Dyatlov Pass: Nine People Left a Tent in the Snow and the Gap the Soviet State Could Not Explain for Decades

On the night of February 1, 1959, nine members of a ski expedition pitched a tent on Kholat Syakhl in the northern Ural Mountains of Russia. Igor Dyatlov, a final-year student at the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led a route of about 300 kilometres. The others were students or young engineers. They had travelled in winter mountains before and knew how to pitch a tent, keep warm, and move through snow.

Almost a month later, searchers found the tent cut from the inside. Shoes, coats, blankets, and most of the equipment were still inside. Tracks led down the slope. The nine people had left shelter in the cold night, many wearing thin clothes or almost no footwear. None survived. The best-known rumour says they did not run from an ordinary avalanche. They ran after seeing or hearing something the Soviet state did not want to name.