Boris Slobtsov 2013

Boris Slobtsov interview Channel 1, 2013

BS: Well, so I came to the tour club. There was an announcement that there had been no news from Dyatlov for four or five days, and a search group was being assembled. I was surprised, and they made me the leader of this group. Although there were more experienced people there. I don't know why it happened. They appointed me and that was it. I had led several expeditions before, that is, it was nothing out of the ordinary. It's just that one of those who took part in the search, Vadik Brusnitsyn, had always been my boss, and here he became a member of my group.

God bless him, he became one of my group. The group was assembled hastily. We somehow distributed responsibilities, who does what, before leaving. They sent me to the Suvorov Military School for flare guns, for rockets. Someone got food and all that. And in the evening we already boarded the plane at the army airfield, Aramil, it's called in the Urals, and flew to Ivdel. We flew to Ivdel. That day we decided that it was already too late. And the next morning we flew, with the goal of landing as close as possible to their northern point of the route.

Question: Who raised the alarm? Who was the initiator of this group, a hiker, a search group?

BS: Who was there? The sports club of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, where each group that went on a hike left a control date, and this control date was monitored by the Hiking Section of the Institute. There were no assumptions at the initial stage. None.

They were delayed - anything could have happened. Since it is the taiga, after all. There are animals there. This is Ivdellag. And in the Urals, that is, in this area, there were quite a lot of white prisoners. It was a scary place for... Well, they are gone: gone and gone. I don't remember exactly how much time passed. But about six days, probably, passed so that they should have returned. Ah, I remembered: the parents were worried. The parents of these students were worried... The group that went, it was an adult one. We were rescuers, that is, young: second and third years, that is. And the seniors, the graduates had been there before, and they had gone on their hikes earlier. And we were just getting ready or planning it.

Question: Did you know Igor?

BS: I knew him and treated him with respect. He was already finishing college. And I was there in my second, third year. But when I met him, I was in my first year. Well, in general, I remembered him from the reviews of others, well, I didn't go with him, so I didn't go on hikes.

That's why I remember that he seemed strong, like the leader of the group, that's how I remember him. So he was physically strong, normal. I knew some of the group. Well, I knew Zina Kolmogorova, because she was a popular girl in UPI hiking, well, she sang well, she was pretty, etc. Well, she was a strong hiker. And I knew her well, I knew Lyuda Dubinina. Lyuda Dubinina and I crossed paths together in the Sayan Mountains and even carried her. She was accidentally shot in the leg, so her group left, and she stayed with our group. And we all helped her then. I knew Krivonischenko a little, because I went with his younger brother together, and the elder Krivonischenko - he had already graduated from this institute. So, I just knew him, but I knew how. Well, who else did I know well? I knew Yuri Doroshenko well, because we were in the same group in the Sayan Mountains. Both of us went, although he was older than us. Well, the rest, well, I knew at various hikers' meetings. I can say that they were strong hikers, since I knew, you see, the strictness of the leader Dyatlov. He always approached the formation of a group very strictly. Well, the only one he didn’t know, you see, was the instructor of the tourbase. I forgot his last name. He went with them. He was an instructor. He asked to go. He had to do a high-category hike. The hike was supposed to be of a high category, to meet the standards of a master of sports. That's why he asked. Someone recommended him. Of course, I knew everyone by sight, well, except for this one, the instructor from the Kaurovskaya tourbase, you see, well, close, well-known, like with Doroshenko and Dubinina, he participated in her rescue work in the Sayan Mountains, you see, with Doroshenko, we just went together in the same group for two years. Well. But according to the reviews, they were all quite strong and similar. Dyatlov always approached the staffing of his group very strictly.

Question: Well, as a hiker, can you somehow evaluate their route?

BS: I cannot correctly evaluate the entire route, since we were dropped off at this, so to speak, point where they disappeared, and with an error. We were supposed to be dropped off as close as possible to this mountain, that is, Otorten, but the pilots made a mistake and put us on another mountain. And we had to walk to this mountain Otorten for about two days. A lot of snow, etc., that's it. Therefore, I cannot say about the entire trip, and we encountered difficulties there. But in general, the route along the Northern Urals is about the same. They are all quite difficult in winter. That means there is snow here, there is cold here, there are possible animals here. And so on and so forth.

Question: Were there any cases when any of the other guys disappeared? Do you remember something like that?

BS: No, I don't remember. Well, actually, there were no disappearances among the sports club, among the club's hikers. They could break a leg, someone would twist their leg, do something else. I don't remember such serious incidents.

Question: Do you remember how new groups were formed?

BS: Well, I remember, since I was present from the first minute, or something, of this case being formed. I came to the institute to arrange a retake of the exam and read the announcement that everyone should gather at the club. Well, I ran to the club, it was in the main building of our institute, there was already a notice hanging in the club: Well, it's gone. The Dyatlov group has missed the deadline and that the team is planning to fly to the Northern Urals to search for the missing group.

Question: And who else was included in the group?

BS: Well, of my close ones, with whom I went before, this is my usual Leader, Vadim Brusnitsyn. In total, about ten. We flew to Ivdel there by plane. That's it. We spent the night in Ivdel, since it was too late to fly that same day, which means that in the morning they transferred us to a helicopter, and we were on a helicopter, as close as possible, which means to their northern point, we should not have moved away from Mount Otorten, then turn back, and already to the south, that's it. Well, the pilots made a mistake. This mistake should have cost us a two-day march there, that's what we started. And we started looking. But these were already the places they were supposed to go. There was quite a lot of snow, well, there were some paths. Well, in general, it was normal and not hard to walk.

Question: And what was the temperature? Remember, it was cold?

BS: Then, I say, when they dropped us off, well, the temperature was, well, we won't consider it comfortable. Well, I don't know, maybe ten degrees, maybe eight degrees, but not twenty. Not twenty. We found twenty a little later, when we had already found them, when we... No, no, we didn't reach Mount Otorten. We thought that it would take us about two days to get there. That was already the second overnight stay and we were climbing the pass, that is. To the left of us, along the way, there was this Ural ridge, then we already knew how each of these peaks marked here was called, but here we did not know. We, since we had a team from all the search groups. The seniors, the senior students had all already been on hikes, the first, second, third year. Since our session was later than the senior students. So, such a team was assembled and as the youngest, the most, well, inexperienced in life, we thought that nothing terrible. They got lost. Well, maybe someone broke a leg, broke it, made themselves a shelter. They sit, wait for rescuers. There were no radio stations then. That is, they did not have climbers with them. There were no radio stations for the lungs, so we, in our youth, thought that nothing terrible. And what happened was this, someone broke badly or got very sick, which is impossible, he was transported. That's why we've been completely calm about it so far

Question: And how did you understand that they didn't reach the summit?

BS: We haven't figured it out yet, it was far away. We had another day of hiking, where we kept losing and finding ski tracks and assumed that there was no one else in the area, so it was definitely their ski track. So we climbed another pass to go further between the Lozva River and between Auspiya, which means we were laying out, well, marking out for ourselves, another route. There were few of us, which means I, Sharavin, a local hunter, would split into groups, which means we would then gather somewhere. Now there were three of us. And our task was to climb the Ural ridge, which is to the left of us, so we could look from above. We had good binoculars. To look at these fairy tales that they scared us with, that there is something on Mount Otorten. Well, some karst formations, sinkholes, cornices, and that once, several years ago or many years ago, it would be more correct to say, several teams of Mansi fell off these cornices and crashed, well, who knows, maybe they flew away somewhere with this cornice. We had a task for that day, then. But Sharavin looked straight at this thing, carefully examining it and saw, then. If about Mount Otorten, it should have been ahead of us, and to the left of us was the Ural Range, well, and while Sharavin was examining all this, he was on the slopes of this Ural Range, well, something very reminiscent of a tent, he was still far from it, a kilometer, well, maybe one and a half, maybe kilometers.

Question: Did you walk for a long time?

BS: No, not long. Here. So, we decided to go there. Moreover, with our plans, we were climbing a not very high Ural Range and from there we could get a better look at Mount Otorten with binoculars. We went. As we approached, well, the top of this range, the slope became steeper, and we had to take off our skis, we left them and went there with poles. But through the binoculars it was already clear that it was a collapsed tent. Well, a collapsed tent. A tent that, that is, was not completely covered with snow, but partially collapsed. That's it. And the closer we got to it, the more slippery the slope was, or something. That's what we'll say. Well, finally, we got to the tent, and saw a very large gap in the middle of it. The tent looked, well, crushed, snow had fallen on it. It had been standing for a long time. But it wasn't completely collapsed.

Question: Was everything set up?

BS: Well, at least we had no complaints about that. Then we just came up and saw that through that gap, that there was a pile of things lying there, covered in snow. When it's normally up, it's about the height of an average person's shoulder, a tent. But here it was crushed by snow. That is, it was almost lying in the snow. There. You could see the tent in its entirety. And the gap in that sewn-together tent in the center, by the way, they later found out about it, it went on several institute hikes, that's it

Question: That is, hypothetically, there could have been people in a tent like that? Or did you immediately understand that here it is, well, uninhabited?

BS: No, even with our little experience, we already understood that the tents. Either there are no people at all, or there are no survivors. That's why, when we came close to it, we couldn't climb into it, because everything was littered and it had sunk quite a bit, or something, so we, well, poked inside with sticks. Then we jumped with sticks or onto the road that was nearby along the entire tent, well, I don't know, you can't call it a trench, well, a ditch. Well, a ditch, so that there are no people, right next to the tent. And satisfied that we didn't find any people, we started looking at the sky and at our watches. There were several sticks around the tent. One or two, but they were already there. And it seemed like there was nothing memorable, like things or something. If there was, then I did.

Question: Do you remember the flashlight lying on the tent? Is it already on the snow that has accumulated on the tent?

BS: Everyone has been asking questions about this flashlight for forty years. I know for sure that I forgot about it

Question: And they tell us that the shoes were in one place, and the things in another.

BS: It was only later that they sorted everything out. When they sorted everything out, they saw, well, like before any overnight stay, they fold it up. Well, they do it so that it is comfortable for the head, so that it is comfortable for the back, etc. That is why, from above too. How could they see through this gap. One entrance, one entrance was also open. The reasons, well, how is it, a mess. Covered with quite a lot of snow through these gaps. Here. It was impossible to see, well, the whole volume of things without sorting them out.

Question: so you say that they were all already folded, they were already getting ready and at the same time it was a mess. Was there order or disorder?

BS: Rather a mess, and through this hole, some, apparently, came out through the open entrance, and most through this hole - a gap in the center of this sewn tent, it was a mess covered with snow. But you couldn't see anything. But we still saw it. Well, first of all, there was something hanging at the entrance to the tent, on the ridge and on this pole, on the rack, which is this very thing, there was a windbreaker hanging. We reached into the pockets of the windbreaker and found something. We took a flask of alcohol with us.

Question: And did you look through the slit there? Well, what's there? And you didn't go in there?

BS: It was, well, impossible to say that it was difficult to go in there. Because it was covered with snow. But the only thing we did was try to poke around with sticks to see if there were people there or not. And then the next thing we did was we dug a ditch in the snow along the entire tent to make sure there were people. Well, in our youth, we still thought that they lived somewhere, that they were nearby. Then we realized that it was time to pack up.

Question: And you took a flask of alcohol with you?

BS: Well, we had to, we decided that we had to bring something with us. We brought a flask. A camera, which, well, was hanging on the ridge inside. And something else, I don’t remember, something else. That’s it, I remembered. We took something else with us. We didn’t take the jacket, but from the jacket. In the pocket was a tin box from Montpensier fruit drops. We looked into it and saw that there was some money in there and we didn’t count it, or I don’t remember, at least. So, after that, so to speak, well, the prisoners couldn’t do this fugitively, that they would have money, probably. Well, and after that it started to get dark. We decided that we had to go down quickly. A bag. So, we took a few things with us. And our remaining group, they had to pull up to the place where we left, so that they wouldn't think we were fantasizing, we took all this on purpose. Whatever came to hand and saw this. In the evening, someone was already preparing food, they poured out this alcohol, and drank to health. At that time, our companions. That's it. Well, the hunters by that time, there were two more people there, so there were two more people there. They said: We need to drink to the repose of the dead. We almost beat their faces in for such words.

Question: And the bottle of alcohol. Was it full or did they drink it?

BS: No. It was certainly not full, then almost full. If real hikers don't drink during a hike. But at that time, at least, I don't know about now. But in those days. The hike was long, we didn't carry a canister of alcohol to drink every day, a flask. Well, there's no more than a liter in a flask. It had to be kept for emergencies.

Question: What kind of footprints were there near the tent? Did you notice that?

BS: There were. Because we were already in a hurry. We didn't see anything significant to tell. We saw footprints leading away from the tent. That's all we saw. But we didn't see any signs of a struggle or anything else, any animal tracks.

Question: Did you also find Dyatlov's diary?

BS: Neither did we, when we were dismantling the tent. The next day, I think, there was a diary.

Question: And how did the search go the next day?

BS: So, since in the evening, the radio station people, you know, came to us, that is. Well, that means, the next day early in the morning almost everyone went up there. That means I was left, the radio operator, well, someone else, I don't remember, waiting for the morning connection. We had connections scheduled by the hour. When what. That means, well, when the hour came. I don't know, nine, ten. Well, what time in the morning. I reported the finds, received, so to speak, an order - That's it, stay here. That means all the other groups. There were many groups at that time and on the route, starting from Mount Otorten to the southern point where they were supposed to arrive. Climbing this peak Otorten. Well, everything was, so to speak, scheduled. The elders who were called: That everyone wait, continue looking for traces. Are there any, they are there. A: That means all the groups will be removed from all the points where they were: by helicopters or on foot or on skis, I will all go to this area where you were delivered. Just wait for us. Well, after that, the connection ended. And we went... There was no need to go to the tent yet. Where the traces led. That is, we went there. That means, and when the connection ended and I went there, that means there was someone else, I remember. By that time, the first bodies were already discovered near this cedar.

Question: Where did the footrpints lead?

BS: Here is a line. Unfortunately, they did not lead from where they came from and where their labaz was left. It went to the valley of the Lozva River. But nothing was really clear. Or there was nothing clear, nothing really, at least to me.

Why did they go here? They saw that they were walking, and it was quite obvious that not all of them were wearing shoes. Well, because there were no prints from boots or anything. But there were prints from. Now, take off your shoes and step here. There. In the morning they left. Well, some short time, I don't know, an hour or an hour and a half later, they found two bodies near a cedar tree.

Question: And how long did it take you to get there?

BS: Well, we got there after them, I don't know, another hour or two later. But after the end of the connection.

Question: You got there. And the guys have already found the bodies?

BS: They found the bodies and continued searching. Well, and everything else.

Question: But how many meters were the guys' bodies from the tent? Far?

BS: Well, I don't know, seven or eight hundred meters. That's how far they ran along the slope and the next hill began, on which these, a cedar or a pine tree, stood, I don't remember. That's where the first two bodies were found. Well, another one was found fairly quickly, that is, the next day, I can't remember exactly. The next day or the same day, this very Dyatlov was found. The next day, but I won't, I can't make it up, because I just can't remember.

Question: And did you see the bodies of the guys? Yourselves?

BS: I didn't see them. I was dragging them. We were the first troupes, the first five, here Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, who were near the pine tree or near the cedar, then, that is Zina Kolmogorova, that is Dyatlov and Rustem Slobodin, there were five of them, we had them all, that is more, I haven't flown away yet. That means we continued to look for the next ones. It's such hellish work. they brought us these probes that we pierced.

Question: Tell me, did you recognize them right away?

BS: No. Well, I recognized Dyatlov. Zina too. That means, but I didn’t recognize that same Krivonischenko near the pine tree. They were distorted. You see, they don’t talk much about this, from the first day, everywhere. And during the investigation I said that it seemed to me. That their complexion was some kind of unusual color. I have seen frozen people. They have normal, white skin. These had some kind of non-white color. It seemed unusual to me. Dark. I can't say that I’ve seen a bunch of frozen corpses in my life, that means, well, it seemed to me some kind of color, I’m not the only one. This hasn't been discussed much at all.

Question: Listen, did you not recognize one person. Did you think it was Zolotaryov?

BS: Yes. Even Doroshenko's own mother didn't recognize him at first. We also thought that it was Krivonischenko lying there, which meant it was not Doroshenko, but Zolotaryov. I had never seen or known about this before. You see. That's why. Well, firstly, a lot of time has passed, secondly, this frost, and maybe something else that distorts it.

Question: And their clothes? What were they wearing?

BS: What were they wearing? I don't remember. Well, almost all of them were barefoot. Slobodin, I think, had one felt boot. Someone else had something on, but overall, they looked like they were practically out of bed. Well, bed is conditional on such a hike with snow. All the same, they had something on, some clothes. Some had long johns, some had woolen ones, those very ones.

Question: And Zolotaryov, why did he end up with them on the hike? Why did he go?

BS: He, well, someone else was lobbying for him, I don’t know who, then. He, as we were told later, wanted to make the hike a top category. After that, he became a master of the top category. I didn’t know Zolotaryov and never saw him alive. I saw him only at the funeral.

Question: And the poses? The poses they were in. Were they normal? Or were they also some kind of strange?

BS: No, there were poses. Igor Dyatlov had one, then, of going up. Decided to lie down, rest or something? He was holding onto a tree with his hand, so that he could, maybe, get up or something? Well, well, Slobodin, when they dug him out, I don’t know what position he was in. So, Zina Kolmogorova, they say that she was also lying in a position, so that she could get up and go on. Well, how to lie down, rest. Well, we too, while they were being dragged back and forth, the weather was different. So, for example, from the point of view of the wind, one day, when we continued, and when we were carrying them to the helicopter to send them to Ivdel, there was such a crazy wind. At that time, we were dragging them on adapted skis and they, these corpses, were being pulled up. Because the helicopter was sitting on the pass, well, not very far away, we had to transport them. It was terrible. I myself, I remember getting there a few times, I was flying somewhere, our region is not alpine, but skiing, and skiing means boots, they don’t have any of that stuff.

Question: Do you remember, after the bodies were found, whether the military flew to the scene of the event?

BS: Well, we had some military there. Once upon a time, a large crowd lived there, we moved out of the tents and pitched a tent for fifty people, there were military among us, that’s it. Well, what kind of military, then, well, someone from those, as they called them, either search groups or normal officers. They slept with us… Well, it’s not written on them. There were a lot of people in that thirty-person tent, that’s why. Well, it seems like there were no surprises, they turned away from someone or someone told us something. So I don't know.

Question: And when the investigators showed up, what were they doing?

BS: What were the investigators doing? They were conducting their investigations. Well, they asked us something. They asked when we, well, came out of the woods. In a civilian room, where it was warm and at the table, they asked us, that same thing. Well, what could we guys tell them? We hadn't learned to lie back then, that's it.

Question: They say that the relatives of the dead were offered to quietly bury the guys in a mass grave right there?

BS: Well, about the mass grave, in my opinion, that's a fantasy. And the fact that it was offered not to take them to Yekaterinburg, to Sverdlovsk then, but to bury them in Ivdel, we knew that. But here all the relatives rose up in arms. And when something incomprehensible and ambiguous happened in our country, they tried to do it so that, well, so that fewer people would talk. Not to disturb the people, you understand? That's it. That's why all these corpses were taken to Yekaterinburg, then it was called Sverdlovsk, then, it's clear that this would cause unrest in the city. Therefore, it means that the authorities, who were always afraid and wary of all the unrest, it is more convenient to bury, well, in the forest, maybe in the same place, maybe not even bring it to Ivdel, right here. Dig a grave with some kind of explosive and bury it, not even bring it to Ivdel.

Question: Ah, it is true that in May they brought there devices for measuring radiation.

BS: Well, since some radioactive traces were found on things and their clothes were brought there. It means they were checked for radioactivity. Well, since Krivonischenko worked in one of the Sverdlovsk zones, where, well, they produced, enriched radioactive materials. Therefore, it is also unclear here. Either he came, arrived on this trip, in some clothes that were already slightly contaminated, or he got it here somewhere, from the fact that in the stream there, where they lay for several months until everything thawed, that something was leaking there. Well, no one conducted a thorough investigation, where. Where is it. But, the fact that some of the guys had traces of radioactivity, it seems, everyone admitted it. Here.

Question: But when you returned to the city and you were summoned for questioning, as the person who found the tent. Did they make you sign a non-disclosure agreement for twenty-five years?

BS: Maybe they made me sign something verbally, so that I would write something? I definitely didn't. Well, more like this: They hinted that it wasn't worth it. Well, there definitely weren't any direct papers on which I promise not to say anything for fifty years.

Question: And did you hear that they found burnt trees nearby in the forest, and that there were craters on the other side of the mountain.

BS: No.