Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Yuri Yudin (1937-2013) was the only member of the Dyatlov hiking group to survive. He came from a poor family and grew up in a small village called Emelyashevka, located to the northeast of Sverdlovsk. Like many people from his generation, he experienced severe rationing during World War II; in Dead Mountain, he tells Eichar that he was seven years old the first time he had sugar. Yudin had health issues for his entire life, including “rheumatism, a heart condition, and chronic knee and back pain” (39-40). He enjoyed hiking despite these challenges, describing it as his salvation. At the Ural Polytechnic Institute, he studied geology and befriended other avid hikers. 

Yudin was determined to scale Otorten Mountain with the rest of the Dyatlov group so that he could earn his Grade III hiking certification, but back and leg pain forced him to turn back several days before the other hikers died. For the rest of his life, Yudin was plagued with questions about what happened to his friends and what might have happened to him if he had continued the journey with them. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Yudin had the unenviable job of identifying the owner of each of the belongings found in the tent and with the hikers’ bodies. He missed his friends’ funerals because of his role in the investigation. 

In the years after the Dyatlov Pass incident, Yudin completed his education and worked in a factory. He kept hiking, enjoying its positive impact on his life even as he recognized that his friends all died while hiking in the wilderness. Near the end of his life, Yudin spoke with Eichar several times about his experiences. He provided valuable insight into his friends’ personalities and the details of the first few days of the hike. Yudin firmly believed that his friends were murdered by Soviet military personnel, a theory that Eichar rejected immediately. Eichar and Yudin also had political differences; Eichar could not understand why Yudin vocally supported Stalin while denouncing Lenin and Putin.

Yuri Kuntsevich was 12 years old when the Dyatlov hikers died. He happened to live across the street from the cemetery where the hikers were buried, and he joined the large crowd of mourners for the funeral of the first four bodies. He did not know the hikers, but he was curious about the outpouring of grief. He noted that the open-casket funeral displayed bodies with strangely darkened skin, leading him to speculate about their mysterious deaths. When he grew up, Kuntsevich became the leader of the Dyatlov Foundation in Yekaterinburg, dedicating much of his life to trying to solve the mystery. Eichar notes that instead of relying strictly on scientific explanations, Kuntsevich “relied on his gut instinct,” resulting in interpretations that were “tinged with hyperbole” (172). Kuntsevich believes that one day, the answers will be revealed in previously classified government documents. Eichar is doubtful.

Kuntsevich was Eichar’s primary contact in Russia, hosting Eichar in his apartment during both of his visits to Russia. Eichar speaks almost no Russian, and Kuntsevich’s English is limited. Sometimes, Eichar had interactions with Kuntsevich that he could not understand, like when Kuntsevich prevented him from taking a photograph in the train station but did not explain why. Despite this barrier, the two men developed a productive partnership as they investigated the case. Once Eichar gained Kuntsevich’s trust, Kuntsevich put him in touch with Yuri Yudin and facilitated his journey to Holatchahl. Unlike Eichar, Kuntsevich was cautious, warning that unpredictable weather could be extremely dangerous. He insisted that Eichar visit the site for only a few hours and that he travel there via snowmobile. In the end, Kuntsevich’s expertise paid off, as Eichar realized just how physically challenging a hike through deep snow in low temperatures could be.

Lev Nikitich Ivanov was the chief prosecutor in the Dyatlov case. His behavior, whether voluntary or coerced, contributed to the atmosphere of Political Repression in the investigation. When he first took over the case, he made some astute observations about the hikers’ deaths; for instance, he was the one who noted a third set of footprints near the bodies of Georgy and Doroshenko. Almost immediately, Ivanov started asking questions about how the hikers died. He suggested that the hikers would not have left their tent voluntarily and must have been murdered. Although he at first considered the orb or weapons test theory to be a likely answer, after a mysterious visit to Moscow, Ivanov stopped talking about both of these theories and insisted that other investigators follow his lead. Given that neither option is particularly likely, it is still uncertain why officials told Ivanov to drop his lines of questioning. Of course, there is also the possibility that Ivanov’s change of opinion was not externally imposed; like most parts of the Dyatlov case, his motives are subject to speculation.

When the hikers’ bodies were found, Ivanov was partially responsible for the bizarre way that the funerals were handled. Officials originally wanted the hikers to be buried near where they were found, and even when families successfully petitioned to bury their children at home, the funerals had to be quite discreet. Ivanov insisted that the last four hikers receive closed casket funerals, refusing to open the caskets to allow the families to see their children’s bodies. He only made an exception for Lyuda’s father, who fainted at the sight of her body. Eichar notes that in later years, Ivanov expressed regret about his actions, especially regarding the hikers’ funerals. In an article written decades after the event, Ivanov apologized “to the families of the hikers, especially that of [Lyuda] Dubinina, [Kolya] Thibault-Brignoles and [Sasha] Zolotaryov” (342).