Dead Mountain

November 1, 2013
An American documentary filmmaker drops into the well of one of Soviet Russia's greatest mysteries. Eichar, who has shot everything from short documentaries to TV pilots, applies a documentarian's eye to this thorough but inconclusive investigation into one of the East's most controversial tragedies. "The Dyatlov Pass Incident" is quite famous in some circles, especially in Russia and the Baltics, but little-known outside the former Iron Curtain. In 1959, nine young hikers suddenly disappeared in the northern Ural Mountains. When the group was finally found, six had died of exposure, while three were found to have traumatic, blunt-force injuries. One girl was missing her tongue. None were fully dressed, as if they had fled suddenly in the dead of night. It was a gruesome scene, made more so by a flood of conspiracy theories. Were they murdered by the military after witnessing some kind of secret test? Was it UFOs or just an avalanche? The final report by investigators, which is murky at best, blames "an unknown compelling force." Eichar marries the short story of the students' lives with the procedural tale of the official investigation and then integrates his own amateur investigation. In an interesting twist, the author managed to track down Yuri Yudin, the sole survivor of the expedition, who had turned back due to his rheumatism, saving his life. Yudin, who passed away earlier this year, was mischievous with the serious young scholar: "Do you not have mysteries in your own country that are unsolved?"; "Which picture do you want to paint? The one rooted in the Revolution, or that of the Iron Curtain?" The author deftly explores theories common and uncommon, the most off-putting being an infrasonic wave known to cause hallucinations and disorientation. It's not a revelatory portrait of the incident, but for Western readers, it's a well-told and accurate whodunit. A sad tale of tragedy and investigatory enigmas from the wilds of Soviet Union.

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November 1, 2013

In 1959, nine young Russians set off on a doomed ski trip in the wintry Ural Mountains, never to return. Eichar, a television documentary producer, investigates the mysterious events leading to the untimely deaths of these experienced outdoor adventurers, whose frozen bodies were found later by search parties, some with severe injuries and one lacking a tongue. The author ably pieces together a detailed chronicle of this haunting incident, using official case files, interviews, journals, and other evidence. Through his research into the many bizarre and seemingly unexplainable aspects of the tragedy, he attempts to rule out previously suggested causes such as an avalanche, an attack by a native tribe, Soviet weapons testing, and even aliens. While recreational readers will appreciate the drama and poignancy of Eichar's solid depiction of this truly eerie and enduring mystery, pickier researchers may question the lack of bibliography or notes to indicate exact sources, which makes the accuracy of his re-creation of certain events difficult to judge. VERDICT Best suited to fans of outdoor adventure or survival tales or to general nonfiction readers who appreciate the allure of an engrossing real-life enigma. Readers may also want to consider Keith McCloskey's Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident, published last month (but which was not seen by this reviewer).--Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI

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