Maxim, I've heard about Rakitin's book. ( People that still discuss this case are referring to it - I saw some excerpts from it, which actually correspond to what I saw in original files.)
But of course (on the basis of everything else that I saw in those files) I can't take his theory ( the one you summed up here) seriously.
With that being said, I do believe that Zolotarev ( his presence in the group) leaves a lot of questions, and most likely, he was in fact someone from one of the local "security organizations."
And the reason he was sent with this expedition was precisely that - there were some suspicious reports coming from this area earlier most likely, and he had to discreetly check on the reports.
That's why he was *incorporated* into the group, where no one really had ties to him ( even for the age difference,) no one really knew him, and the last but not least - he was not even qualified for the rout of this difficulty level.
As the witnesses were telling, ( who knew the participants personally) - Igor Dyatlov was usually VERY PICKY about whom he was taking on his team.
But keeping in mind the time frame when the whole incident took place, ( back in the 50ies, barely out of Stalin's times,) when/if someone would call him in some office and said "meet your new teammate who will join you on your upcoming trip") Dyatlov wouldn't ask too many questions, obviously so.
Zolotarev was the only other person who had the camera on him from what I remember, but he had it on him at all times, and the film was destroyed unfortunately by water, when they found it along with his dead body.
But anyways, let me sum it up briefly, what I saw in the files based on all witnessing, autopsies, and chief investigator's feedback.
So the students went on this planned trip ( all were qualified for this level of difficulty of the chosen rout, except for Zolotarev as I've already mentioned.)
They didn't come back to scheduled location on time to report the accomplished expedition, so the the authorities were alerted, and had to send the search team ( obviously, because the parents of these students were sounding the alarm, plus the whole town already knew about their disappearance.
The first search team found the abandoned tent, that was cut from the inside, when apparently the students were leaving it in a hurry.
They found the flashlight on top of the tent, which indicated that two of them were apparently outside, and alerted the rest about the nearing danger.
Once out of the tent, ( some of them didn't even have the shoes on - that's what the tracks indicated,) they, however, left as one organized group, going step in step, precisely as they were trained (that's what the experienced hikers noted.)
Then their tracks were lost going down the valley, and then they found dead students at a certain distance ( well part of them.)
The first reaction of the search team was "whatever happened here, was the result of poor training, hypothermia, la-la," - at least that's the way the FIRST investigator wanted to report it, but already then it was clear that something very odd took place there.
The odd clothing swaps, their unexplained actions when they were trying to start the fire (there were plenty of dry shrubs around, but they were trying to cut the young fir trees instead,) the way they were climbing on the tall cedar, using it as a cover, when they were observing what was going on near their tent, their reluctance to proceed to the storage ( лабаз) where they could find food and other provision left earlier, and so on.
And the last but not least - the slightly burned branches of the near-by trees and elevated radiation level - the common features spotted during the
Rendlesham forest incident.
( I Mean I could figure that much out, since I saw the detailed description of that incident as well.)
Then of course the positions they found students in, the fact that they were trying to crawl back to their tent - there were already plenty of questionable things ( they would become even more questionable during the autopsies - like the knuckles of Dyatlov had the kind of injuries, consistent with that he was pounding something with his fist - so the investigation was even trying to come up with a theory that student got drunk and got into a fistfight, but this, of course, was soon declined as unrealistic.)
But anyways, the initial findings were not qualified as anything "criminal," yet they couldn't close the case, because the rest of the team was not yet found.
Few months later, when they sent the second search team and found the rest in a totally different location ( that part of the group that got separated ( I assumed they got separated while running away from something - just my guess,) well- that part of the group apparently survived much longer, on the bottom of the ravine, ( овраг). They've even built some kind of platform from trees, but what happened to them next, was probably the most horrifying page of the whole ordeal.
The eyes and tongue of one of the students were removed ( the tongue for sure when she was still alive - that's according to autopsy,) the ribs of some of them were crashed with no external injuries whatsoever ( a big puzzle to the pathologist,) so at this point of course the investigators HAD to open the criminal case. They started with the local Mansi people, questioning whether THEY could kill the students, on a basis of local beliefs that students violated some "sacred places," but Mansi said that no, they had good relations with Russians in the area, BUT they drew the picture of some spaceship that they spotted about time the students died, flying in the direction of the mountain, where the whole ordeal took place. This particular drawing has been removed from files and sent directly to Moscow, where one of the top Soviet gov. officials ( don't remember the name now,) was personally overseeing the case.
Among other details, I should mention all the reports of the UFO activities in the area ( made by numerous witnesses and the local newspaper ( yep, I saw the copy of original article - the chief editor was rebuked and later dismissed from his job) and on and on.
And I won't even mention the Ivanov's statements ( the second investigator that took over the case,) and what the parents and other participating in funerals described when they saw the deceased.
So nope, DEFINITELY not the "avalanche."
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