About this episode
Nine hikers flee into a Siberian blizzard without shoes. Decades later, the Dyatlov Pass incident remains the ultimate cold case of the Ural Mountains.[INTRO]ALEX: In February 1959, rescuers in the Russian Ural Mountains found a tent sliced open from the inside, surrounded by footprints leading into the minus forty-degree darkness—made by people wearing only socks or nothing at all.JORDAN: Wait, they cut their way out? If you’re in a blizzard, the tent is your only liferaft. Why would you destroy it to get out into the killing cold?ALEX: That is the question that has fueled sixty years of conspiracy theories. Nine experienced hikers died that night, and when the bodies were finally found, some had crushing internal injuries equivalent to a high-speed car crash, yet not a single bruise on their skin.JORDAN: Okay, now I’m hooked. This sounds less like a hiking accident and more like a horror movie.[CHAPTER 1 - Origin]ALEX: The group was led by Igor Dyatlov, a 23-year-old radio engineering student who was essentially the MacGyver of the Ural Polytechnical Institute. He put together a team of ten high-level explorers for a Category III ski trek, which was the most difficult rating the Soviet Union recognized.JORDAN: So these weren't amateurs. They knew exactly how dangerous the Urals were in the dead of winter.ALEX: Exactly. They were fit, trained, and well-equipped. But early in the trip, one member named Yuri Yudin had to turn back because of chronic joint pain. JORDAN: Talk about a lucky break. That pain literally saved his life.ALEX: He was the last person to see the other nine alive. By February 1st, the group reached the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, a name which the local Mansi people translates to "Dead Mountain."JORDAN: Oh, come on. If the locals call a place Dead Mountain, maybe don't set up camp there?ALEX: They didn't just camp there; they chose the most exposed spot on the eastern slope. They were about 10 miles from their destination when a massive snowstorm rolled in, forcing them to pitch their tent right on the incline.[CHAPTER 2 - Core Story]JORDAN: So, the storm hits. They’re hunkered down. What happens next?ALEX: No one knows for sure, but the evidence tells a terrifying story. Sometime in the middle of the night, something terrified the group so much they didn't even use the tent zipper. They used knives to slash through the canvas and ran downhill toward a forest a mile away.JORDAN: Barefoot? In forty below zero?ALEX: Mostly barefoot, or just in underwear. Search parties found the first two bodies under a massive cedar tree near the woods, next to the remains of a tiny fire. They had tried to climb the tree, evidenced by broken branches five meters up, as if they were hiding from something—or looking for their tent.JORDAN: This is where it gets weird, right? The others weren’t just frozen.ALEX
