If you put the question like this: "Why did everyone die?" then the answer will be very simple "they all left the tent without clothes, in winter, at night on the pass in the polar Urals" and died of frostbite, they could not all understand that leaving the tent in these circumstances is fatal. I have slept in tents a thousand times in winter and winter in the mountains and even in winter on ice in the North Pole region. I know what cold is and how quickly it works. The only thing that could force me to leave the tent and throw all my equipment in such conditions is the obvious mortal danger of continuing to stay in it.
The most important question is why did they leave the tent?
One of the versions, which is the most obvious and simple, as well as logical, in which all the details can come together.
The guys went in for sports tourism and went for a discharge, a common thing in Soviet times and February for the Urals and Siberia is the most suitable time: there are no Epiphany frosts down to -50, there is no melting snow and you can easily ski and the time and equipment were chosen wisely, clothing matched skiing - lightweight and breathable.
Despite the competent steps at the beginning of the path, nevertheless there is a version that the tragedy occurred due to the carelessness of the participants of the tour as a result of the mistakes they made.
They chose a dangerous route, which they were advised not to take, did not take an additional tent, miscalculated the time, they walked and were late and already understood that the path was useless and they would not reach their goal, so the route was quite sluggish by that time. On the last day, they wanted to climb to the top to put up a tent, but they started the ascent late, thereby making another mistake, during the ascent they faced strong wind and snow and a drop in air temperature, they realized that it was useless to climb further, people were exhausted and their clothes were already wet, so we put up a tent, undressed, did not light the stove because there was a strong wind, plus to everything that we chose the wrong place for the tent on the slope.
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The layer of snow has melted. The tent was covered with snow. Three were injured, they were crushed, after which they got out of the tent. It was at night, until they figured out what was what, they were already frostbitten. We went into the forest to make a fire. But it's not a fact that in the forest you will immediately find something to light a fire, and if you find branches, they will be damp. And even at 30 degrees of frost, a small fire will not keep warm. Perhaps they began to panic, and as a result, make further wrong decisions.
Now there are questions: no one will ever undress in a tent during a cold night, here experienced tourists undressed and took off their shoes without a heat source. What for?
Avalanches are not a lump of ice that falls from above and injures those who are right below - it is a massive snow that melts away and blows everything in its path, it is impossible to cover a part of the tent with any layer, and the other will remain intact.
KP conducted an experiment, is it possible to run a kilometer without shoes in the cold and 200 meters in the wind and -20 - this is not physically possible, but how did the guys end up so far from the tent and without clothes and shoes?
If a layer of snow covered up the tent, say, halfway, then it would be logical to stay inside, recover, help the wounded as much as possible and assess the situation. But if it's night, fear that another layer will come down, panic …
If the layer filled up more than half, which prevented being inside, then the survivors simply could not pull all the wounded out from under the heavy thickness of snow.
Even if all the wounded have been removed from under the snow, it is simply impossible to go on their own with such injuries.
Well, let's say the comrades are crushed by the "board". They moan and ask for help. And so I, an experienced tourist, destroy the only tent that our group has and throwing all the equipment (even shoes) grab my wounded friends and drag them into the cold forest. What would that? You are the first time in this place, at night, the place that you want to find you will not find even during the day without landmarks. And here you, in socks and a shirt with a dying friend on your back, actually go to a burning house to find salvation?
All this does not fit with their experience. They were either not experienced. Or, the reason why they left the tent was some other.
Or there were no layers, but who drove them so into the night.