The Dyatlov Pass Incident
Nine experienced hikers left their tent on a snowy mountainside in the night and never came back.
What was reported
In early 1959, nine students and graduates of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, set off on a skiing expedition in the northern Urals. On the night of 1–2 February they camped on the slope of Kholat Syakhl.
When searchers found the tent weeks later, it had been cut open from the inside, and footprints led down the slope towards the forest. All nine had died, several in light clothing in severe cold, and some had serious injuries. Soviet investigators closed the case, citing an 'unknown compelling force'.
Explanations offered
Theories over the years have included avalanches, military tests, violent winds and infrasound. In 2019 Russian prosecutors reopened the inquiry and concluded that a small slab avalanche had driven the group from the tent. A 2021 study in a scientific journal showed how such an avalanche could happen on that slope and cause the injuries. Not everyone accepts this, partly because the tent wasn't buried.
- When
- 2 February 1959
- Where
- Kholat Syakhl, northern Urals, Russia
- Witnesses
- The hikers' diaries and photographs, and the search teams
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.