«An ice-axe and an extra pair of skis were found near the tent. An unlit Chinese flashlight lay on the tent. 9 backpacks, 9 pairs of skis, all of them lying under the tent bottom, 8 pairs of ski boots, 3.5 pairs of felt boots, quilted jackets, and a lot of rusks, a half-bag of sugar, a large amount of concentrated food, porridges, soups, etc., cocoa, axes, a saw, cameras, the students’ diaries, documents and money were found in the tent.»
A criminal case file, sheet 310
According to the Protocol of Tempalov’s interrogation, 10 pairs of skis were found on the slope of the height «1079», i.e. 9 pairs under the tent and 1 pair at the entrance. Moreover, Vassiliy Ivanovich said that 8 pairs of ski boots were in the tent, not 9 of them, as he had previously stated. I wonder what made Tempalov change his mind in respect to the discovered skis and boots? After all, it was not for nothing that he suddenly supported the opinion of Maslennikov, thereby admitting his own mistake.
The Protocol of discovery of the Dyatlov group camp site, February 28, 1959
«All found items were transferred for the inventory and delivery to… the base of the Head of the search and rescue detachment, Maslennikov Yevgeniy Polikarpovich, wherefore this Protocol was drawn up. Junior Counsellor of Justice, Tempalov.»
A criminal case file, sheet 2
What a striking picture! Did Tempalov, Brusnitsyn and Lebedev really make a mistake in counting? And Yevgeniy Maslennikov, who the items were handed over to «for the inventory and delivery», after their inspection, found that the inventory did not correspond to reality. But how could this have happened? The three persons could not make a mistake just like that. Something is wrong here. Undoubtedly, an explanation for this strange event should be found somewhere in the criminal case files.
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Aleksei Alekseyevich Chernyshov, March 11, 1959
«The tent was set properly. The snow was trampled and a flat site was prepared, the skis were lying on the snow with their sliding surface up, the tent bottom was already put on them. The quilted jackets were laid at the bottom in the tent itself (away from the slope), the empty backpacks were laid out in the tent. On the same side of the tent (towards the slope), the personal things of each hiker lay. In the right corner, near the entrance, there was some food: cans of condensed milk, concentrated food, etc., 8 pairs of ski boots and 7 felt boots were lying along the length of the tent, on the side of the slope.»
A criminal case file, sheets 89 and 90
Hence, the Deputy Head of the united search and rescue detachments, Captain Chernyshov, on the one hand, confirms the fact that there were really 8 pairs of ski boots in the tent, but on the other hand, he does not say a word of the number of skis. And the situation with the actual number of skis starts to look hopeless, remaining one more contradictory piece of information, which is, most likely, to remain unexplained.
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Georgiy Vladimirovich Atmanaki, April 7—8, 1959
«There was no sense in continuing the further inspection of the items, and so, they put everything back in its place until the investigator’s arrival, having first raised the tent and pulled out the three pairs of skis, since the dog handlers were walking on foot, and the rest of the skis were used by us to mark the places where the bodies of the dead were found.»
A criminal case file, sheet 215
Here is an answer why those, who were sorting out the items in the tent, were mistaken with the actual number of skis. The thing was that at the time of drawing up the Protocol by Vassiliy Tempalov, the searchers took several pairs of skis for their needs. A fair question arises: «Why did they not share this important information with the Head of the united search and rescue detachments, Yevgeniy Maslennikov, and he, in turn, with Vassiliy Tempalov?»
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Yevgeniy Polikarpovich Maslennikov, March 10, 1959
«Brusnitsyn was the one who was mostly engaged with the tent, and he would tell of the location of the items in it better than me. Considering that a prosecutor, Comrade Tempalov, and a sufficient number of people were near the tent, I went down to the search and rescue detachment, because it was necessary to activate the search for the people.»
A criminal case file, sheet 70
That was why Tempalov changed his mind concerning the number of skis, found on the slope of the height «1079». But, as is often the case with the investigations, after answering one question, there arises another, no less important one: «Where did the extra pair of skis, which had not been there at the beginning of the hike, come from?»
The Protocol of inspection of the items, found at the scene, March 5—7, 1959
«The clothes, found on the body of Igor Dyatlov, were listed in the autopsy report: a fur sleeveless jacket, trimmed with blue satin. Yura Yudin said that that sleeveless jacket belonged to him and he handed it over to Sasha Kolevatov on January 28, 1959».
A criminal case file, sheet 13
It turns out that Yura Yudin gave Sasha Kolevatov not only «a fur sleeveless jacket, trimmed with blue satin», but also the skis and ski poles. And this event took place in the 2nd Severnyi village on January 28, 1959. But how then did Yura Yudin get to the 41st Kvartal, having lost not only his fur jacket, but also the means of transportation across the terrain, covered with deep snow? And why did the group leader let the sick comrade go alone, without being accompanied? I will provide the answers to these fair questions in the next chapter of my work, dedicated to Igor Dyatlov’s group.
Chapter 2. What Yura Yudin was silent about
Previously, it was assumed that the sick Yura Yudin left the hikers on January 28, 1959, which corresponded to reality. But the question arises, how did he get from the village of geologists to the village of lumberjacks? And if one cannot give the right answer to this question, one can go astray, already at the start of the research, and this, in turn, will lead to a sad ending, rather than an understanding of what, in reality, happened to the hikers on that unfortunate day, when they were on the slope of the height «1079».
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Yuriy Yefimovich Yudin, April 15, 1959
«My leg ached, I could not participate in the hike, so on January 28, 1959, from the 2nd Severnyi village, I returned back to the city of Ivdel, and the other 9 people went on skis and with all the equipment along the route.»
A criminal case file, sheet 294
Yura Yudin himself does not explain how he got from the 2nd Severnyi village to the 41st Kvartal, moreover, from the village of geologists he immediately appears in the city of Ivdel, missing in his narration the two settlements at a time, i.e. the 41st Kvartal and the Vizhai village, as if he wanted to conceal this important information from the investigation. And this fact alone already raises suspicion of Yura Yudin’s desire to cooperate fully with the prosecutor’s office. And accordingly, the researchers of the past had to solve this difficult issue themselves, relying on the meager information, available both in the criminal case files and in the diaries of the hike participants.
The diary of Zina Kolmogorova, January 28, 1959
«Uncle Slava is leaving today with his horse, and Yura Yudin is leaving too. He took a few core samples. I saw this type of ore for the first time after drilling.»
Coming from the diary of Zina Kolmogorova, indeed, Yura Yudin left the hikers on January 28, 1959, and allegedly