Name: Laura Mauler's review of Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar
Item: Dead Mountain
Rating: 4
Author: Laura Mauler

Donnie Eichar

In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously, leading to decades of speculation. Through the hikers' journals and photographs, interviews, and government records, their story is brought to life.

the untold true story of the Dyatlov Pass incident

Dead Mountain

Maria Sales

A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller – What happened that night on Dead Mountain? The mystery of Dead Mountain: In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened. As gripping and bizarre as Hunt for the Skin Walker: This New York Times bestseller, Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, is a gripping work of literary nonfiction that delves into the mystery of Dead Mountain through unprecedented access to the hikers' own journals and photographs, rarely seen government records, dozens of interviews, and the author's retracing of the hikers' fateful journey in the Russian winter. You'll love this real-life tale: Dead Mountain is a fascinating portrait of young adventurers in the Soviet era, and a skillful interweaving of the hikers' narrative, the investigators' efforts, and the author's investigations. Here for the first time is the real story of what happened that night on Dead Mountain.

The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Laura Mauler

Super interesting book. I'm not sure I agree with the author's conclusion, but I acknowledge that it is plausible.

Andrew John Kinney

Excellent detective story. I read this in one sitting - thanks to Lori for pushing me to read it. 

Whether or not you agree with the author's theory on the cause of the hikers' deaths, this is a terrific story about a tragic event. The nine young hikers who died were among the best outdoorsmen and women of their university, and yet all nine died in the night in mysterious circumstances - why would they flee their tent in -25 degree temperatures and strong winds without boots, and in some cases without pants? Eichar explores many theories before settling on one that could explain the event, but there are other possibilities. It is really difficult to describe a situation where experienced hikers would flee downhill such a long distance from their tent without boots. If there was an avalanche, why were skis, ski poles, and tent poles still upright when the tent was found? 

Eichar introduces the young hikers by way of their diary, and it is heartbreaking to know such vibrant young people like Zina, who the children at School 41 fell in love with, died in the cold that night. Having done a lot of backpacking, I fully understand how disorienting it can be at night with no moon. To be in that situation in such extreme cold must have added to the panic and confusion, but still, why would they leave the relative safety of a tent to venture out into conditions that they must have known would kill them quickly via hypothermia? It is truly strange, so Eichar's theory is no stranger than the evidence at hand.

Please see Lori's or Jenna's reviews for more, and better discussion of this book. 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

altlovesbooks

"I don't remember Sherlock Holmes ever mentioning what you are supposed to do when you've eliminated everything improbable, and nothing is left."

I knew nothing about the Dyatlov Pass Incident before reading this book, hadn't even heard of it. The cover looked interesting and the premise sounded super creepy and mysterious though, so I was looking forward to seeing where this went. The short story is that I loved everything about this book, except the ending.

In 1959, nine Russian college students (experienced mountain climbers, all) decide to conquer Dead Mountain in the Urals as part of their mountain climbing experience necessary to advance their qualifications. They went missing, and when a rescue team finally located the bodies (because, let's face it, Russia, on a mountain, in winter, isn't the most hospitable of locations), nobody can figure out what happened. The bodies are in various states of disrobe, none have shoes on, one is missing a tongue, and they failed to stick together. Theories are advanced, everything from avalanches to animal attacks to secret government weapons to aliens, but nothing conclusive was ever determined. The Russian government quickly wrapped things up, and the final conclusion was "an unknown compelling force should be considered the cause of the hikers' deaths." This is where the mystery remains to this day.

For the majority of the book, the author splits the chapters into one of three viewpoints. A diary was recovered from one of the hikers, and the author retells their story in the days and weeks leading up to their fate through these entries. The author also weaves in chapters with accounts of the recovery efforts amongst these journal entries, which provides context for how the scene was discovered and the investigation following. Finally, the author's viewpoint, where he visits Russia today, retraces the hikers' steps to the mountain and looks around a bit. Of the viewpoints, the authors' was the least interesting to me. His trip to Russia doesn't seem to have much impact on the overall conclusion the author comes to, and a lot of what he writes about has nothing to do with the Dyatlov Pass Incident itself. Still, I appreciated the lengths the author went to, and the viewpoint in present day Russia was interesting.

Where the book loses me is the ending. The author spends time in the very last bit of the book outlining the different theories and why they don't make sense given the facts as the author sees it. Which is fine, most of what he says here makes sense. But then he busts out with a theory that hasn't come up before about something that's barely been studied up to this point. He speaks to experts in this field who do have some compelling arguments for why it makes sense (and I'm willing to believe them given evidence), and basically leaves his theory there on the table with no more commentary as the book ends. I feel like this would be an easy thing to prove if someone were to go back to the mountain and do so, but the book ends without any compelling proof beyond "some experts say this might be true". 

All that said, the writeup of the actual incident was stellar. This was a really interesting read, and even though the ending kinda flopped for me, it remains an unsolved mystery for a reason, I guess.

Wynter

Thank you, Donnie Eichar, for dealing with this topic with such grace and respect. I'm bawling my eyes out. Full review to come once published on Chaika Books on or before November 7th.

shellybn

This is a fascinating account of the final days of the nine hikers who died in the Dyatlov Pass incident. The author proposes a highly plausible explanation for the tragic events that befell the hikers.

Imane

This book offers no new information if you've read the Wikipedia entry on the Dyatlov Pass Incident but if you prefer to have it narrated to you rather than read the cold facts and theories surrounding what still remains a mystery, I think you'll like this book.

The journey to find out what happened wasn't sensational enough to fully warrant long passages on the quest to find out more and I feel like the "looming Russian government threat" angle was blown out of proportion, not that I harbor any sympathy for the Russian government. It may have been true, but an American author publishing a book about a Russian incident through an American publishing house... It's not hard to do the math. The mystery of the Dyatlov Pass incident itself is rather compelling, but the book isn't bringing anything to the table, so "let's make it look like I was sort of hounded by Russian authorities for 3 minutes" to add some zest, you know what I mean?

But in any case, I liked that this book honored the late the Dyatlov pass hikers, rather than focusing solely on the strange mystery and sweeping its victims under the rug.

Now as far as I am aware, the Dyatlov Pass Incident has never been formally solved, but the author presents his conclusion as a factual recount of the event. I find it to be a rather strange choice on his part. I think that, at the end of the day, my main problem with this book is that the storytelling lacked subtlety and the necessary step back to make it a more interesting scientific research, beyond the more humane aspect of the tragic loss of 9 lives in this incident.

Anyways, as I said, I'd recommend this book to anyone who may feel like the Wikipedia entry on the topic is too dense but I'd still recommend you visit the website once you are finished for more fact-based research on the topic.

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Likes:
- Really interesting story about these hikers
- Super creepy, eerie and at times scary
- The investigation into what happened is quite in depth and interesting

Dislikes: 
- I was personally less interested in hearing the author's own trip to Russia
- The reason for the hikers' death that the author proposes is quite disappointing (i.e. not as exciting as other theories, and is quite sad if that is the reason 9 people died)
- I feel that the author does not fully explain why his theory is most likely. When speaking about the infrasound he mentions that only a certain percentage of people are bothered by it in studies, but has no problem saying that all of the Dyatlov group were deeply bothered by it. He also does not talk about other hiking parties in the area over the years experiencing this phenomenon (whether hiking in the summer or winnter). Finally he does not talk about the radiation or missing tongues in his account of "what really happened".

Ruth Parker 

I loved this book, incredibly informative and descriptive about this scary event, a mystery which has never been solved. I really loved the ending, which reimagines what could have happened to the hikers during their last night.

Maria Sales &
Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar

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