Letter to a friend

Hello, my friend!

I think you understand that I don't really care what made the guys lose their heads. I'm much more interested in the problem of whether it was an accident or murder.

Do you remember what the situation was like in Sverdlovsk at the time? At the institute, on trams, in queues, the death of the group was the number one topic. Having received the order to go on a search, I first of all began to talk to those who had already returned, in order to find out what the group that returned later had brought, compared to the information already known. Each had its own version of what happened. Moisey Akselrod believed that an avalanche had caused it, but there were also those who considered it murder (and who and how did the killing is not important). It was with this baggage that I set out to search, setting myself the goal of finding out who was right.

Of course, by the time we arrived, everything had been trampled and turned upside down, but there were still some untouched signs. Remembering the events of those distant days, in my mind immediatelly first comes the mood I was in. I was embarrassed by my curiosity, and I called it "scientific research". It seemed to me that it was distracting me from my main objective to find the guys. So, like a swindler, I secretly wrote down in my diary the information I had obtained over the past day, supposedly not related to the search itself.

I tried to go through what the Dyatlov group had done, and perhaps in this way find out the reason for their death. Unfortunatelly my diary was stolen from my room in the UPI dormitory. I didn't notice it right away, because I was busy with my exams, but when I was going to take some of my things home before the Altai trip, I couldn't find the diary, and I still don't know when it disappeared.

I understand that I was only reenacting the real conditions that Dyatlov had.

He set up the tent exactly where he set it up. And there are no more options! Whether he made the right decision or not is not up for discussion!

Many people later, and even now, are trying to get to the bottom of the cause of their death. There are a sea of ​​"plausible" options.

I don't want to deal with the avalanche version out of respect for the memory of Moisey Akselrod. I think he himself didn't believe in it much. Although there were enthusiasts who tried to prove that an avalanche is possible on a 21-degree slope, and one that would scare people to death.

В. Аскинадзи, 1959 год.

Theory AH

They pitched a tent. Lighted the stove. Changed their clothes. We were getting ready for bed.

And suddenly something exploded!!!

The most ardent supporters of this version were S. Parfenov and Yuri Kuntsevich. The first one said that the cause was contact with a UFO. I am not going to discuss UFOs.

Yuri Kuntsevich's version is much more elegant. What exploded was no more and no less than a small, one could say pocket, neutron bomb. Why small? So as not to destroy something important along the way. Why neutron? Because it is easy to explain that it affected biological objects, but not the forest, moss and stones. According to this theory, only a small neutron bomb behaves this way. A failing second-grader who does not know how to solve a problem first looks at the answer and then adjusts the solution to it. At the same time, thinking about the correctness of the answer, and not about the fact that the solution is a pile of nonsense.

Any explosion, be it an ordinary explosive or a nuclear one, if it is not a war, is of no use to anyone! In peacetime, it is advisable to organize such an expensive thing only for the purpose of either determining some new parameters or refining previously obtained ones. Therefore, at least a minimum of control equipment is needed. According to Academician Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov, Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in order to solve the system of differential equations describing the behavior of the "Sakharov layer cake" (hydrogen bomb), the computer needed more than two weeks of continuous operation. This alone already speaks of the complexity and high cost of the project. Why carry a bunch of control equipment to the mountain desert? There were more comfortable testing grounds for this.

An unauthorized activation of a bomb flying in the wrong direction is absolutely excluded. Each such thing has several levels of protection.

At one time, to ensure the tests in Semipalatinsk, the amount of control equipment was counted not in pieces, but in train cars. They worked on the principle: it is better to be safe than sorry. An explosion and its preparation are a very expensive undertaking, because it cannot be repeated, so they usually set a lot of control parameters. And suddenly, out of the blue, a standard atomic explosion over a wasteland! With the goal of shooting partridges with a neutron bomb, and the Dyatlov group ended up there by accident! Let's say arguments were found that allow one to shoot partridges with a neutron bomb, for this no control equipment is needed! We will drop a landing party of soldiers, and they will reap the harvest. With tears in my eyes, but I admit it!!!

What then?? Let's remember again Academician Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov: "In order to solve a system of differential equations, you need initial conditions." In our case, the initial conditions are healthy, clothed hikers standing by the tent and waiting for the starting pistol to fire. Then they run down! But why isn't everyone equally injured?

View from the pass to the Lozva River valley. May 1959.

Yuri Kuntsevich found an elegant solution: it was not the explosion that injured people, but the soldiers. Dubinina had as many as 10 ribs broken. Was she the one who resisted the most?! And how could you simultaneously and almost equally break 10 ribs in the field? Zolotaryov's (ed. Askinadzi means Thibeaux-Brignolle) skull was crushed. Was there really a press hidden in the bushes, in addition to the helicopter?! They started throwing the half-dead guys from the helicopter that was flying up the slope. Absurdity upon absurdity!

In addition, one wonders, what kind of weapon is this, if after it you need a company of soldiers to finish off a frightened and injured enemy?! Wouldn't it be better to immediately send soldiers at the enemy with a club, like in the good old days?! Well, crying again, I admit that such a weapon is just right for some crazy general! Maybe he, the humanist general!!! Then how can we explain that the most severe injuries were received by those who were found under a three-meter layer of wet snow? Is this a new version of a pinpoint weapon?! I won't touch Kolmogorova - she will die without me. But I will give Dubinina a heart hemorrhage, a symmetrical fracture of the ribs. For lying down in the wrong place! And why didn't Dyatlov, who had no injuries, protect her?! Thibeaux-Brignolle and Kolevatov's wounds are just as terrible.

This theory emerged from the conclusion of forensic expert Boris Vozrozhdenniy, in which he suggested that "the indicated injuries could have occurred as a result of a large force... followed by a fall." But they could have occurred for another reason, for example, as a result of a prolonged action of a huge static force: Dubinina was pressed by a force of 3-3.5 tons for at least 1.5 months of constantly settling melting snow. So the ribs could not withstand it and broke.

As for the question if the injuries were pre or post mortem, as the Sevastopol experts explained to me, this was never a problem to determine. It's just that the authorities did not attach primary importance to this event and they involved a less experienced forensic scientist in the investigation.

One thing is clear: if any of us had been in their place, the outcome would have been the same.

Maybe that's enough arguments that kill this option? If someone doesn't have enough, let them write, I'll add. I repeat, at present there is no problem in determining when the wound was inflicted, before or after death.

Theory - criminal

A supporter of this direction is Dmitry Vladimirovich Tiunov, his article about the attack on the Dyatlov group by high-ranking poachers was published in the April issue of "Ural Pathfinder" for 2010.

Dmitry Vladimirovich, let's think about it a little. Your remark that this is your free fantasy is appropriate, otherwise we would have to turn to surgeons with questions about whether, for example, Dubinina with ten broken ribs can run almost 1.5 km. I have been an active hiker for more than 20 years, but I have never heard or witnessed girls, especially in winter, being placed in a tent on the edge. This is simply not knightly! They were always given the warmest, most comfortable places in the center of the tent. So how, according to Tiunov, did the guys arrange themselves in the tent? On one side, naturally, Lyuda, on the other side, one would think, Zolotaryov. And where to put Thibeaux-Brignolle and Kolevatov, so that they would be caught in a hail of powerful blows? From above?! And the least injured guys - in the center?! It doesn't hold water, good sir, it does not! Here I do not want to allow anything, otherwise, at the instigation of Dmitry Tiunov, you can think badly of good people. And as luck would have it, the most injured guys ended up together in the stream again. Rustik is a another topic. This is a variant of a severe injury during life. I looked for the stone on which Slobodin smashed his head, but did not find it. Maybe I didn't look very carefully!

Now you understand that I am a consistent opponent of any theory where, one way or another, there is the presence of strangers in any capacity: be they criminals or executors of someone's evil will. I am also against far-fetched versions for the sake of their originality: a fire in a tent, a bear that suddenly crawled out of its den, and other nonsense. Maybe it's time to stop "inventing" bad hypotheses? Maybe you should find the courage or, if you like, a sense of proportion and responsibility to say, yes, the group died, but there was no evil intent, it was a pure accident. Elements!

I am sure that the true reason was established at the time, but the documents were later, already under Boris Yeltsin, destroyed due to the passage of time and as not being of interest to the new government.

I am also sure that someone will be able to put the puzzle together into a single picture.

A great thank you to Him then and a deepest bow.

Here, if you want, this is my last confession.

Are you asking to describe how we found the guys? And in general, why weren't the previously sent groups able to do this?

We were dropped off on April 27, on the eve of May Day, somewhere in the afternoon. We were replacing Yuri Blinov's group.

Farewell to Blinov's group

The next day we began to carefully familiarize ourselves with the "work place".

Here is a cedar tree that I have long known from stories told by friends. It stands like a monk in the desert, mighty and lonely! I not only examined it carefully, but probably sniffed it too. There was nothing on the cedar: no blood, no rags. I examined their fire under the cedar in detail. Such a fire could burn for minutes, leave alone hours. Even in good, calm conditions, there will be no heat from this rotten wood.

And here are the trees with their tops cut off! There are a lot of them.

Click for a bigger picture

Neither we nor our predecessors had any question about where their tops were. Our thoughts were occupied with searching for traces of the four guys who remained undiscovered. We were all disoriented by the information that these four were well enough dressed and could have gone, for example, down the Auspiya. Only one thing was confusing, at least for me, how far they could have gone without skis on loose snow. I insisted not to go far from the camp in search of their tracks. Ortyukov, in military fashion, held operational meetings every evening to summarize the day's results. The Kurikov brothers (Mansi guides), I, as the leader of the student group, and Nikolay, the leader of the soldier group, were always present. It was at these operational meetings that one could express one's opinion on plans for tomorrow or the results of the past day. Ortyukov observed the principles of democracy! But if a decision was made, it was useless to ask Ortyukov to change it. Sometimes Ortyukov consulted only with the Kurikovs, without us.

At one of the operational meetings we agreed that since the guys couldn't go far, maybe they were in the stream from which we took water to cook food? We assumed that they could be lying in the stream, but we didn't know where. In order not to miss the heavy flood and the fear that the bodies could be carried down the stream at night, we decided to make a dam, protecting ourselves from possible accidents.

Until May 1st, we were busy searching for traces of others and building a dam.

When we were dropped off by helicopter, a large amount of food was brought along with us. We were not starving. Ortyukov, as a military man, created the institution of orderlies, so they prepared the food, for which they were exempted from searching on this day.

I remember the May 1st holiday. Ortyukov was persuaded to give us two days off, explaining that even slaves in ancient Rome were given days off. He agreed. And he could not disagree. He himself was mortally tired. After all, in addition to the physical exertion, he had a very great burden of responsibility. The authorities were constantly rushing us for results. At this time, I suggested to Nikolay, the leader of the soldiers, that we stand watch to give the others a rest.

We made a festive dinner. We shot partridges right with ski poles. Absolutely unafraid animals! All the victims were kept in the snow until the holidays. We shot about ten. And here is a recipe for roast Otortensky. You need to take 1.5 kilograms of butter, melt it in a bucket (preferably not in a zinc one), wait until the thrown in test piece of meat sizzles, put the gutted partridges in the oil whole. If the oil does not cover all the meat, add the required amount. You get partridge fries. Everyone liked this dish. The second time we did the same, only with wood grouse.

And after dinner we listened to the dog handler. Our dog handler, who was without dogs, and therefore slept for days, loved to tell jokes, and his sleeping place was in the far corner of the tent. He loved to tell jokes, but he did not know how. The good thing about a joke is that you can knock someone off their feet with just one phrase, and his joke could last half an hour. After a while, he would get so annoying that you couldn't stand it. You'd shout "Shut up!" at him, but he'd act like he didn't hear you, and continue to mumble like a clergyman. He'd meticulously describe the clothes of the characters, what the weather was like. In short, he'd get on our nerves as best he could. When we couldn't stand his jokes any more, someone, and sometimes even me, would grab a felt boot and throw it into a dark corner. It was impossible to miss. You'd have to throw the boot hard against the wall of the tent, and it would fall down the wall onto the narrator. This was to avoid hitting anyone who was closer to him, including Ortyukov.

Sometimes, Ortyukov would take over as the narrator. He spoke with rapture about his service as Marshal Zhukov's first adjutant. He went through the entire war with him. He slept in the next walk-through room, fully dressed and with a pistol on his chest. He was with him in Odessa, got to Sverdlovsk, but did not want to leave Sverdlovsk when Zhukov suggested going to Moscow with him. Here he had a huge apartment in the city center, and in Moscow they gave him a Khrushchev-era apartment on the side of the road.

When Ortyukov spoke about Zhukov, he reminded me of a wood grouse on the mating season, so engrossed in his singing that he neither saw nor heard anything around him.

Ortyukov had the memory of a loving, enthusiastic orderly who would, without thinking, rip out the throat of anyone the patron pointed at. For example, he said that Zhukov sent him on his personal plane somewhere to get gifts for his women for March 8. He could fly to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Zhukov gave him personal money and then demanded an advance report (written) accurate to the last kopeck.

For some reason, the holidays passed very quickly. It was necessary to work again. Everyone worked, even the "comedian". They mainly worked with probes.

But, as it turned out later, it was a waste of time, since they were investigating an area far from where the bodies were.

By this time, the snow began to dry up and small, finger-sized, spruce branches began to appear on the surface.

On the morning of May 4, the Kurikov brothers were discussing something in their own language in front of me, but by their gestures it was possible to guess that they were talking about these branches. We went to Ortyukov's tent. Stepan Kurikov (he was in charge) explained to Ortyukov that we needed to dig in the area of ​​the branches, although the day before it was decided that we would dig in the stream, but significantly higher than the cut up spruce trees. This is where our successes began!!! The branches led us deep into the snow, almost vertically. They eventually led us to the den.

The deck was about three meters deep, and all the branches on the tree trunks were fresh! There were some things on the flooring.

Now it became clear that there was no point in going far from the den. We had to look in the nearest 10-15 square meters. Another personal observation of mine: the rags were put on the deck after the guys froze under the cedar, since their things were on the deck, including trousers cut at the groin. You only take things like that from corpses.

These events happened before lunch, and after that I took the probe alone, and the others watched not because they didn't want to work, but because we agreed to just make a test pit, like in geology. That's when I got into Lyuda's neck. If my probe had deviated 10 cm to the right or left, we would have gone up the stream to probe the snow. That's both an accident and a pattern. Of course, we would have found them eventually, but maybe a week or two later, having dug up the stream from the source to the bodies. And if you consider that it's May, the final exam session has started at the institute and exams are coming soon, and I'm in my 5th year, then there's no need to explain what extra weeks of being away from the institute mean for us.

The whole camp, even the lazy "dog handler" who slept for everyone (we told him: "We went to search, and you sleep today for Suvorov, and tomorrow for Mohov"), even he came running. It was somewhere around 2-15 o'clock. The day was quite long there at that time.

We began to dig carefully, and several more heads appeared 20-30 cm from Lyuda's head. But in order to dig further, we had to remove Lyuda's body. We pulled it out and put it aside, wrapping it in some rags.

The heads of all the guys lay on one square meter. That's the only reason we pulled out Lyuda in the evening, because she was in the way of getting to the others, and left the rest until the forensic experts arrived. That's what Ortyukov wanted, and he was right.

When we were getting the bodies out, Zolotaryov had a notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. Ortyukov rushed to it like a madman, and then suddenly wilted, having found nothing, only saying: "I didn't write anything, damn it." Dear Colonel, if you can hear me in the next world, what would you have written if you had been in the 30-degree frost with bare hands for at least 2 hours...

Why A. Zolotaryov held a notebook and a pencil in his hands and didn't write anything down, one can only guess. Probably, there was no time for this, and my hands were probably already frostbitten up to the elbows.

Now I say with confidence the names and who was lying where, but in reality everything was much more complicated. I will explain in more detail.

My students-searchers never saw the Dyatlov group in life. I only knew Zina well, the rest were strangers to me.

Zina and I did not go on long hikes together.

Here is the specificity of institute hiking. The hiking club was based on the team of group leaders. Each had their own passions and interests. Each had their own core group. Therefore, the situation when two or more hikers from among the leaders went in one group is a rare occurrence. I was very good friends with Boris Martyushev, may he rest in peace, and other leaders, but I never wanted to go with them, because you prepare your expedition for months and you can only abandon it if there is a force majeure. And how can you leave the guys who hoped to go on your route?

In one of the photos, I think Igor Dyatlov is standing in the background in the out-of-focus area. If this is so, then we can say that we were standing next to each other, 5 meters from each other, no more. When we left to search, we only knew by their last names who we were supposed to find. With Dubinina, you understand, there were no problems. When talking about guys, their last names should be put in quotation marks, "a la Kolevatov", "a la Zolotaryov", "a la Thibeaux-Brignolle". We took out the bodies, and others identified them, who knew them even less than we did.

We take out the bodies, and Ortyukov dictates, this is so-and-so, and this is so-and-so. And everyone accepted this as the truth, beyond doubt, since there was nothing to argue about. He knew only one thing, that no one would say that he was wrong. No one knew who was actually being taken out this very moment. If we had taken a serious approach, we could have called Yudin right away. He was the only person who could have given an objective description, who, where. But this was not done! Everyone was in a hurry then, in a hurry to close the case, since the authorities were afraid to let the situation get out of control. Moscow was in a hurry, Sverdlovsk was in a hurry, and Ivdel was in a hurry, in turn. Sverdlovsk was seething. Everyone was eagerly waiting for at least some news about the Dyatlov group. That's why everyone was rushing and hurrying.

A big anxiety ensue from the discovery of the bodies. The insomnia wasn't from some nightmares, it was just that sleep wouldn't come, that's all! And it wasn't just me. Ortyukov didn't sleep, the Kurikovs didn't sleep, and the rest, I think, for the most part, they just lay there, hoping to fall asleep. The relief came only after the bodies were taken away. We slept as much as we wanted. Nothing of interest happen after that.

We did a general cleaning of the area on Ortyukov's orders, packed up our things for transport. I left on the first "technical" flight on May 10, the rest left later. The last ones left on May 13.