Don’t Go There

The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass

By: Svetlana Oss

Narrated by: Chloe Cannon

Nine wholesome university students mountaineering in the Urals go missing, and are later uncovered from the snows of a bleak forest's edge in the Siberian Taiga, in a series of grisly discoveries. Why were the climbers wearing no boots? Why were stout branches of the forest pines singed to a height of 30 feet? What were the mysterious markings in the bark of nearby trees? What was so-called "overwhelming force" that was capable of breaking eight ribs in a single blow without bruises? Why had the KGB infiltrated all the search parties and attended the funerals? Why were the clothes were tested for radiation?

The savage events of February 1, 1959, which took nine lives and left a trail of smashed and semi-naked bodies across the slopes of Mount Ortoten, have confounded every credible explanation. Wild and convincing theories abound. All of them are flawed by the facts. Was it sex? Was it hypothermia? Was it robbers?

In the first reportage to be published in the English language, the Moscow Times's meticulous coverage presented the existing versions that have proliferated over 50 years, carefully sifting each idea, from mad guesses by superstitious nuts to reasoned findings of the official investigation.

©2015 Svetlana Oss (P)2021 Tantor

Excellent detailed analysis

Detailed analysis of the facts as they are known. She recounts the various theories and then discusses why there are flaws in those theories. In the end, she ends up with the most plausible theory, although it may not be what people want to hear since people love a conspiracy theory. However, it passes the Occam’s razor test, so to speak, so I find it to be plausible. Sometimes the narrator sounds robotic, but I secretly enjoyed the accented portions.

Food for thought

This mystery has interested me for a long time, and this book provides an interesting theory of what may have happened.

Finally a Russian view of the tragedy!

It's nice to finally hear an opinion by someone who can actually look at the documents without a translator. Hearing what Lev Ivanov has repeatedly tried to say finally was nice. Also hearing what modern Russian forensic professionals thought of the evidence was revealing. While Donnie Eichar and Keith McCloskey have done good jobs with their books they never gave the full story. Donnie was more concerned with his journey and telling a tale then finding what really happened.

Looking forward to more from Svetlana Oss!

Narrator’s Inflection is Off

While I love the exploration into the topics surrounding the Dyotlav Pass Tragedy, the narrator did not seem very interested in the material. While her voice does have great qualities, I’m afraid the odd phrasing and weird places to pause was extremely distracting to me.

I love this book though! I need to order a physical copy since this subject fascinates me.

Another piece in the puzzle

I’ve been following this subject for a little while and think the information adds to what occurred on the Pass. The true answer may never be known. But valid theories add to the story.

*another idea

author thought murder


*my 1st thought Co2 poisoning from there heating system..did anyone ever consider CO2 poisoning?
mlw

Best book covering this topic yet

Oss does an excellent job articulating a reasonable cause of death for the hikers and finally translates Russian lol

Insufferable narration

Instead of doing silly bad accents for every diary excerpt and even supposed verbal conversation quote, the narrator should've taken the time to look up correct pronunciations for every name she repeatedly butchers, which is all of them.

The book itself is not too bad - low on author's baseless speculation or personal opinions, unlike majority of other media offerings on this subject. Most prominent versions of events are covered well, there is even a resulting semblance of objectivity, considering how scarce actual hard facts are in this case.
There are a few errors that look like translation mistakes, which is very odd for an author who made a career out of writing in English for English-speaking audiences. "Rare birch forest" is actually thin birch forest - obvious direct translation from Russian "редкий" without adjusting for context. "Ледоруб" becomes an ice pick, when it is clearly an ice axe.
Some segments end so abruptly without wrap-up, a few times I thought pieces were missing from recording, and weak narration does not help navigate such lackluster transitions.

Overall, the book could use a once-over from an editor, but it's a good comprehensive read on the incident and theories around it. For the audiobook vetsion to be passable (and worth paying anything for), it needs better narration: this one, while done by a cleary skillful, if not particularly inspired voice actress, is simply too lazily done and frankly annoying, it just ruins the experience instead of elevating it.