Chronology part 1 - The trek

Excerpts © "1079 The overwhelming force of Dyatlov Pass"

 

Dyatlov gathers a group for the Subpolar Ural from as early as Oct 15, 1958. On Dec 12, 1958 he invites Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle, Yuri Doroshenko and Nikolay Popov, if the latter is allowed from his place of work, the Tatarstan Research Institute. Nikolay Popov is always pictured with a mandolin in his hands. Below is a letter where he begs Dyatlov to take him on the trek. The reason why he didn't join the group is unclear.

Hello Igor!
Hello brothers!

No wonder they say: word gets around. Although the TatNII is far from UPI, I overheard that you are going on a hike to the Subpolar Urals. Goska, holy-moly! Take me for God's sake!

Igor! First, please get back to me right away. Secondly, tell me who is coming. Thirdly, how many days is the trip, and how much it will cost me, so I have all the facts to make an informed decision if I can afford to go.

For my part, I want to tell you in advance that I have no skis, no ski boots, and no backpack. But I have everything else. Do you think possible for me to get backpack, boots and skis from the institute? I would be very happy if so. I'll find the rest myself. Igor, be sure to write right away, if the group does not mind me joining, so that I can inform you in time whether I can go or not. In the meantime, I will start getting ready without wasting any time.

Give all the brothers greetings from the Gloomster. Let me know what is like the new (hiking - ed. note) section. And most importantly, unlike all past times, at least write an answer.

My life at the moment is tolerable, but the hiking aspect is very bad: although we are only 5 (in total!) qualified hikers, were trained over the summer, but there is no section. Neither in the TatNII, nor anywhere else in Bugulma. And for the whole of this winter we made only one hike that lasted a day. There is neither equipment in the VSS (Voluntary Sports Society - ed. note), nor enthusiasm among the youth of the city of Bugulma.

Well bye for now! Hiking greetings from the Gloomster (signature)
Dec 12, 1958

 

Heartbroken Zina wrote to her friend Lidiya Grigoryeva. The letter was written during the exams "We are taking exams now", that is, in the period December 13-27, 1958. The dates of exams and tests in December 1958 are known from Zina's record book - see below.

 

A letter written by Krivonischenko on December 27, 1958, addressed to Igor Dyatlov discussing the details of the upcoming trip to Northern Ural starting on January 22, 1959. The letter contains a poem which Krivonischenko dedicated to his fellows hikers.

 

"A group of hikers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute saw the New Year in – and, with it, the winter vacation of 1959 - on the bank of the Chusovaya river not far from the "Boitsy" station of the Perm railway. Winter vacations were the time of the long-awaited hikes that would take students away from the city for many days. The hikers, under the supervision of Igor Dyatlov, UPI fifth year student, were now checking through their tent and personal equipment in anticipation of the ski trip in the Northern Ural Mountains."
1079 The overwhelming force of Dyatlov Pass / Chapter 1

Treks in 1957 and 1958, same tent with the chimney of Dyatlov's custom made stove sticking out.

On January 8, 1959, the route commission of the Sverdlovsk city committee for physical culture and sports, chaired by Vasiliy Korolyov, an engineer of the UPI Department of Physics and Technology, approved the project of a trek for a group of hikers led by Igor Dyatlov along the route of the 3rd category of difficulty: Vizhay village, Sverdlovsk Region – 2nd Northern settlement – Otorten – Oyko Chakur - Toshemka river - Vizhay village (see case file 202 below). Members of the Commission were experienced mountaineers Evgeniy Maslennikov and Victor Bogomolov. They had no doubts about the qualifications of the Dyatlov group. As of the date of approval of the expedition project, the team included fifth year students Igor Dyatlov and Zinaida Kolmogorova; fourth year students Lyudmila Dubinina, Aleksander Kolevatov, Yuri Doroshenko, Yuri Yudin, Vladislav Bienko and Yuri Vishnevskiy; and UPI graduates Rustem Slobodin, Georgiy Krivonischenko, Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle, Nikolay Popov and Yuri Verhoturov. Thirteen people in all (see case file 201 below).

Igor was involved in hiking thanks to his elder brother Mstislav, who in 1954 graduated from the UPI radio engineering department and was at the time working as an engineer-in-chief at the Pervouralsk New Pipe Works. Igor went on his first hike as early as 1951, together with his brother as part of a UPI hike group. Since then he went through ten hikes, including as part of a combined team of the city of Sverdlovsk. On six occasions Dyatlov was the group leader. His authority among the UPI hikers was very high. Igor Dyatlov was repeatedly elected a member of the bureau of the UPI hiking club, as chairman of the UPI qualification board and hiking club. Read more →

Igor had come up with the idea of a winter hike to the Subpolar Urals in the fall of 1958. At that same time, a few other hikers were getting ready for hikes of their own to various areas of the Ural Ridge. Sergey Sogrin, a fourth year student of the UPI Metallurgical Department and one of the Institute's most experienced hikers, was also preparing for a hike in the Subpolar Urals. By 1959, Sergey had fulfilled the standards of Master of Sports in hiking, achieved 2nd grade in mountaineering with the rank of instructor, and was now chairman of the mountaineering section of the Sverdlovsk regional council of the “Burevestnik” (Petrel) sports association. On consulting with Sogrin, Igor Dyatlov realized that a hike through that area would take a really long time, so he then changed his route for the Northern Urals, where two other experienced UPI hikers, Yuri Blinov and Zinaida Kolmogorova, were also planning a hike.

Yuri Blinov was a 4th year student of the UPI School of Physics and Engineering, and administrative manager of the bureau of the hiking club. A year earlier he had served as head of the UPI hiking club.

During the organizational stage, Blinov and Kolmogorova invited Georgiy Krivonischenko, Aleksander Kolevatov, and Yuri Yudin to join their group, and they all confirmed their participation. All the more or less experienced hikers, such as Krivonischenko, for instance, had already graduated from the UPI, but had not broken their ties with the Institute's hiking club.

Yuri Yudin was a 4th year student at the UPI Engineering-Economical Department. Since his second year at the Institute, he had been a member of the UPI hiking club, with six hikes behind him. For a few years, he also frequented the UPI figure skating club.

Everything was going according to plan until, in December, Blinov was invited to head a simultaneous hike in the Northern Urals. The change in Dyatlov’s plans came in handy: he was offered to take charge of the group instead of Blinov. In late December 1958, Dyatlov submitted his first report to the UPI hiking club, stating that his preparations for a trek to the North Urals were underway.

The organization of the group did not proceed as smoothly as Igor would have liked it to. Evgeniy Chubarev refused to take part in the hike; like Blinov, he went as a group leader on another route. For Pyotr Bartolomey, Nikolay Tregubov, Vladimir Shunin, Nataliya Sharnina, and Maria Pliusnina the timing of the trek coincided either with the deadlines for their diploma project development or with practical training in various cities. For various reasons, Vyacheslav Halizov, Pavel Tarzin, Vladimir Pudov, Valentina Baldova, and Tamara Vedyakina could not go, either. For some time Zinaida Kolmogorova contemplated going on a trek to the Subpolar Urals together with Sogrin, but eventually decided to stay on with Dyatlov. The group was also joined by Vladislav Bienko, Yuri Vishnevskiy, and Lyudmila Dubinina, who had failed in the organization of their own treks to the Subpolar Urals.

Nikolay Popov, a graduate of the UPI who worked in the city of Bugulma as an engineer at the Tataristan Research Institute (TatNII), wanted to go with Dyatlov, but he was not sure if he could get a leave from work. This is the letter he wrote to Igor Dyatlov. Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle, Rustem Slobodin, and Yuri Doroshenko had agreed to take part in the hike.

By January 15, Georgiy Krivonischenko had gone on leave lasting until February 20. Aleksander Kolevatov had managed to discuss the forthcoming trek with Ignatiy Fokich Ryagin, a family friend and deputy head of the Uralgipromed Trust, who was familiar with the area and supplied Kolevatov with a map of the region. (see Rimma Kolevatova testimony case file 270-272)

On January 16 Zina Kolmogorova wrote Dyatlov to wish him belated happy birthday and inquire about the trek. Zina Kolmogorova had gone to six expeditions. Four were of the 2nd degree of difficulty – an intermediate level – and she was a always going to the treks leaded by Igor Dyatlov. Like Igor himself, Zina was interested in radio and studied Radio Engineering at the UPI. The two were always seen together. A photo of her was found later in his notebook. If she had any romantic feelings towards Igor, however, there’s not the slightest clue in her personal letter to him (dated 16 January 1959) from Kamensk where, she worked at a radio plant. In her letter, she only asks Igor to update her on how things were going with regard to the preparations for the expedition.

Hi, Igor! Belated happy birthday, wish you all the best, great and challenging treks, and very successful defense of your dissertation. I am in Kamensk, I’m sitting at the factory now, today is the second day, I’m in the North-Kazakhstan region, I read the frequency response and blueprints, they will give me something to draw soon.

Igor, you know what. Write as soon as possible when we leave. I can come on the 22nd in the morning, but I would very much like to stay here longer, because my family will arrive only on the 21st. And I would like to get a diploma topic. And without them they won’t give me anything. I want to practice here until the 20th, i.e. in SKO, and where I will go after that I don't know yet. Today or tomorrow I’m going to look for Valya Baldova. I think I'll find her. In fact, it’s boring here somehow right after the institute, there isn’t the usual noisy crowd of hikers here, at least I don’t know them yet, if any; Say hello to all of our "Khibiny". How is the preparation going?

How can I help here? What's new at the institute? How does the 4th course from our group pass? Has Nikola Popov arrived or not? Is Verkhoturov coming with us? (it doesn't matter that the last name was correctly written). In general, Igor, write immediately so that I know when to leave. After all, today is already the 16th. That is all for now bye.

Many, many greetings to all our hikers, I’m bored here without you. Looking forward to your prompt response Zina
Yes, my address: city Kamensk-Uralskiy, St Zhdanova 9, house 23 room 7, Z.A Kolmogorova

 

On January 20, Dyatlov received three copies of the route book from Valerian Ufimtsev, the instructor of the city committee for physical culture and sports. Two copies of the protocol of the route commission from January 8 were left in the files of the route commission and the city committee. Dyatlov was supposed to deliver the third copy to the UPI sports club on receipt of the equipment, but he had apparently forgotten to do so. There is a conjecture that this was not accidental, as the revised return dates affected the beginning of the term. On the suggestion of Maslennikov, the initial target dates of January 26 - February 9, 1959, were changed to January 28 - February 12, 1959. This resulted in two simultaneous violations of the process of issuing the equipment: one by Dyatlov as the group’s leader, and another by Blinov, who as manager of the bureau of the UPI hiking club was responsible for issuing the inventory at the UPI Sports Club.

Dyatlov made one more blunder. The leader of the group should have kept only one copy of the route book out of three. Although the copies of the route books were to serve for reporting purposes and not for monitoring the group’s movement, which was done on the basis of the protocol of the Routing Commission, the second copy was to be retained in the files of the Routing Commission, along with a copy of the protocol, while the third copy was to be held by the controlling organization, in this case, the UPI Sports Club. Dyatlov, however, kept all the three copies of the route book. (see 14. on sheet 6 in case file 3-6)

Meanwhile, the members of the group were banding together in Sverdlovsk. But there were also unforeseen circumstances. Popov was not released from work. Vishnevskiy failed one of the exams in the winter session and was denied leave by the dean's office. As it later emerged, Verhoturov, who worked as an engineer at the Lysva turbine generator plant, had no idea that his name was on the group’s preliminary list and only learned about this in 2000. Most likely Dyatlov included him to simplify the trek application procedure since Verhoturov was the most experienced among the listed hikers.

Slobodin was released from work for the duration of the trek only on short notice thanks to the letters from the UPI sports club and the city committee for physical culture and sports.

Bienko had not received a leave of absence from the UPI Dean’s office. He was instead replaced by S.A. Zolotaryov, an instructor at the Kourovskaya tour base, who had earlier been approved as a member of the Sogrin group by the city routing commission.

A man who had faced numerous hardships and challenges in his life, Zolotaryov was at that time interested in participating in a ski trek of the highest degree of difficulty, to fulfill the standard for obtaining the title of the Master of Sports in Tourism, which could improve his career prospects. As a pragmatic individual, instead of going to the Subpolar Urals, he preferred a shorter and easier route with the Dyatlov group, none of whose members knew him. As Dubinina wrote, “At first, nobody wanted to take on this Zolotaryov, because he was a stranger, but later we thought, what the hell – and took him along, for how could we refuse him?” (Dubinina diary)

Before joining Dyatlov group Zolotaryov enlisted in Sogrin's group for a trek to Subpolar Urals that would have lasted 25 days. Zolotaryov needed the title Master of Sports which would have reflected his pay and this trek could have given him the qualification. Sogrin describes him as a very open, outgoing, polite, with good communication skills which is expected for a guide. Semyon explained to Sogrin that he found a shorter trek (15 days) and that Igor Dyatlov accepted him n the group. Semyon apologized for the situation and explained that he has family reason - he wanted to take his mom to Caucasus before the begging of the hiking season when he will be busy.

As of January 20, the group list still comprised ELEVEN: Dyatlov, Dubinina, Kolmogorova, Kolevatov, Slobodin, Bienko, Krivonischenko, Thibeaux-Brignolle, Doroshenko, Yudin, and Zolotaryov. But the matter of Bienko would soon be settled.

On January 22, as part of the first shift of the UPI group of virgin land developers, Bienko left for the Un station 180 km (112 miles) from Sverdlovsk, where the UPI student timber industry enterprise would start work. Now they were TEN.

On January 22 Zina Kolmogorova arrived from Kamensk-Uralskiy after she was granted a leave of absence from her pre-graduation practical training at the Radio factory, PO Box 33. Zina wrote a letter to Lidiya Grigoryeva that day from Svredlovsk.

The Dyatlov group consisting of 10 hikers left Sverdlovsk on by train №45 (№43 in the diary) at 9:05 pm local time. They arrived at Serov station at 6:38 am. The journey took 10h 34m. Distance between Sverdlovsk and Serov is 388 km (241 mi). Until mid-1939, Serov’s name was Nadezhdinsk, but the name of the city's railway station had not yet been changed. The station would be renamed from "Nadezhdinsk" to "Serov" only in 1964.
Read all diary entries for January 23, 1959 →

The Dyatlov group had only 9 tickets for the first leg of the journey, and Lyuda had to hide under the seats when the conductor came to check the tickets. I guess this is because it was her responsibility as treasurer to buy the tickets. Why did she buy only 9 tickets, was it to save money or maybe she didn't expect Zolotaryov to show up?

The Dyatlov group arrived in Serov at 6:38 am where they had 11 hour layover. They visited railway school №47 (№41 in the diary) where Zolotaryov and Zina talked to schoolchildren of 1st and 2nd grade about the perks of tourism. The hikers left for Ivdel at 6:30 pm by train №81, en route from Nadezhdinsk to Polunochnoe, where they arrived around midnight. By that time, they had already had to face the authorities twice. The first encounter took place at the train station in Serov, where Krivonischenko decided to earn money for candy by singing, and then had to be rescued from the militia station. Then on the train, a half-drunk man tried to accuse the hikers of stealing his bottle of vodka.
See all diary entries and photos from January 24, 1959 →

The letter is written on Jan 24th 1959 in city of Serov and sent on Jan 26 from Vizhay, the last post office on their route.

The Dyatlov group got off train №81 (Nadezhdinsk-Polunochnoe) in Ivdel-1 around midnight local time (21.42 in the timetable). They spent the night at the train station, taking turns on duty throughout the night. At around 6:00 am on January 25, they took a bus from the railway station to the city of Ivdel. They dropped at the post office to stamp their route books and at around 7:00 am a crowded bus GAZ-51 took them together with Blinov group on a 90 km (56 miles) trip to the village of Vizhay, where they arrived at around 2:00 pm. The group stamped the route books for the second time at the Post Office at Vizhay. More information about Vizhay →
See all diary entries and photos from January 25, 1959 →

The ride was not uneventful. The bus was to ride to the village of Shipichnoe, which was a digression from its route and then come back. It was suggested that the hikers should get off and take a walk until the bus returned. While part of the group was helping to pull out a logging truck that had got trapped in the snow, four of them, led by Kolevatov, managed to reach the village of Talitsa and went sightseeing around the local power plant. Suddenly, someone shouted, “The bus!” The hikers rushed to the door, but it was too late: the bus would not slow down and they could not catch up with it. Fortunately, a local woman hailed it down on the road, and it stopped – great luck indeed, as it might otherwise have just driven by. It was not uncommon for the local drivers not to wait even for schoolchildren on special rides taking them back home from school. Or to come out with responses such as, “My way, or the highway.” This is what the local paper "Northern Star" wrote on Feb 25, 1959.

Vizhay was one of the many campsites which by 1959 had survived the infamous Gulag system. It so happened that on that day there was a general meeting of Komsomol members from all campsites. After the meeting, Blinov had arranged with one of the departing trucks to take his group to District 105, about 15 km (9 miles) west of Vizhay. From that point the Blinov group hikers were planning to start their ski trek of about 220 km (137 miles), so they took a warm farewell of the Dyatlov group. No one could know that they would never see each other again.

The Dyatlov group was staying at Vizhay, but they were not wasting time. They consulted with Ivan Rempel, a forest officer of the Vizhay forestry, who helped them reconfirm their route, copy the lay-out of the forest plot along their route, and mark up the boundaries of the planted forest. Rempel warned the group of the perils of the route, particularly the heavy winds at the Ural Ridge, but the hikers did not take his warnings seriously. They were looking forward to the evening entertainment, the famous Symphonie in Gold (1956) movie at the local club, followed by a night at the Vizhay hotel.

People speculate that because his name is on the last page of Kolmogorova's diary this is what she last wrote. There are blank pages left in the diary before Rempel's name. See Kolmogorova's diary →

More pictures of Ivan Rempel →

At about 10 am on January 26, they sent their last messages to their relatives and friends. Dyatlov wrote to Pervouralsk, Slobodin to Sverdlovsk, and Kolmogorova to the village of Cheremkhovo. Dyatlov was also supposed to send telegrams with mandatory checkpoint notification of their coming on the trek to the UPI Sports Club and the Routing Commission city committee for Physical Culture and Sport, but there is no evidence that he did. Perhaps he forgot to do that, as well. More information about Vizhay →
After lunch, at 1:30 pm, the Dyatlov group hitched a ride to the District 41 settlement 40 km (25 miles) north of Vizhay, on a Vizhay logging camp truck with ineffective brakes and broken springs. The departure from Vizhay is confirmed by the stamp of the Ivdel MVD corrective labor camp’s office from January 26 in the group's route book.
See all diary entries and photos from January 26, 1959 →

These are their last letters to relatives. The transcription in English can be found: Igor Dyatlov card, Rustem Slobodin card, Zina Kolmogorova letter.

Riding along with the hikers was one Aleksey Hatanzeev, head of the “Red Chum” division in the village of Sosva, who was in charge of cultural and propaganda work with the local population; he was traveling to District 41 to organize a film screening. Around 4:30 pm they arrived at District 41, where they were warmly greeted by civilian workers. In the evening they were treated to one more cultural program, including two Soviet movies, My Apprenticeship (1939) , Est takoy paren (1956) , and once again the Symphonie in Gold (1956). Then they spent the night at the District 41 dormitory.
See all diary entries and photos from January 26, 1959 →

The morning of January 27 was clouded by Yudin’s sudden sickness, an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. Yudin said he had experienced such bouts earlier – during the 1958 Altai expedition, when Dyatlov was leading the group, and in 1955 when Yuri was hospitalized with rheumatic heart disease. On the current trip, he had caught a chill while traveling in an open-back truck to District 41. Nevertheless, Yudin decided to continue with the group to the abandoned 2nd Northern settlement, 22 km (13 miles) north of District 41. They got lucky that Georgiy Ivanovich Ryazhnev, head of the 1st forest plot of the Energolesokombinat (Energy Forest Works), who lived in District 41, let the group load their backpacks on a horse-driven sleigh, that was going to the 2nd Northern to bring some pipes back. While they were waiting for the sleigh, the group’s common equipment, which Yudin had been carrying, was divided among the remaining hikers to carry in their backpacks. They also bought some food at a local store. One of the local workers made a lasting impression on the group’s members. As Dubinina wrote in her diary: “I particularly remembered Ognev with his ginger beard and his Beard nickname. Generally, you don’t often meet people like him in such a hole. He is a true romantic, a geologist, and above all, intelligent.” At 4 pm the group started on skis along the Lozva river towards the 2nd Northern. Their backpacks were put on a sleigh by one Stanislav Valyukyavichus, a carter of the 2nd Northern logging site. Late in the evening, at around 11 pm, they arrived at the 2nd Northern, where they spent the night in an abandoned log house.   See all diary entries and photos from January 27, 1959 →

After breakfast on January 28, Yudin, Thibeaux-Brignolle, and Doroshenko inspected a core logging facility, which was an open warehouse of geological samples kept under a shed. Yudin took several cores with him since he was in the habit of bringing samples of rocks and minerals for the museum of the UPI Geology Department from all his trips. That was the reason for his trip to the 2nd Northern. It was time to part with Yudin. Around 10 am, Valyukyavichus departed from the 2nd Northern, taking along the pipes and Yudin’s backpack. The sleigh would arrive at District 41 at around 3 pm. Yudin bid his final farewell to his comrades. At the last moment, Dyatlov asked Yudin to warn the Institute of the group’s possible two or three-day delay, given the heavy ice built up on their skis during the passage to the 2nd Northern along the Lozva river, with the route planned along the rivers. However, Yudin would forget to send a telegram to the UPI sports club with that warning. Around noon Yudin skied light-handed along the trail of the sleigh riding to District 41, where he would pick up his backpack and spend the night at the same hostel as the day before.

Before partying Lyuda gave a souvenir to Yuri Yudin, a small Teddy Bear. He kept the fluffy toy until the end of his days. After his death April 29, 2013, the Teddy Bear was passed to Kuntsevich, head of the Daytlov foundation at the time. Kuntsevich himself passed away on 11 August 2021.  Read more about Yuri Yudin →

Did you know that among Dyatlov group possessions were two other bear toys? They belonged to Slobodin and Krivonischenko.   See Protocol inspection of items found at the scene (Case files 11-20) →

After parting with Yuri Yudin, at 11:45 am on January 28, the nine hikers took the route up the Lozva river. The weather was good, with a temperature of -8°C (18°F). Going on skis on the first day with the entire load on is never easy, and the group had to make frequent stops to scrape off wet snow from their skis to continue.

“We have done the first 30 minutes. Sure, the backpack is heavy, but it is manageable. The first day is always hard... Yesterday it was much easier to go without backpacks”, Zina wrote in her diary. Aleksander tried to use drags made from a spare pair of skis to pull his backpack, but they were not much help, so in the end the backpack went back onto his shoulders. This is described jokingly under the Technical News in the Evening Otorten. Yuri K. was walking behind the group, making a sketch map. That was unusual. Previously, if Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle was part of the trek team, it was he who made maps along the route. He was so good at it that his maps would be used by other groups going on that same route. See below maps drawn by Thibeaux-Brignolle in Altai 1958. Perhaps Yuri K. believed that he could do even better. But what is weird is that these sketches were never recovered. Where are they?

Around 4 pm the group had lunch, then covered one more passage and, at about 5:30 PM, arrived at an encampment on the bank of the Lozva river. That was their first night in the tent. They got busy setting up the stove and sewing a makeshift curtain from a bed-sheet. Zina set about mending holes in the tent. Soon they all sat down to dinner, lengthy conversations, mostly about love, and song-singing to Yuri K.’s mandolin. All that time, a conflict was building up between Igor and Zina. “We settled down to sleep. Throughout the whole evening Igor was so rude, I couldn’t recognize him. I had to sleep by the stove on top of the firewood”, – wrote Zina in her diary.   See all diary entries and photos from January 28, 1959 →

On the morning of January 29, Yudin would leave by truck to the village of Vizhay, together with Ryazhnev. There he would try to find the medications he needed at a local drugstore, managed by one Teodor Gerzen. Teodor Abramovich Gerzen was fond of drawing and making Christmas nativity scenes inside glass bottles. He had a sort of a museum inside the drugstore.   Read Yuri Yudin's diary →

From Vizhay, Yuri would go home, to the village of Emelyashevka of the Taborinskiy District of the Sverdlovsk Region. He would return to Sverdlovsk only on February 19.

The Dyatlov group continued skiing up the Lozva river. They had good weather, with a temperature of -13°C (8°F) and a light breeze, but experienced continuous ice-built on their skis. The plan was that they reach the mouth of the Auspiya river – the right tributary of the Lozva river – and then proceed westward towards the Ural Ridge, this time along the Auspiya river.

“We first went along the Lozva, then turned onto the Auspiya. Beautiful places”, Zina wrote. The group was following a Mansi trail which began at the Auspiya river’s confluence into the Lozva river, and then went towards the ridge along the Auspiya river. They spent the night not far from the ski track. Kolevatov and Tibo were on duty. Kolmogorova and Doroshenko reminisced about their past relationship. “Yurka and I were chopping firewood, talking about the past. What a playboy!”, – Zina wrote in her diary.

Dubinina had a clash with Tibo: “...they were arguing for a long time about who was to mend the tent. Finally, Kolya gave up and took up the needle. Lyuda remained sitting while we were all mending the holes. There were so many of them that there was enough work to keep everyone busy, except for the two on duty and Lyuda. This made the guys very angry.” They then had to celebrate Doroshenko's birthday without Lyuda, who retired into the tent after dinner and wouldn’t come out throughout the night. The birthday present – a tangerine – was divided only into eight pieces.   See all diary entries and photos from January 29, 1959 →

In the morning the temperature fell to -17°С (1°F). Nobody wanted to get up from bed. To quote from one of the diaries, “The guys on duty (Sasha Kolevatov and Kolya Tibo again, as punishment for slowing down the group the day before) took their time starting the campfire. Last night we decided to get up and vacate the tent within eight minutes of the wake up call. So we all woke up long ago, waiting for the signal. But there was none. At around 9:30 am, we slowly began to rise.” After breakfast, the group resumed their trek up the Auspiya river, their pace once again impeded by ice-built on the skis. They continued to move up the river bank, skiing along the Mansi trail and stopping to examine the Mansi signs on the trees and a recent encampment site.

At around 2 pm, the group paused for a modest lunch of smoked pork loin, a handful of croutons, sugar, garlic and coffee, all stocked up in the morning. There was a strong southwest wind accompanied by snow-fall. Then the trail came to an end: it was hard to move cross-country in snow up to 120 cm (4 feet) deep. After two more stretches, at around 5 pm the group decided to stop for the night. In the evening, the temperature fell to -26°С (-15°F), with a heavy west wind knocking snow down the cedar and the pines. Luckily, thanks to the dead-wood and high fir-trees, they had everything necessary for an overnight stay: a blazing campfire and a tent on fir twigs.   See all diary entries and photos from January 30, 1959 →

This is a transcript of the diary from the case files that was originally thought to be Kolmogorova's but it is not know to this day who does it belong to. The last entry is from January 30. The last paragraph says "Today is the birthday of Sasha Kolevatov. Congratulations. We give him a tangerine, which he immediately divided into 8 pieces (Lyuda went into the tent and did not come out until the end of the dinner). So another day of our trek went well.” Aleksander Kolevatov is born on November 16th. What's up with this then?

I haven't come across a satisfactory explanation for this entry. But I have read crazy ones. Here is one that takes the prize, read further. Since this is not the only mistake in this diary and it is believed it was found in Dyatlov's field bag, why is he carrying it if it belongs to someone else? And this is not the only mistake in this diary, the train number doesn't exist. The Dyatlov group took train №45, not №43. There is a theory that there is another Dyatlov group in a parallel dimension where things happen slightly differently, you know. Everyone knows that, right? At some point, the dimensions overlap or cross, and bad things happen. Something that came and went back into the other dimension could have killed them and dropped the wrong diary in the process.

My tribute to the Dyatlov group with Teddy Bears and tangerines to the memorials on the pass and Mihaylovskoe cemetery

Photos from Discovery Channel Expedition Unknown 2019 →
Photos from my visit to Mihaylovskoe cemetery →
Russian article "Tangerines for Dyatlov" →
Travel blog of the Teddy Bears that went to the Dyatlov Pass in 2019 →       ...and again in 2022 →

On the morning of January 31, a new conflict erupted as Nikolay refused to stay on duty and Zina and Rustem, who had to take over, accidentally burnt Krivonischenko's mittens and sweatshirt. He went into a fit and started screaming and swearing at them, but the group still managed to start relatively early, at about 10 am. They were moving along the Mansi ski trail, which would frequently disappear, forcing them to feel their way forward.

Dyatlov wrote in the group’s diary: “Walking is especially hard today. We can't see the trail, have to grope our way through at times. Can’t do more than 1.52 km (1 mile) per hour. Trying out new ways to clear the path. The first in line drops his backpack, skis forward for five minutes, comes back for a 10-15 minute break, then catches up with the group. That’s one way to keep laying ski tracks non-stop. Hard on the second hiker though, who has to follow the new trail with full gear on his back.”

Gradually, the group was moving away from the Auspiya river: “We gradually leave the Auspiya valley, it’s upwards all the way but goes rather smoothly. Thin birch grove replaces firs. The end of the forest is getting closer.” Judging by Zina’s wording in her diary “Today, we’ll probably be building a storage”, the group had discussed laying down a cache site before the radial ascent towards Mt. Otorten. That was not a spontaneous decision. During the planning stage of the route, Dyatlov had realized that a cache site in the upper reaches of the Auspiya river should make going to Otorten with lighter backpacks easier, and had discussed the idea with Sergey Sogrin. The site was intended to be above the forest line but, as it turned out, that was not to be: “Wind is western, warm, piercing, with speed like the draft from airplanes at takeoff. Firn, open spaces. I can’t even think of setting up storage here.”

By that time, it was already around 4 pm, and the group had no choice but to return to the valley of the Auspiya river. Dyatlov wrote down: “We’re exhausted, but start setting up for the night. Firewood is scarce, mostly damp firs. We build the campfire on the logs, too tired to dig a fire pit. Dinner’s in the tent.”

We can only speculate about what happened next. By the evening of January 31, the group was slightly behind schedule: they were supposed to cross over into the valley of the Lozva river that day, but the elements forced them to stay in the valley of the Auspiya. Did they intend to make up for that lag and make changes to the trek route? Could it be they didn’t see the situation as critical? Were they planning to get into higher gear or to continue at their usual pace?

See all diary entries and photos from January 31, 1959 → ... and make sure to scroll down, there is more information under the gallery.

 

The only thing we know is that on February 1, the group set off from the valley of the Auspiya towards a pass which at that time had no name, but would later come to bear that of their group. They were not to write down anything further in their diaries, nor would they ever be heard from again.

They had to prepare a note for the ascent to Mt Otorten, but instead they write Evening Otorten №1, a satirical propaganda leaflet. The original Evening Otorten is unknown. Only a typewritten copy remained in the criminal case file.   See what they wrote and photos from February 1, 1959 →

 

 

THE SUNRISE DYATLOV GROUP DIDN'T SEE

Dyatlov Pass time lapse by Vitaly Dolmatov.