No. Because an avalance can vary is size and is usually classed based on it's size, mass and destructive potential. Category 1 being the weakest, 5 being the strongest.

A Category 2 avalanche was most likely what they experienced. One that is strong enough to injure or bury a person but not damage the surrounding forest. Category 3 is usually strong enough to destroy a car or break a few trees. Category 4 is strong enough to clear up to 4 hectares of forest and destroy a building. Category 5 is the largest known avalanche, capable of destroying a village and clearing up to 40 hectares of forest.

When a small slide of snow buried a portion of the party in that ravine, all of the buried victims would have been dead within approximately 30 minutes without rescue from a combination of severe injury and suffocation. All those left on the surface would have been dead within the next 2 hours of hypothermia, statistically.

Hm, has anyone ever thought of getting on Google Earth and trying to pinpoint exactly where the camp was set up and exactly where the bodies were found? That might give us an idea if an avalanche there was really a possibility.

For the avalanche theorists:
could you sum up the timeline of the events in your opinion?

Sure. Based on the recovered diaries and report, I'd say this is how it went down:

January 23, 1959 - The group reaches the village of Yuri Yudin.

January 27 - The group departs from Yuri Yudin, minus one ill party member.

January 31 - The group reaches the headwaters of the river Auspii and spend the day stashing most of their supplies to lighten their packs before attempting to climb the mountain Otorten, 10 kilometers to the North. By 3pm, they are finished and begin the journey through what would become Dyatlov Pass, located between two mountain peaks.

February 1 - at approximately 5pm, the tent was erected on the slope of Kholat Syakhl.
At approximately 8:14pm, an avalanche struck, killing three members of the party and injuring a fourth.
Presumably, they were in the woods nearby to collect firewood.

February 12 - The group does not return as scheduled.

February 26 - The tent was found. Followed by the discovery of the first group of bodies.
The search continued for 2 months.

May 4 - The remaining bodies are discovered under 12 feet of snow in the woods.

This was the planned path by the hikers. They gathered at Idvel. Stashed supplies and changed direction at the river. And planned to pass through what would become Dyatlov pass in order to climb Mount Ortorten.




This is where they stashed the supplies and headed for Dyatlov pass.



And this is the pass itself.

Originally posted by allenidaho
No. Because an avalance can vary is size and is usually classed based on it's size, mass and destructive potential. Category 1 being the weakest, 5 being the strongest.

A Category 2 avalanche was most likely what they experienced. One that is strong enough to injure or bury a person but not damage the surrounding forest. Category 3 is usually strong enough to destroy a car or break a few trees. Category 4 is strong enough to clear up to 4 hectares of forest and destroy a building. Category 5 is the largest known avalanche, capable of destroying a village and clearing up to 40 hectares of forest.

When a small slide of snow buried a portion of the party in that ravine, all of the buried victims would have been dead within approximately 30 minutes without rescue from a combination of severe injury and suffocation. All those left on the surface would have been dead within the next 2 hours of hypothermia, statistically.

Sorry for disappearing for awhile but again if it was an avalanche wouldn't the snow have shifted? Sure it'd be small but it'd still be noticeable to the investigators. I find it hard to believe that the investigators wouldn't just have said it was an avalanche if they had proof of it being so. What's the point in letting this mystery continued to be debated for them?

I just saw the ancient aliens episode about this and this was the first thread that popped up in search. I've read every post and I think this story is a genuine mystery which hasn't been adequately explained.

I'm curious about one aspect of the incident. It was reported that the tents were torn open from the inside. I'm just curious how the cut can be determined coming from inside the tent as opposed to the outside? It would seem that somebody could have cut the tent from the outside with a knife and there wouldn't be a way to tell the difference. Oh well, it's a shot in the dark but I'm hoping somebody with more information may answer that question. Thanks for the great thread, and I hope you're still around

Only read the 1st 4 pages so far & have to go out now.

It might seem trivial, but how come the two whose bodies were recovered by the tree had managed to try starting a fire - they were in their undies!?! Why would they grab matches or a lighter, and not grab their clothes.

& to whomever said the other person must have bitten their own tongue off - surely that would have been found in the autopsy.