants? What was the procedure when it was time to pack?

BS: We did have some clothes with us then. Well, they were bad, not enough... and we also had to carry all of them on ourselves. So the bare minimum. And the gear was primitive. These green tarpaulin windbreakers - no one wore down jackets back then. One or two sweaters... whoever wore them underneath... We would put on other clothes under the jackets, whoever, usually just one. Later we didn't even understand how we walked back then. It wasn't wool tights, but these traditional training pants... blue... not flannel, knitted.

Question: Did the outer pants get very wet when you walked in the snow? I just don't understand - everyone says that they came and went to bed. How could they go to bed wet? There's a photo where you can see how their outerwear is covered in snow. It melts when you go into the tent, right? How does the whole procedure work?BS: No, of course they changed clothes, if there was something to change into, i.e. if they got wet, they dried them somehow...

Question: Was it like that, that the insoles dried on the chest?

BS: It was.

Question: Why did they put their sweaters on inside out? What, the seams on the outside?

BS: This is the first time I've heard of this.

Question: And if you took your passport with you, where did you keep it? Was there no way to give all the documents to the manager?

BS: Everyone, where, didn't give them to the manager. Usually somewhere in the inside pocket of a shirt...

Question: And did you take all your felt boots with you on the hike? It's cold in the tent, isn't it, if there's no stove?

BS: No, not all of them. We had blankets when we were walking - it was warm.

Question: Did you keep a diary on that hike? Did you keep your own or did you keep a group diary as a group leader?

BS: We did. The primitive one was kept. But where did it go? No, I think someone took it from me right away, the investigator. The group one was kept... Well, everyone could write their own details. I don't remember now, of course. It was later that I became more careful.

Question: Didn't you keep your personal diary then?

BS: No, it turns out that you kept your personal diary too, and that was taken away too.

Question: Were you called in for questioning once?

BS: No, several times. But it was the same all the time...

Question: Who interrogated you - Ivanov alone or different ones all the time? Or could there have been someone else present? Did they ask about how you went and searched?

BS: I think I only talked to Ivanov. I remember some very small pieces, and then everything was repeated. I remember - how many times can you ask about the same thing over and over again?

Question: And were Pashin and Cheglakov taken away immediately after the tent was found? And Nevolin?

BS: Yes, Nevolin too, probably. I was there for literally a day or two.

Question: That is, your task was to find and leave?

BS: Well, maybe leaving was not such a task, but at first the task was to find...

Question: But when you returned, did they quickly start dragging you around for interrogations? Or did a month pass? Did you cross paths with Yudin during interrogations? Was it just you or the whole group that was dragged around for interrogations?

BS: Right away. We didn't cross paths with Yudin (I didn't know Yudin). Brusnitsyn was interrogated several times, we didn't hide anything from each other.

Question: There was also this Sogrin...

BS: Seryoga was there later, there were several groups there, which were at different points on the route. Sogrin was generally considered experienced.

Question: Do you remember the woman at the pass?

BS: No, I don't remember.

Question: Did you know Sasha Kolevatov?

BS: No.