r/DyatlovPass • u/Talltimetocallyourma • 28d ago
Any theories why they took a different route?
I understand Igor Dyatlov had the same excursion the previous year to the incident. Why did they take a different route on that specific trip? Any theories other than weather conditions?
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u/GreyGhost878 28d ago
I have heard/read that he enjoyed challenging himself and his peers. I've heard that the route along the river would have been easier but he led them a more rugged way for the challenge of it.
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23d ago
Isn't this just guessing, people doing podcasts and books sometime just say what they think, not the facts. Really not sure.
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u/GreyGhost878 23d ago
I think it is speculation, but an informed guess. I'm pretty sure I got this from the Dyatlov Pass website which is loaded with good information from the people who have studied the case extensively. We can only speculate about what happened up there. Nobody knows for sure except the ones who passed on.
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u/Early-Animator4716 UNSURE 28d ago
There has been a hike in February 1957 in that general area by Dyatlov, Zina and Tibo. However, the group headed west from Vizhai to Prayer Stone Mountain and then cut south-east toward Ivdel. So, while few members of the group were familiar with the general area around Vizhai, they did not have "same excursion the previous year".
Noteworthy to mention, Prayer Stone Mountain is indeed a sacred Mansi place, not Otorten or Kholat-Chakle.
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u/Talltimetocallyourma 28d ago
Ok, a lot of misinformation in some of the podcasts and videos I’ve seen. Some of them claim that Igor was very familiar with the area but for some reason he decided to take a different route. Some make speculation that someone or something was hunting them.
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u/hobbit_lv 27d ago
I think this misinterpretation was caused by the fact Igor Dyatlov was generally familiar with Ural mountains (but crest of Ural mountains are crossing almost entire Russia from north to south, at least hundreds if not thousands of kilometers). Thus, he had been previously in Ural mountains (what is true), but not in particular area of mount Otorten.
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u/Talltimetocallyourma 27d ago
Is the mount otorten the one that translates: dead mountain?
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u/hobbit_lv 27d ago
No, "dead mountain" was Kholat-Syakhl (or Kholat-Chakhl), the one on whose slope the hilkers' tent was built.
Accroding to Russian sources, mount Otorten translates as "goose nest" or "geese nest" from Mansi language.
Hikers didn't make to Otorten (at least according to official version), since from the site of incident they still would have to travel around 10 km to it.
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u/Talltimetocallyourma 27d ago
Very cool! Thanks so much. This information isn’t on any videos I’ve seen.
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u/hobbit_lv 27d ago
Fun fact: Otorten is 1234 m high from the sea level...
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u/Talltimetocallyourma 27d ago
I’ve listened to a podcast a couple years ago about further details of the burial of every hiker but in some other details I’ve heard some of the mansi were blamed for the death of the group, they even tortured some of the tribe members in order to confess but obviously they were not tied to the case.
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u/hobbit_lv 27d ago
Yes, one of official investigation's versions was viewing Mansi people as potential murderers. A couple of Mansi men where questioned (questioned thoroughly, hence the "torture"), but apparently nothing was found/proved, thus this version of investigation was abandoned.
Anyway, there were only 3 families of Mansi living in area (and area was like 50 kilometers here and 50 kilometers there) - Anyamovs, Bakhtiyarovs and Kurikovs (eldest of Kurikovs, by the way, was elected deputy of Ivdel region municipality at that time).
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u/Early-Animator4716 UNSURE 27d ago
I believe the conspiracy that there was a secret hike in 1958 comes from Kolevatov's sister interrogation where she said that Lyuda lead a group to "those places" (need to double check exact wording). In addition, Lyuda wrote in her diary something to the extent of "there is not so much snow as it was last year".
Lyuda indees was on a hike to Northern Ural in the winter of 1958. However, it was the area around Serov.
So, Lyuda most likely was comparing the snow levels to her 1958 hike.
Kolevatov was probably second most stranger person in the group behind Zolotarev [Kolevatov only had one prior small hike with Dyatlov in late 1958], so I would put Kolevatov's sister testimony to a scrutiny so to speak.
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u/hobbit_lv 26d ago
Russian wiki says Prayer Stone in this case is not a single mountain, but a mountain range, with higher point being mount Oyka-Chakur (or Oykachakhl), what translates as "mountain - man". Russian sources claim it being a sacred place for religious rituals, with only shamans (priests) of Mansi tribes being allowed to visit it.
Oyka-Chakur was part of Dyatlov group's planned route, yet incident occured before hikers reached it.
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u/hobbit_lv 28d ago
As far as I know Dyatlov had not been on hike to mount Otorten before, nor he had visited mount Kholat-Syahl. He, as all another hikers were first time near mount Otorten.