Nearly seven decades after nine Soviet hikers died on a frozen Ural slope, one of the oldest explanations for Dyatlov Pass has returned with fresh backing: a rocket launch gone wrong.
The group was made up of nine students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, who set out in early February 1959 on a planned 16-day hike of about 215 miles. They never finished it. Over the years, explanations have ranged from avalanche to military testing to UFOs, and the rocket theory has never really gone away.
The Latest Version of the Theory
In May 2025, Coast to Coast AM highlighted a Russian professor, Dr. Petr Bartolomey, who was friends with the group’s leader and nearly joined the trip himself. He argues that the hikers’ footprints, preserved across large stretches of snow, can only be explained by exposure to nitric acid. In his view, that material rained down from a Russian rocket that malfunctioned shortly after launch, a short distance from where the bodies were found.
The 2023 Press Conference
The idea has a longer history. On the eve of the 64th anniversary in 2023, a Russian newsletter reported on a press conference where researchers presented a related claim, and relatives of the dead hikers reportedly found it convincing. The team argued that the launch and failure of an R-12, a liquid-fueled, single-stage, medium-range ballistic missile, produced a cloud of nitric acid that reached the hikers’ tent.
Vladislav Karelin, who took part in the 1959 search, says the avalanche explanation does not ring true to him. He recalls that on a hike about two weeks after the tragedy, 50 kilometers south of the students’ route, his own group saw a bright patch of light in the sky and assumed it was a meteor. Researcher Vadim Skibinsky believes the fireballs witnesses described were exhaust gases from a launched rocket.
The Evidence They Point To
Supporters note that the Soviet Union was carrying out missile tests throughout February 1959, the same month the group died. They also cite reports that snow melted around the camp but not in other nearby places, which they say points to a man-made event rather than weather.
What the Theory Leaves Open
Avalanche and wind-driven explanations remain the mainstream favorites, and nothing in these reports changes that overnight. As presented, the rocket case rests on testimony, timing, and the interpretation of snow evidence, not on a recovered piece of a missile. A theory built on memories from more than 60 years ago is also hard to test.
Still, it has one advantage over many Dyatlov explanations: it is specific. It names a weapon, a month, and a mechanism, and it would explain why the official story has felt unfinished for so long. That does not make it true, but it does make it more useful than a shrug.
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