The decision to discontinue the criminal case, May 28, 1959
«From the diary entries, croquis of the route and developed photographic films of the hikers it is determined that on May 28, 1959 the group went upstream the Lozva river, on January 30, 1959 the group continued its movement, on January 31, 1959 the hikers reached the Auspiya river and tried to go over the pass to the Lozva river valley, but due to the low temperature and strong wind they had to go back down and stayed overnight. On February 01, 1959 the hikers built a cache at the upper reaches of the Auspiya river, wherein they left the food supplies and all redundant equipment.
Returning on January 31, 1959 in the Auspiya river valley, and knowing of the difficult terrain conditions of the height «1079», where the ascent was supposed, Dyatlov, as the leader of the group, made a gross mistake, which manifested itself in the fact that the group began the ascent on February 1, 1959 only at 15:00 p.m.»
A criminal case file, sheet 384
In this document, the route, covered by the hikers, is not fully described, but, as is known, the investigation conclusions did not appear out of the blue. The prosecutor-criminologist Ivanov took advantage of the conclusions of the Head of the united search and rescue detachments, Yevgeniy Maslennikov, who was a master of sports in tourism.
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Yevgeniy Polykarpovich Maslennikov, March 10, 1959.
«On January 28.01.1959 the group covered about 15 km and stopped for the night on the Lozva river.
The next day, on January 29, the group reached the mouth of the Auspiya river and walked up to 3 km upstream.
On January 30, 1959 they walked 17 km, starting at 10.30 a.m. That was a warm overnight stay, whereof all the hike participants of the expedition responded well. The camp site of this night was found by the Slobtsov group.
On January 31, the group walked 14 km, and in the evening came to the Lozva river pass, to the place where we later had a helipad. The hike participants wrote in their diaries that the pass met them with the wind, similar to that of the aircraft takeoff. The bad weather and unsuitability of the place to spend the night in such conditions forced the group to return 1000 m down and spend the night in the wood, on the left bank of the Auspiya river.
The next day, on February 1, the group built a cache and at 15:0 p.m., after lunch, went on their old trail to the pass between the heights «1079» and «880».
A criminal case file, sheets 72 and 73
The conclusions of Yevgeniy Maslennikov contain one very interesting point. In contrast to the entries for the other days, which indicate the exact mileage, the entry for January 29 specifies only the distance passed along the Auspiya river. And in order to understand the reason for such actions of Yevgeniy Maslennikov, one has to know the exact distance from the 2nd Severnyi village to the mouth of the Auspiya river. And the distance is 17 km.
The hiking route by days, according to Maslennikov:
The 6th day of the hike, January 28, 15 km;
The 7th day of the hike, January 29, 5 km;
The 8th day of the hike, January 30, 17 km;
The 9th day of the hike, January 31, 14 km;
The 10th day of the hike, February 1, 2.5 km.
It turns out, that on January 29, the hikers walked only 5 km. Apparently, Maslennikov himself did not believe in that, so he indicated only the way, walked along the Auspiya river, and not the entire distance, which the hikers covered on January 29. But that’s not all. If you carefully study the version of Maslennikov, you can see with an unarmed eye that his conclusions were fitted to «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov. Namely, on January 31, the hikers allegedly covered 14 km, but was that really so? And in order to understand this important issue, one needs to add up the distance, walked by the hikers along the Auspiya river, coming from the testimony of Yevgeniy Maslennikov.
The Dyatlov group’s route, created by Maslennikov (from the 2nd Severnyi village to the tent on the slope of the height «1079»). January 28 – 15 km. January 29 – 5 km. January 30 – 17 km. January 31 -14 km. Лабаз – The cache. Стоянка манси – the Mansi camp site. От 2-го Северного рудника до устья Ауспии – 17 км – From the 2nd Severnyi to the mouth of the Auspiya river – 17 km.
January 29 – 3 km, January 30 – 17 km, January 31 – 14 km, February 1 – 2.5 km. If we sum up the entire distance, it turns out that from the mouth of the Auspiya river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079» is 36.5 km. Let’s round this figure to 37.
The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Ivan Vassiliyevich Pashin, March 7, 1959
«We found the first camp site of the hikers at a distance of about 17 km from the place of their death, and at a distance of 20 km from the Lozva river.»
A criminal case file, sheet 49
So, the forester Pashin confirms the calculations made by Yevgeniy Maslennikov. And he should have known, by force of his duty, the exact distance from the Lozva river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079». And that might be the end of it, if not a slight problem. The exact distance from the mouth of the Lozva river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079» was not 37, but 30 km. And what is most interesting, Maslennikov knew it for sure, as it is evidenced by his notebook entry.
The notebook of Yevgeniy Maslennikov
The schedule of movement
«January 28, the 6th day of the hike. From the 2nd Severnyi village to the Auspiya river, 31 km;
January 29 and 30, the 7th and 8th days of the hike. Up the Auspiya river, 30 km.
Маршрут похода по дням – The hiking route by days
An interesting story comes out. Based on the notebook entry, on January 29 and 30, the hikers walked up the Auspiya river, 30 km. And under the interrogation it was indicated only 22 km for the same days, of which 2 km along the Lozva river, i.e. 10 km less, which looks very strange. But even more surprising is the distance, walked by the hikers on January 28, 31 km in general. I wonder where this strange information, which turns everything upside down, came from. After all, it is known that from the 2nd Severnyi village to the Auspiya river is 17 km.
Radiogram No.28.2. Received by Temnikov. To Sulman
«All the documents of the group, except for the croquis and personal notebooks, were taken away by the prosecutor, including three copies of the route sheet. Maslennikov.»
A criminal case file, sheet 160
It turns out, that Yevgeniy Maslennikov did not invent anything, but used the information, obtained from the croquis, which were found in Igor Dyatlov’s field bag. But why does he say under the interrogation something different from what he writes in his notebook? That is the question.
Chapter 5. «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov
And now it’s time to study out the blind spots in «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov. Indeed, the hikers were not going to move along the Lozva river. That is why there