Archaeologist: That's why they died in the mythical expedition

The Djatlove expedition is named after its leader Igor Djatlov and consisted of nine experienced skiers who would go to the mountain Otorten, in the Ural Mountains during the winter of 1959.

During the expedition, they disappeared and were later found dead at the place now called the Djatlov Pass.

One side of their tent was cut open, there were traces of bare feet in the snow and inexplicable damage to the bodies.

One, for example, was missing lips and tongue. 

Since then, many have tried to understand what really happened.

The Snowman, the KGB and the UFO have all been spread as possible explanations.

Russia presented a report in 2020 stating that the expedition had an avalanche.

However, that explanation has been questioned, including in a new report that DN reported on during the past week.

Repeated overnight stay

The documentary The Mystery at the Djatlov Passport describes how the archaeologist Richard Holmgren and his expedition spent the night at the same place where the Djatlov expedition disappeared, 60 years after the incident.

He has a different theory about what happened.

It is based on a similar accident in the Swedish Anaris mountains in 1978. There, eight Swedish skiers froze to death and one was seriously injured after being surprised by a weather phenomenon called catabatic winds.

The phenomenon occurs when cold air over a glacier or a mountain range flows down over lower lying areas.  

- Since the cooled air has a higher density than the surrounding atmosphere, the gusts can be accelerated to storm or hurricane strength, explains Deana Bajic, meteorologist at SVT.  

Richard Holmgren believes that the same weather phenomenon affected the Djatlove expedition and that they had to leave their tent in the middle of the night due to the strong winds.

They panicked and did not have time to get dressed.

He believes the injuries may have been caused by, for example, snow weight and during the search operation, when poles were pushed down into the snow depth.

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