People would associate the Urals with mystical places, such as the Dyatlov Pass, the events of which, dating back to 1959, were the subject of numerous studies, television broadcasts and even a Hollywood film. However, this is not so easy to do.
Konstantin Kuznetsov, director of the Yekaterinburg Adventurers' Club, went to the Dyatlov Pass more than 50 times. Since 2009, Kuznetsov has been climbing the "cursed mountain" together with tourists as a guide.
“The snowmobile expedition lasts three days. Anyone can go, the main thing is an adult and at least with a little hiking experience. We fully provide protection and safety, overnight stays in a warm place, hot meals,”said Kuznetsov.
The guide himself calls the version of the death of the Dyatlov group collective. “It's a set of circumstances. There is definitely a mysticism, he says. - I myself felt it at the level of feelings, emotions. In this place, you yourself involuntarily become a pagan, you begin to believe in spirits, in their traditions."
"The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass" - this is how it is customary to call the story that took place in a remote point of the Ural Mountains in January 1959. A group of ten students of the Ural Polytechnic University went on a tourist trip of the highest category of complexity. The end point of the route was climbing Mount Otorten (in the Mansi language - "Don't go there").
One of the participants in the ascent, Yuri Yudin, withdrew from the route due to joint pains, not wanting to be a ballast for his comrades. The group continued its further fatal path in the composition of nine people. The expedition was led by a student and an experienced tourist Igor Dyatlov.
The last thing that is known for certain about the course of the expedition is that the tourists pitched a tent on the pass between Mount Kholat-Syakhyl (translated from Mansi as "Mountain of the Dead") and an unnamed height. That is why it is now called the Dyatlov Pass.
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When the group of tourists did not return from the ascent within the specified period, relatives sounded the alarm. A search party immediately left for the site. What the rescuers saw at the place where the camp was set up resembles the plot of a horror movie: the tent was collapsed, swept by snow and cut through in several places. The first two bodies were found one and a half kilometers away. Both young people were called Yura - Krivonischenko and Doroshenko. They were literally stripped to their underwear and were at the remnants of the fire.
Three more - Rustem Slobodin, Igor Dyatlov and Zinaida Kolmogorova - were found near the tent. All five died from hypothermia.
The other four (Semyon Zolotarev, Alexander Kolevatov, Nikolai Thibault-Brignolle, Lyudmila Dubinina) could not be found until May. When the snow began to melt, in a ravine nearby, they found a cache covered with coniferous branches, in which four more students took refuge. Their bodies were seriously injured: broken ribs, a fractured skull. Student Lyudmila Dubinina had no language.
Despite many years of investigation, the cause of the death of tourists has not been established to this day. The versions included an avalanche, infrasonic radiation, methyl alcohol poisoning, an attack by animals, a Bigfoot, an attack by local Mansi residents and an attack by American spies. The mystical version, according to which aliens and UFOs are involved in the story, is still quite popular.
As a result, the Soviet authorities officially closed and classified the case. However, a few years ago, the story of the Dyatlov Pass suddenly found a second wind: it began to be discussed on forums and blogs, a series of thematic documentaries was shown on TV, and fans created a special website dedicated to the Dyatlov group using pictures from a camera found in the tent.
Local officials confirm that the sensational legend has done its PR business.
“People are interested in the legend and versions that explain what happened to the group of students. However, tour operators do not officially take tourists there,”said Elmira Tukanova, director of the Center for Tourism Development in the Middle Urals. The official did not deny that extreme lovers go to the "damned mountain" as "savages".
Confirming the opinion that demand creates supply, Tukanova said that with the development of infrastructure in the region, it will be necessary to launch tours to the Dyatlov pass: “Tourism is transport networks, hotels with meals. In the area in question, all this is not. Apart from the legend itself, we have nothing to sell to tourists. And this is not enough."
However, Konstantin Kuznetsov noted that if you follow certain safety rules, you can make tours to the pass.
“To stay safe and sound, we do not spend the night in the place where the tent was found, and we do not go hiking in groups of nine. There were terrible moments, but they are at the level of sensations. On the whole, there is nothing fatal,”the guide assures. Next year, the guide of the Adventurers Club is going to organize a children's tour to the Dyatlov pass.