![]() Varying the mass and speed of the snow slide, and comparing the results with data from car crash simulations, the team demonstrated that a 5-meters-long (or 16-feet) block of snow suddenly sliding down the slope could be enough to break the ribs and the skulls of some of the hikers. Modifying a computer program also used for realistic snow physics in animation movies, the researchers simulated a slab avalanche on the slopes of Kholat Saykhl. During the night strong winds, as described in the expedition's diary, accumulate additional snow and ice, stressing the snowpack to its breaking point. The hikers disturbed the snow pack by digging out the snow a couple of feet down to set up the tent. On the day of the accident, the snow at the campsite was 2 meters (6 feet) deep. The slope immediately above the campsite of the Dyatlov group was at 22-30°. Avalanches can occur on any slopes but are more frequent and common on slopes steeper than 28°. However, slab avalanches, an avalanche formed by a sheet of hard, dense snow sliding down the slope, are responsible for almost 90% of all avalanche deaths. ![]() Most people imagine an avalanche like loose snow sliding down a mountainside. In an article published today in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, a research team from the Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zurich and École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne presents data suggesting a "freak avalanche" as the most likely explanation. Russian authorities quickly closed the case, noting that "the cause of death was an unknown compelling force which the hikers were unable to overcome." What really happened to the hikers at the " Dyatlov Pass" prompted wild speculations that range from a blizzard, serial killer, animal attacks, secret weapons, a military cover-up, gravity anomalies, a fire in the tent, killer snowmen, UFOs and temporary insanity caused either by drug abuse or infrasound. Ten days into the trip, on the first of February, they set up a campsite for the night on the slopes of "Height 1079," known to the indigenous Mansi population as Kholat Saykhl Mountain. ![]() Recovered photos and journal entries suggest that everything was fine, even if there was a lot of snow and the weather was bad, slowing down the hikers. They proceeded on foot and skies, following the Auspiya river into the mountains. Tormented by severe pain, he decided to head back - yet unaware of the irony that his illnesses had just saved his life - while the remaining group of nine continued as planned. On January 28, one of the hikers, economics student Yuri Yudin, had begun to feel quite ill. All nine hikers of the expedition died under mysterious circumstances. Alekseyevich Dyatlov (23), Semyon Alekseevich Zolotaryov (38), Zinaida Alekseevna Kolmogorova (22), Alexander Sergeyevich Kolevatov (24), Georgiy Alexeyevich Krivonischenko (23), Rustem Vladimirovich Slobodin (23) and Nikolai Vladimirovich Thibeaux-Brignolles (23). The "Dyatlov group": Yuri Nikolayevich Doroshenko (23), Lyudmila Alexandrovna Dubinina (20), Igor.
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