1959 Northern Ural

1959 Jan 23-Feb 12(15) category III 250 km ski trek in Norther Ural: Sverdlovsk – Serov - Ivdel - Vizhay - 2nd Northern - Auspiya river - Pass in the upper Lozva river (later called Dyatlov Pass) - Mt. Otorten (ascent to Otorten 1234m) - upper Auspiya - Pass to the upper Unya river - upper Niols river - ascent to Oykachakhl 1322m - North Toshemka river - Vizhay
Igor Dyatlov (leader), Zinaida Kolmogorova, Lyudmila Dubinina, Yuri Doroshenko, Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle, Yuri Krivonischenko, Aleksander Kolevatov, Rustem Slobodin, Semyon Zolotaryov, Yuri Yudin

How the group got together

Here is a little history of how the group got together, from documents and recollections of their fellow hikers; who went on this trek, who didn’t and why.

From Chubarev and Popov letters
"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 of Petroleum Machine Building (TatNIIneftemash)."

From Sergey Sogrin testimony (Case files 330):
"In the winter of 1958-1959, Dyatlov began to prepare new expedition of which the whole section knew. Initially, the expedition was supposed to be carried out in the Subpolar Ural, but since this area required a lot of time, it was abandoned and the Northern Ural was chosen - the region is easier and more accessible. I myself was also in midst of a preparation of a category III trip to the Subpolar Ural, and Dyatlov and I often talked about our routes, shared our experience, jointly decided on some or other issues of preparation, tactics on the route."

From Sergey Sogrin recollections:
"I invited Zina Kolmogorova in our group... One day, Zina somehow embarrassedly refused to go with us... Most likely Zina decided to get permission from Igor to join our group. I think that in the manner typical of him he quite bluntly refused her ... Zolotaryov preferred Dyatlov’s trek, and Igor accepted Zolotaryov in his group."

From Yuri Yudin testimony (Case files 293-294):
"In December 1958, several members refused to go. Then I, Doroshenko and two other students - Bienko and Vishnevskiy asked Dyatlov to join the group... Subsequently, Vishnevskiy and Bienko decided not to participate in the hike."

From Vadim Brusnitsyn testimony (Case files 362):
"The trip to the Northern Ural was conceived in the fall. The first organizers of it were Y. Vishnevsky, L. Dubinina and S. Bienko. At first they did not get along well... until Igor Dyatlov took up the cause to organize the group."

From Vladislav Bienko recollections:
"I didn’t succeed with my own route to the Subpolar Ural, and in early January 1959 I asked to join I. Dyatlov’s group, leaving for the Northern Ural, and was accepted."

From Petr Bartolomey recollections:
"After this trek [1958 Altai in summer] Dyatlov was eager for the next vacation to go skiing in the area of Mt Otorten. He invited five members from the Altai group: Slobodin, Thibeaux-Brignolle, Yudin, me and Halizov ... Only a tempting prestigious place in the undergraduate practice at Mosenergo (Company of Energy and Electrification, daughter company of Moscow United Energy Company) made me leave the Dyatlov group a month before the start of the trek. I can't remember now why did not Halizov go."

From Yuri Blinov recollections:
"It started with us...[Blinov], Yudin, Doroshenko, Kolmogorova... And Slavka (short for Vladislav) [Bienko]... Sashka (short for Aleksander) Kolevatov sided with me... And we invited Dyatlov... And we had an earlier agreement with Yuri Krivonischenko that he would join... And then when I wagged my tail - Kolevatov stayed there [he was not friends and did not know the physicists from the new Blinov group]... [Dyatlov] invited Zolotaryov; and Slobodin responded as well... they appeared later and joined..."

From Zinaida Kolmogorova letter:
"The composition of the group on Jan 22, 1959: Dyatlov, N. Tibo, Yuri Krivonschenko, Yudin, Vishnevskiy, Bienko, Kolevatov, Dubinina, Kolmogorova, Doroshenko"