The Science That Finally Explains the Dyatlov Pass Incident

In February 1959, nine Soviet cross-country skiers died on a mountainside under mysterious circumstances. Theories about the Dyatlov Pass incident quickly spiraled into conspiracy, and have captured global attention for 65 years. But much of the mystery surrounding the events at Dyatlov Pass comes down to just how little we know about snow. Snow’s material properties and the ways it moves have kept physicists frustrated for decades. It wasn’t until 2021 that a physics simulation, heavily inspired by Disney’s movie Frozen, unlocked a new way to study snow and avalanche dynamics. And, coincident