In 1993, seven hikers set out into the Khamar-Daban mountains – but only one returned alive. The reason for their sudden, violent deaths has never been explained. What happened on that mountain?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the setting for the mysterious event in 1993?
Siberia, August 1993. The river is freezing cold. Snow melts from the Kamar-Daban mountain range, which looms overhead. Your kayak cuts through the water. You take in the fresh mountain air and the rugged landscape. It's a long overdue escape from the city. Out here, the only signs of civilization are power lines running over the mountains, which are easy enough to ignore.
But out of nowhere, something catches your eye and the peaceful atmosphere dissolves. There's someone standing on the far shore of the river, framed starkly against the trees. It's a teenage girl. She's waving her arms frantically, screaming for you to stop. From this distance, you can't quite make it out, but it looks almost like her jacket is stained with blood. You don't hesitate.
You dive into the frigid water and swim to shore. And when you reach the girl, she collapses into your arms. She's delirious, inconsolable. You can barely make out half of what she's saying through her sobs. She says she's scared, that she's all alone. You wonder why this girl is out in the wild by herself. But what she says next answers your question and makes your blood run as cold as the river.
Chapter 2: Who were the leaders of the hiking groups?
Everyone else is dead. a week earlier, August 2, 1993. Two hiking groups from Kazakhstan climb up a steep trail, away from the nearest town. They're heading into the wilds of southern Siberia's Khmar Dabon mountain range. They're a school-sponsored hiking expedition, mostly in their teens and early twenties. One group is led by a man named Konstantin Kazantsev.
The other is led by Lyudmila Korovina, an experienced hiker who has traveled these mountains before and who also happens to be the mother of one of Konstantin's student hikers. Lyudmila's group will be taken a high altitude route across the mountain range, before descending back down towards civilization.
On the map, their route follows a rough arc across the mountains and back to a small lake called Lake Padovoi. They have two tents and will camp along the 40-kilometer route. While Liudmila's group takes the summit, Konstantin will guide his group along a lower altitude valley route following the river.
Despite the lower elevation, Konstantin's group's route is technically the more difficult of the two. The difficulty of the Russian alpine routes are measured on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being a beginner slope and 6 being near vertical, only to be attempted by experts. Liudmila's route is rated a 3, which makes it a moderately difficult slope, around 35 to 45 degrees in icy.
This requires confidence and sure footing, but it's not a grain that requires special equipment. Konstantin's route, by comparison, is a 4, which usually indicates some steep rocky sections at an incline of more than 55 degrees.
The plan is for the two groups to begin and end the multi-day hike together, with several days in between, in which the two groups will separate and hike their respective routes. So when the trail forks, the valley group will take the low road, the summit group will take the high road, and on August 5th, they'll meet back up at the designated lake.
While it's still summer, weather up in the mountains can be fickle in Siberia, with snowfall beginning as early as late August. Anticipating this, Lyudmila contacted local weather monitoring stations ahead of time. They told her the worst she could expect is a mild chance of wind and rain. Nothing to be too concerned about. Well, except for this.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did the hikers face in the mountains?
They were given a stark, cryptic warning as they departed a nearby town for the mountains. One of the locals urged the hikers to be careful as wildlife in the area was behaving strangely, aggressively. No one could explain why, but something in the mountains was driving animals insane. And most recently, bears in the area had been witnessed throwing themselves in front of trains.
Liudmila and Konstantin's groups arrive at the fork in the trail. Liudmila does a quick headcount of her six students. Sasha, Dennis, Timur, Victoria, Tatiana, and Valentina. They're all here, all ready to go. The groups say goodbye for now and part ways. Following her map, Liudmila guides her summit group along a river through a nearby pass.
Before long, their group is walking uphill at a steady pace, through the trees and into the mountains. So far, the weather is favorable, warm summer air. Lyudmila is relieved that the weather forecast remains accurate, as there are some inexperienced hikers in her group.
Lyudmila, aware that her group must keep up their strength, insists that they eat four times a day, including snacks during rest stops. She knows that some people think of her as hardened, a survivalist drill sergeant for her students, pushing them to their limits. But in her own mind, the safety of her hikers is always her first concern.
They're making good time, and are able to summit the first ridge ahead of schedule. Even the least experienced hikers, the 24-year-old Tatiana and the 16-year-old Victoria, manage to keep up. For both of them, it's their first Grade 3 hike, a major milestone of any aspiring mountaineer. For now, the summit group is riding high, but they know a lot more terrain awaits them over the coming days.
And something else awaits them, something they can't possibly know about, because they're miles from any remaining civilization. The winds and weather forecasts for Camar de Bon are shifting, and it's clear it's for the worse. August 4th. Two days into the hike. Liudmila's early confidence starts to wane. The group reaches a treeless alpine zone, and here their fortunes turn. The weather sours.
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Chapter 4: How did the weather affect the hikers' journey?
Heavy rain and wind whips and tears at the seven hikers. Visibility is poor, and the temperature is dropping rapidly. Their progress slows to a crawl. Liudmila clutches onto her map like a lifeline, making sure that they stay on the proper path. One of the worst things that can happen in these conditions is to stray off course and get lost.
Liudmila knows her students won't make the ridge before nightfall, and so she barks orders through the raging wind, instructing the group to make camp. The students spring to action and begin setting up their tents in an open flat area about two miles above the treeline. It's exposed, but Liudmila reasons that they had better play it safe and not push themselves.
She urges her students to forage before it gets too dark. Keeping their strength up is important, and there's no telling how long they're going to need to wait out the storm. The group manages to find deposits of golden root in the area, and they hurriedly gather as much as they can. It's rich in minerals and nutrients, a perfect supplement to their cache of supplies.
Once camp is set up, they cluster into two tents for the night, one for the boys and one for the girls. Liudmila hunkers down with Tatiana, Victoria, and Valentina, trying their best to stay warm. Outside, the temperature plummets, and the rain turns to snow. Liudmila does her best not to show it, but she's concerned. This isn't where they were supposed to camp for the night. It's too exposed.
Also, for days, she's been growing increasingly concerned that her map of the area is inaccurate. At the summit, known as Titran's Peak, there would be a sturdy structure and firewood waiting for them, but Liudmila can't tell how close they are to it. She decides that it isn't worth the gamble to try and reach a wooden structure that may or may not actually be where her map claims it is.
As of now, the students are shivering, but otherwise seem in good spirits. Liudmila's concern is growing. If the storm goes on for much longer, things could turn sour very, very quickly. But even still, she puts on a brave face for her students. She's been on worse hikes than this, and they all know it.
It's her confidence and experience that gives courage to even the least experienced hiker, even if it's all for show. Meanwhile, far below, Constantine's valley group is having a perfectly pleasant time. At their lower elevation, there's no wind or snow, and they all get a restful night's sleep in relative comfort. On August 5th, they arrive at Lake Padovoy, right on schedule.
The small lake is the agreed-upon rendezvous point where Constantine's Valley Group and Liudmila's Summit Group are to link back up. But there was no sign of the Summit Group when Constantine arrives. So he tells his students to unshoulder their packs and relax a while. They can wait. One of the members of this party is Natalia Korovina, Lyudmila's 16-year-old daughter.
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Chapter 5: What ominous signs did the hikers encounter?
She takes off her backpack and helps the others set up their tents. She isn't concerned about her mother's tardiness. She understands better than anyone that Lyudmila is a cautious person. Plus, the summit group has several inexperienced teenagers. She'd want to make sure her group is safe before moving on.
When they're finished setting up the tents, she starts to wander along the lake shore, looking up at the Camar de Bon mountains. From the lake, she doesn't have a direct view of where her mother would be, but she notices something strange about the trees in the distance. They aren't standing upright, but are at an angle, like they've been smoothed over by an enormous comb.
Combined with some scattered clouds around the peaks, she assumes that means there are pockets of bad weather at the high altitude. Lyudmila and her students might be getting some rain and wind, which is concerning, but nothing she hasn't handled before. Suddenly, however, Natalia stops in her tracks. A set of eyes are staring out at her from the foliage nearby, unblinking. It's a moose.
Natalia's mouth falls open and she wants to call the other hikers, but she doesn't. Mooses always steer clear of hikers, but for some reason, this one isn't intimidated by their presence at all. In fact, there's an almost aggressive air to its posture. It's an unsettling encounter, and that's when she remembers what the people in town told her about the bears in the area.
Something isn't right, and the animals can feel it. Slowly she backs away. The moose boldly stands its ground. Natalia returns to her group and tries to put the moose out of her mind. She reminds herself that animals sometimes behave strangely, just like people do. She'll have to remember to tell her mother about this. A day passes, then another. The mood begins to shift, and concern sets in.
There's a chance that the summit group isn't even on the mountain at all. Maybe when the weather got bad, they retraced their steps and went back out the way they hiked in. Or perhaps they hustled down to the rendezvous point early and continued on before the valley group arrived. But then again, maybe not. The uncertainty of it all weighs heavily on them, especially Natalia.
On the second night, she dreams about her mother. In this dream, Lyudmila speaks directly to her, telling her that she can't get off the mountain. Natalia wakes in shock and has difficulty sleeping the rest of the night. Thoughts and fears about her mother's safety keep her awake.
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Chapter 6: Why did Natalia become concerned for her mother?
She tries to tell herself that she's just being silly, that her mother's group is so late simply because Lyudmila is being cautious about the weather. But after 48 hours, these excuses ring more and more hollow. At breakfast, she tells Constantine about her dream. She pleads with him to go back up the mountain in search. It is a grade 3 hike after all, and they don't need special gear.
Constantine is sympathetic to her concerns, but reminds her that they only have enough supplies for their full trek. They don't want to double back in search of Liudmila, only to run out of food and put their own hikers at risk. He's reassuring, firm, a good leader like her mother, and so she accepts his reasoning.
They're skilled hikers, sure, but they're not a professional search and rescue team. Soon after, they reach their final destination, a small town on the shores of the enormous Lake Baikal. But a cloud hangs over their arrival, because there's no sign of Liudmila's group here either. Natalia is beside herself now. They came together. The two groups were supposed to leave together.
Lyudmila even has train tickets for the whole group. Natalia doesn't know what to do. She's always looked up to her mother for strength, confidence, and this uncertain danger has no easy solution. Constantine's eyes return to the high peaks looming in the distance. He begins to fear that he's made a terrible decision that'll haunt him for the rest of his life.
What on earth, he wonders, is happening up on the mountain? The night of August 4th. On the pink, Lyudmila and her students aren't getting any sleep. In the early morning hours, one of the students from the boys' tent trudges over to Lyudmila's tent. It's Sasha, an inexperienced 23-year-old hiker. He's like a surrogate son to Lyudmila. He tells her that the boys are uncomfortable.
The wind and the cold are too much to bear. At this elevation, there's no tree cover, no protection from the storm. Their tents are no match for the relentless wind. At four in the morning, the tether snapped. Everyone scrambles out into the bitter cold, struggling to re-secure their shelters. Snow seeps into the tents, soaking through the sleeping bags. It's a miserable, punishing night.
Finally, at dawn, Liu and Mila tells them it's time to go. They must descend immediately. After a quick breakfast of canned stew, the group begins hiking back down the mountain to the south. While they're still roughly following their planned route, they've abandoned any attempt to summit the peak, and instead seek protection from the severe weather 2.5 miles below where there's tree cover.
The heavy winds continue, making it difficult to progress. Visibility is dismal. Then suddenly, at about 11 am, Sasha falls down. The other hikers help him to his feet, but soon he collapses again. He's starting to fall behind. Lyudmila hangs back to help him, telling the other hikers to go ahead. She and Sasha will catch up.
The five other students comply, grabbing onto each other to stabilize themselves against the wind. Like a phalanx of Roman soldiers, they make their way slowly and deliberately down the mountain. They're making progress and the treeline is beginning to feel achievable. But soon, they hear Liudmila's voice shouting from behind them. She's screaming for help.
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Chapter 7: What happened when the group attempted to descend?
He's lying face-flat in the snow, completely immobile. By now, it's just Valentina. Overcome with fear and a burning desire to survive, she advances downhill through the swirling wind and blinding snow. Stumbling, crawling, before at last, she finally reaches the treeline and a shelter from the wind. She digs a sleeping bag out of her backpack and crawls inside.
She huddles into a bowl for warmth before she passes out. A day later, the weather subsides. Valentina wakes up on August 6th, and it's quiet. No screams, no howling wind, just the gentle rustling of trees and the drip, drip, drip of the melting snow. She cautiously emerges from her sleeping bag. The sun is out. Even though she slept for almost 24 hours, she doesn't feel rested.
The horrific sights from the day before are clear in her mind's eye. She wishes that she could dismiss it as a nightmare, something caused by a lack of sleep or exhaustion. But she knows the truth. She can't kid herself. She's alone. Valentina slowly starts to trudge back up the mountain. She's gotta see her fellow hikers. She needs to have some sense of what happened.
Before too long, the bodies come into sight. A cluster of four of them by the rocks, and two farther up the slope. They're all still and silent. Stealing herself, Valentina walks from body to body. She can't do anything for them now besides close their eyes. She passes Tatiana, the 24-year-old secretary, the one who smashed her face into the rocks not long ago.
She passes the small body of Timur, who was only 15 years old. He was the youngest of the group. Victoria was also there. Valentina couldn't help but feel some kinship with the other girl. Only a year younger than her, she had been so eager to hike that she had her parents persuade Liudmila to let her join them, even though she was an inexperienced hiker.
It breaks her heart to see Dennis, the boy who saved her, lying on the slope. If he hadn't told her to run, she might have died there as well. Once she's closed all their eyes, Valentina does her best to cover the bodies with one of the tents. She gathers whatever supplies she can from their packs, food, Liudmila's map, and a compass.
But as it turns out, the map and compass are of little use, because Valentina is lost. The snowdrifts make it impossible to follow the path that Liudmila planned for them. They were less than halfway through the 40km route, and Valentina doesn't want to risk hiking over the snowy peak alone. Instead, she decides to head back down in the general direction their group climbed up.
She needs to get to a more reasonable altitude as soon as possible. As she continues her descent, a promising sight greets her eyes. Thin cables running above the treetops. Power lines which run to the nearby peak of the mountain. Making her choice, she continues walking, her eye on the power lines, trusting that they'll show her a way to safety.
After all, when there's power, there's bound to be civilization. Even though it's entirely downhill, it's an arduous journey. Her supplies wear thin fast. She eats a dried golden root, foraged by the group several days before. It's rich in minerals and keeps her going. Her home feels impossibly far away in these desolate mountains, yet one thought pushes Valentina forward.
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