Primary documents

Criminal case «О гибели туристов в районе горы Отортен», volume 1, 1959, cited by sheet («л.д.»). Scans and transcriptions at dyatlovpass.com, English at dyatlovpass.com/case-files-N?rbid=17743, Russian at dyatlovpass.com/case-files-N-ru?rbid=17747, where N is the sheet range. Where wording matters this report quotes the Russian and gives its own translation; the English transcription was checked against the Russian on every load-bearing sentence, and the differences are catalogued in the forensic conflicts file below.

• Scene: the protocol of the site (2–7) and Tempalov's interrogation (310–313); the labaz protocol (8–10); the items protocol (11–20); the diaries (21–28); Maslennikov (62–75); Chernyshov (91); the search radiograms (among them 149–153, 177, 191); Atmanaki (209–220); Lebedev (314–315); Akselrod (316–329); Slobtsov (298–300); Brusnitsyn (365); Churkina's tent expertise (303–304); the ravine protocol (341–343); the fireball clipping and testimonies (344, 264–267, 290–292, 378–380); Ivanov's resolution of 28 May 1959 (384–387).
• Forensic: autopsy acts of Slobodin (95–103), Doroshenko (104–111), Krivonischenko (112–119), Dyatlov (120–126), Kolmogorova (127–134), Kolevatov (345–348), Zolotaryov (349–351), Thibeaux-Brignolle (352–354), Dubinina (355–357); Levashov's radiological expertise (371–377); Vozrozhdenny's interrogation (381–383).
• Mansi interrogations (82–87, 223–232, 261–262).
• Maslennikov's two search notebooks with the Burmantovo readings of 1 February 1959, read on the scans at dyatlovpass.com.

Scholarship, reports and the counter-case

• J. Gaume and A. M. Puzrin, "Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959", Communications Earth & Environment 2:10, 28 January 2021, doi 10.1038/s43247-020-00081-8, with its Supplementary Information and the peer-review file (reviewer Dieter Issler); A. M. Puzrin and J. Gaume, "Post-publication careers: follow-up expeditions reveal avalanches at Dyatlov Pass", Comment, Communications Earth & Environment 3:63, 2022, doi 10.1038/s43247-022-00393-x (read in full, PDF); their interview of 28 March 2022 at dyatlovpass.com/puzrin-gaume; the 7 January 2023 slab at dyatlovpass.com/avalanche-2023.
• Skull-fracture tolerance and snow strength, for the constraint on Thibeaux-Brignolle's fracture: D. L. Allsop, T. R. Perl and C. Y. Warner, "Force/deflection and fracture characteristics of the temporo-parietal region of the human head", SAE 912907, 1991 (2.5 to 10 kN, mean 5.2, flat 5 by 10 cm plate and 2.54 cm disc); N. Yoganandan and F. A. Pintar, "Biomechanics of temporo-parietal skull fracture", Clinical Biomechanics 19:225–239, 2004 (5.6 to 9.9 kN); M. Mellor, "A review of basic snow mechanics", IAHS Publication 114:251–291, 1975, Fig. 17 on p. 277, read from the plot (PDF saved as data/mellor-1975-snow-mechanics.pdf, with the figure as a PNG); the yield pressures of 30 and 100 kPa and the hardening law are Eq. 47–48 and the parameter list in the Methods of the 2021 paper. Arithmetic in code/physics/skull_constraint.py, output in skull_constraint_results.txt.
• The 2019–20 check: RIA Novosti, Interfax, Kommersant, KP, Vesti and Lenta reports of 11 July 2020; Kommersant on the formal warning of 10 August 2020 and the dismissal reported on 2 November 2020; Lenta of 2 February 2024; Izvestia, Fontanka, VZ and URA of 2–3 June 2026.
• E. Buyanov and B. Slobtsov, «Тайна гибели группы Дятлова», Yekaterinburg 2011; A. Rakitin, «Перевал Дятлова…», Yekaterinburg 2013 and murders.ru; R. Holmgren, "Dyatlov expedition – new theory", ARCDOC 2019; D. Eichar, Dead Mountain, Chronicle Books 2013; L. Ivanov, «Тайна огненных шаров», 1990.
• V. Borzenkov's 2022 rebuttal and V. Karelin's "the avalanche is a myth", both at dyatlovpass.com; S. Sogrin's 1959 testimony and 2021 interview; V. Louhi, E. Dmitrievskaya, O. Litvinova and V. Ankudinov, «Перевал Дятлова. А была ли лавина?»; the Investigative Committee's letter of 31 August 2018.
• The 2018 exhumation of Zolotaryov: Komsomolskaya Pravda reports of 13 and 26 April (Nikitin's radio transcript), 17 May, 5 June (Tumanov) and 16 July 2018 (the Russian Centre of Forensic Medicine DNA result); Moskovsky Komsomolets, 28 February 2019 (Nikitin's interview); Sazonova's forum posts of May 2018; RIA and TASS of 1 October 2019; Interfax of 22 July 2020. Research note research/zolotaryov-exhumation-2018.md with 52 saved pages in data/exhumation-2018/.
• J. McDowell, General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects, launch list, planet4589.org, accessed 14 September 2026.

Data and code

• Copernicus DEM GLO-30, tile N61_00_E059_00 (AWS public bucket); NOAA GHCN-Daily for Ivdel (RSM00023921), Nyaksimvol (RSM00023724), Troitsko-Pechorsk, Cherdyn and Pechora, 1959; PyEphem 4.2.1 for sun and moon; the JAG/TI wind-chill formula.
• Slope, profile, darkness, weather and walking-time scripts in code/geo/ (run_all.sh reproduces every figure and table); the slab release, impact, burial and hypothermia models in code/physics/ (gp_model.py, slab_release.py, slab_impact.py, hypothermia.py, with results files and figures).

Files published with this report

This report and its figures; research/case-file-scene-facts.md (246 facts) and case-file-scene-conflicts.md; research/case-file-forensic-facts.md (213 facts) and case-file-forensic-conflicts.md (41 translation differences, 16 internal contradictions, 16 gaps); research/geo-timeline-weather.md; research/physics-assessment.md; research/rival-theories.md with the full matrix and its reasons; research/reinvestigation-2019-2020.md; and data/ with the saved sources and the Burmantovo readings.

Times are local Sverdlovsk time (UTC+5). The confidence figures are judgements about the weighted facts.