The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass

This is part of my ongoing mysteries series, which is a continuation from my very popular A to Z Challenge posts this year. Warning: Some violent content.

In January of 1959, a group of young, experienced skiiers set out to ski the Ural Mountains, armed with hiking gear. On January 28th, one of their group fell ill and had to turn back.

He would be the lucky one.

Nearly one month after the group started their trip, searchers found their tent on the uppermost slope of the "mountain of the dead." Diaries and cameras documented their journey, including this photo of four of them toward the beginning:


Photo Credit: Daily Mail
There was no sign of the nine students. There were eight or nine sets of tracks in the snow, leading away from the tent. Some had been wearing socks, some only one shoe, and some were completely barefoot. The temperatures had been well below zero.


Photo Credit: Daily Mail
On closer inspection, the searchers realized the tent had been cut from inside. All of the skiiers' belongings were there, including most of their shoes.



At the edge of the forest were the first two bodies, near the remains of a small fire. Both bodies were clothed in only underwear, with no shoes.


Photo credit: DyatlovIncident.com
Three more bodies were found in a position that suggested they may have been trying to return to the tent. A few months later, the remaining four skiiers had been found. They were dressed. Their bodies were nearly 250 feet from the other bodies.


Photo credit: Misterika
Using the diaries and photographs they found, investigators discovered that on the last day, the group had run into bad weather. They'd decided to set up camp early. Experts placed the time of the "incident" to sometime after dark but before dinner.


Photo Credit: Daily Mail
Forensics found that the tent had been cut from the inside--a hole large enough for the campers to escape through. What had caused them to run away from the safety of their tent?



Three of the skiiers had serious skull injuries consistent with an extremely aggressive blow. Two had suffered damage to their chests. No other footprints were found near the tent. The damage was that which would be seen in a car accident, experts say, and too extensive to have been caused by a human. This was the final photo from their camera:




To this day, no one knows for certain what caused the skiiers to flee their campsite. Six died of hypothermia and three died from fatal injuries. One of the biggest puzzlers of all?

Some of the clothes had notable amounts of radiation on them.



There have been many theories, but the Dyatlov Pass Incident still remains one of the most puzzling unsolved mysteries of all time.

What do you think happened to the hikers?