Acting as the historical consultant behind the scenes for the filming of 'Devil's Pass' (originally called the Dyatlov Pass Incident) was a daunting task as there were so many aspects to consider. The year was 1959 and everything had to fit the time and not just 1959, but Soviet Russia in 1959. A major coup was an old military truck that had been procured which looked exactly like the one that took the Dyatlov group from Vizhay to the Forest Workers settlement. Everybody climbed on board and old Russian songs were roared out good naturedly by the group as they set off to meet their unknown fate in the northern Ural mountains. The old driver oblivious to it all as he peered through the windscreen at the snow covered trail ahead, cigarette hanging from his lips.
My calves were killing me from trudging through the deep snow the previous day. In some places the snow is a metre deep. I had to concentrate though, as I was constantly being asked questions.
Every one of the actors and actresses looked the part – The two Lithuanian girls playing Zina and Luda were beautiful and looked suitably enigmatic. The actor playing Igor Dyatlov could have passed for his twin brother.
We finally were ready for the scene everybody was waiting for; the escape from the tent where the nine skiers slash their way out. Everything was silent, snow swirling around us. Everyone was standing watching and the cameras were pointing at the tent - the director shouted “and action”. The light in the tent went out and the only sound was a knife slicing and tearing through the fabric. The nine skiers, wearing minimal clothing stumbled out of the side of the tent and ran away down the slope screaming in terror. One of them fell in the deep snow, rolling over several times before picking himself up and running after the others, terrified of being left behind.
It was deeply moving and frightening to watch because this was what happened on that dark night over fifty years ago. It did not feel like a film, I felt as if I was there on the slopes of the Mountain of the Dead that night in 1959, watching them run away and the question came again to my mind - what had frightened them so much that it caused them to literally run to their deaths?
Keith McCloskey is the author of 'Mountain of the Dead: The Dylatov Pass Incident' which uses original research carried out in Russia and photographs from the skier's cameras, in an attempt to explain what happened to the nine young people who lost their lives in the mysterious ‘Dyatlov Pass Incident’.
In January 1959, ten experienced young skiers set out for Mount Otorten in the far north of Russia. While one of the skiers fell ill and returned., the remaining nine lost their way and ended up on another mountain slope known as Kholat Syakhl (or ‘Mountain of the Dead’). On the night of 1 February 1959 something or someone caused the skiers to flee their tent in such terror that they used knives to slash their way out. Search parties were sent out and their bodies were found, some with massive internal injuries but with no external marks on them. The autopsy stated the violent injuries were caused by ‘an unknown compelling force’. The area was sealed off for years by the authorities and the full events of that night remained unexplained.