WEBVTT - Season 02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts (RERUN) 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.240 Hello, it's Richard mclin smith here with Unexplained. On a 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.880 short break for the holiday season, we'll be dipping back 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.959 into the archive for the next two weeks. This week's 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.760 episode takes us back to one Friday in January nineteen 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.480 fifty nine, to where a story began in the foothills 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.599 of the Ural Mountains, a story that is perhaps the 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.760 most extraordinary ever featured on the show. Some call it 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:28.320 the Diatlov Pass Incident. You might know it as Unexplained, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:44.920 Season two, episode four, when the snow melts. It could 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.720 be said that the history of life is a history 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:54.360 of movement, a vast dance of inexorable entropic change, from 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.120 the propulsion of the stars and the planets to the 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:02.680 vibrating of subatomic particles and of space itself. It's useful 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.120 to remember sometimes that even the most solid seeming of 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.399 objects are, in one way or another, in a constant 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.600 kinetic state, be that the glass in your window, the 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.560 elements of a diamond, or even the earth under our feet. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.319 Let us, then, for a moment, take one singular place 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.240 and look upon it as an ageless being of omnipotence 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:32.440 might observe it. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:43.679 mclin Smith. At first, we see a minute speck hanging 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.440 in the depths of space. Drawing closer, we see it 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.400 is in fact a nameless planet moving around a nameless star. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.000 Drawing closer still, we see on the surface of that planet, 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.040 two gigantic land masses are set on an imperceptible but 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:05.080 devastating collision course, and on the edge of one we 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:10.120 find our spot. The movement of the land is generated 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.280 in part by the heat of the planet's core, a 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.920 solid ball of iron nickel raging at almost five and 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.639 a half thousand degrees centigrade that in turn heats a 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:25.760 mantle layer below the planet's surface. This outer shell appears 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:31.800 to be a static rock composed mainly of silicon, iron, magnesium, oxygen, 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:37.280 and aluminium, but of course it is not still. Instead, 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.920 it bends and creeps, cajoled by the planet's warm belly, 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.400 expanding and contracting in convective circles as the heat rises 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.200 and falls through the silicate layers. It is on this 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.919 sea of rock and waves of heat that the two 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:56.400 land masses are being thrown toward each other, and on 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:00.280 this planet by our measurements. The days last just over 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.520 twenty two hours, and oxygen levels in the air are 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:07.960 fifty per cent higher than anything we have ever experienced, 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.160 and there is life in plenty across the continents. Owing 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.239 to the humid climate, the land is smothered in vast 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:21.720 swamps and enormous trees. Amphibious creatures dominate, while giant invertebrate 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:27.680 arthropods wiggle and crawl in abundance. Some even fly too, 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.960 their twitching segmented bodies lifted into the air by gossamer wings. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:37.040 Over half a metre in span, The two continents draw 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:41.560 ever closer, until finally they collide to form one giant 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:47.120 singular mass. As they merge, our spot is pushed and 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.680 pulled as vast splinterings of rock rise into the sky 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:55.720 to form mountains and rolling hills. Over time, the land 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:01.080 beneath continues to move and break apart into many separate pieces, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.760 and over the land above, more and different creatures are 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.440 taking their place, entire species rising and falling, while the 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:13.080 planet spirals on through space as it continues to orbit 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:17.880 the Nameless Star. A mere three hundred million orbits later, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.359 and now, the oxygen levels on the planet have depleted, 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.560 the days have become longer, and from out of a 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.599 central place, what was once four legs has become two. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.400 In herds, these strange bipedal creatures are dispersed throughout the planet. 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.479 Eventually they will learn to give themselves names, and names 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.720 too for the many things around them, including the very 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:49.560 planet they walk upon, which will become known as Planeta 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:58.160 Zimya Jigu Hensong, or to others, planet Earth, and those 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.000 creatures will learn to tell story, bringing ever greater potential 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.560 for change. For now, not only does the material world change, 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.720 but so too will the world that is mapped onto 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.280 it in the minds of the creatures who walk upon it. 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.240 Entire worlds that two can rise and fall in a 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:22.719 matter of moments. As for our spot, it will eventually 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.960 find itself nestled at the foothills of those same mountains 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.640 formed three hundred million years ago, still surviving today as 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.120 one of the oldest mountain ranges on the planet. Those 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:39.000 mountains will eventually find themselves encased in a country named 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:45.560 Rossia and will become known as Uralski Gorri, or as 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:50.159 the Ural Mountains. So let us now get closer in 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.719 time and space to the spot that we have marked. 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.360 The Ural Mountains form a natural border between Europe and Asia, 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.799 running two and a half thousand kilometers through western Russia, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.039 from the coast of the Kara Sea to the northwest 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.800 border of Kazakhstan, and just to the east of the 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.240 central Urals, we will find our region of interest. 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.720 In seventeen twenty three, Peter, the great leader of the 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.960 Russian Empire, establishes a town here that will be named 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:33.560 Yakitterlinburg after his wife Yiketarina. Due to the abundance of minerals, 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.240 vast resources of timber, and the deep waters of the 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.400 Isist River, the location was a place of great natural beauty, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.880 but also a prime location for what would become the 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:51.120 administrative mining capital of the Russian Empire. Just under two 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.320 hundred years later, and the city is firmly established as 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:58.919 a focal point for the country's growing industrial appetite. And 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.760 in that time so much has changed, not that we 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:09.120 might notice, however, Certainly the surrounding land and even the city, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.640 to all intents and purposes, has remained fixed. But even 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.680 as we look upon it now, invisible changes are taking place. 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.680 As a primary industrial hub Yecatarlinbourig has found itself a 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:27.160 beating heart of a new world that has materialized around it. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.080 Having been a town built by royal decree to excavate 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.840 natural resources that would then be turned into capital and 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.520 wealth for a fortunate few, it is now a symbol 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.240 and ode to those that generated the wealth, not through 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.880 some strange alchemy, but through the blood and sweat of 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:51.320 the many hands that scraped it from the earth. And 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.640 so it is that at the beginning of the century 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.840 we find in our spot the same furnaces burning, and 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.239 the same coal brought from the land by the same hands, 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:07.400 But the status of those hands has been elevated. Two 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.920 thousand and two hundred miles away. On April sixteenth, nineteen seventeen, 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.880 a train will pull into Finland Station in Saint Petersburg, 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.600 carrying a man whose words, on stepping onto the station 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:24.560 platform will bring further winds of change. We watch as 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.840 they provoke an internal scene war, turning the people of 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:32.720 the nation against each other in brutal and devastating ways. 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.160 Back in Ya Katarinbourg, there is a mansion house belonging 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.280 to a merchant named Ipatiev. But as we avert our 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.720 gaze for a moment. A year has passed, and when 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.560 we look again we see the same bricks and mortar 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.400 standing in the same place, only now there is no 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.800 Ipatiev and the mansion has been renamed the House of 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:01.160 Special Purpose of the Ural Soviet Committee. A year later, 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.280 in the spring of nineteen eighteen, seven highly prized prisoners 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:10.280 a family will be escorted to Yekaterinbourg and imprisoned in 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:15.240 this House of Special Purpose. We see them now in 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:19.200 the early hours of July seventeenth, nineteen eighteen, as they 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.160 are raised from their beds and taken to a small room. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.520 They are told to sit and wait for a truck 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.360 to come and take them away. But the truck never comes, 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.840 only a hail of bullets and thrusting bayonets that ends 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.080 with the walls dripping in blood and the prisoners lying 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:42.960 dead on the ground. We watch as the bodies are 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.440 taken to an abandoned mine shaft and one by one 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:50.600 are dropped to the bottom of it. It is the 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.840 last time that Russia will ever know a royal family. 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.840 Five years later, and the war is over, Yekaterinbourg remains, 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.800 but now finds itself not in Russia. But the Union 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.120 of Soviet Socialist Republics, and though the name and rulers 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.520 have changed, the minerals and ores in the ground are 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.760 still very much in demand. To that end, a school 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:26.360 has been established, named the Ural Polytechnic Institute, to promote 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.280 better skills in the working classes to aid with increased production. 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.680 The following year, we return to find the city as 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:39.840 it was, only now it has a new name, spurred Lovsk. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.720 In the blink of an eye, just over thirty years 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.800 have passed. It is nineteen fifty nine, and both spurred 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.959 Losk and the Eural Polytechnic as much as we left it. 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.160 We see the building's familiar majestic architecture colonnaded at the front, 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.000 underneath a vast pediment bearing the last much embossed symbol 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.120 of a hammer and a sickle. But in those thirty years, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.920 as ever, so much has changed, and a new ruler 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.960 has replaced the old, ushering an end to an era 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:17.880 of almost unparalleled upheaval. In that time, an old enemy 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.640 has risen and fallen from the west, and some considered 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:26.160 enemies from within have fallen too, And now the deaths 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:30.520 of over forty million people haunt the land the mindset 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.840 of an entire country has been altered, and a new 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:38.880 war stalks the people of this vast nation, holodnoye Voyna, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.040 or the Cold War, as it will come to be known. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.360 The new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, has promised a thawing of 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.400 the old ways, and a new generation are ready to 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.720 embrace it, a generation embodied by the bright and enthusiastic 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.120 students of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. And so it is 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.400 it is that, on Friday, January twenty third, nineteen fifty nine, 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.280 finally we arrive at the beginning of one more story 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.520 to scatter across the foothills of the Ural Mountains, a 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.680 story that is perhaps the most extraordinary of all the 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.880 stories featured on the show so far, a chilling and 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:32.000 profound mystery that remains to this day unexplained. We begin 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.640 at the Ural Polytechnic Institute in room five three one. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.200 Seven students are crammed inside the spartan dormitory, frantically shoving 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.560 various bits and pieces into backpacks, cans of meat, followed 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.640 by packets of oatmeal, survival knights, and even a cooking stove. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.520 Nothing is forgotten, but rather than chaos, it is the 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.640 steady haste of a well oiled team. They are preparing 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.240 for a difficult mountain hike deep into the urals towards 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:07.640 O Tauton Mountain. The journey will involve at least sixteen 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.319 days of trekking through the Siberian tundra on a path 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.000 that many consider one of the toughest at this time 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.520 of year, and it will need to be since all 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.920 are hoping to achieve their Category three hiking certificate upon completion. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.520 It is the highest awarded category in the country and 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.440 one that will require the team to cover over three 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.360 hundred kilometres of ground, spending at least eight days in 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:40.800 completely uninhabited regions. One boy, Yurikrivonshenko, looks perturbed for a 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.080 moment as he hunts around the room, his face brightening 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:49.400 into a huge grin when he finally finds his leather boots. Yuri, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.800 also known as Georgi, is the joker of the group 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.679 and at twenty three, also one of the oldest. A 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.640 recent graduate of construction and hydraulic Back in September of 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.240 nineteen fifty seven, Georgi had been assigned to work at 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:10.360 a secret nuclear facility called Cheliabinksk forty when the plutonium 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:15.400 plant experienced a catastrophic radioactive leak. Georgi was part of 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.800 the team who was sent in to clean up the mess. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.280 He packs his leather boots away, then makes some space 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.880 for his much loved mandolin. Do you think I can 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.200 play it on the train? He asks? Of course, shout 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.840 the others in warm reply. In the corner of the Dorn, 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.440 keeping a watchful eye over the preparations is the diligent 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:43.480 and methodical Alexander Kolovatov. At twenty four, Alexander is the 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:47.240 oldest member of the group. A kind soul with a 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.920 ponchon for smoking antique pipes. Alexander was a distinguished student 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.040 in the field of nuclear physics who had also studied 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.480 in Moscow at a secret institute known as the Ministry 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.280 of Medium Machine Building before returning to spurred Lovsk to 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:08.840 complete his physics major. Who has the salt shouted Zinaida Kolmogorova, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.800 or Zena as she is known to her friends. Although 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.560 only twenty, Zena is in her fourth year of radio 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:21.600 engineering and is a tough and experienced hiker, known affectionately 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.760 as the engine of the university, Zena's magnetic charm rarely 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:28.960 went unnoticed, not least by a number of the boys 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:34.160 in the team. Where at Doroshenko and eager, she asks, suddenly, 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.280 let me have fifteen cents to call them. The question 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.520 is directed at Ludmila Dubanina, the only other woman in 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:47.560 the group. Luda is only twenty and the youngest in 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.200 the team. A focused and committed communist, the athletic Luda 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.160 is practically a poster girl for the party, and like Xena, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.320 is possessed of an inner steel equal, if not superior, 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.640 to any of her male compatriots. On one expedition to 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.160 the Sayan Mountains, she was accidentally shot by a tourist, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.520 but didn't complain once during her long and painful journey 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:16.800 back home, except to apologize for troubling the group. Luda 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.520 hand seen her the fifteen cents from the pile of 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:24.480 cash she is diligently counting up. Meanwhile, Rustick is teasing 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.120 Collier over who has more will power to survive the 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:32.720 trip without their beloved cigarettes. Rustick is Roostom Slobiden, another 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:37.720 recent graduate of the institute. Unlike the others, Rustick comes 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.040 from a wealthy family of academics, but he carries none 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:45.960 of the sense of entitlement that such wealth can sometimes entail. 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.120 As perhaps the most popular member of the team, it 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.080 would seem that Rustick had lived up to the Tartar 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.960 name that his father had bestowed on him as a 0:16:54.960 --> 0:17:00.040 symbol of international friendship to all men and women. In 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.840 marked contrast, Nicolai Thibau Brignol's background could not have been 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.639 more different. Born in a concentration camp, Collier had been 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.159 brought up by his mother on her own after his 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:16.080 French communist father had been executed as part of Stalin's 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:21.600 ruthless purges. Collier had graduated from the Institute in fifty 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:26.080 eight after majoring in civil engineering, and with a reputation 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.359 for unselfish behavior. Was a man always looking to help others. 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.280 Today holds mixed emotions for Collier. He had promised to 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.280 his mother that this trip would be his last, and 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.439 he would miss moments like these the most. The giddy, 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:47.359 nervous energy of the team. Just before the journey begins, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.399 someone throws a couple of bags to Yuri Yudin, who 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.359 deposits them outside, ready to load onto the truck that 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.920 will take them to the station. The twenty one year 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.800 old Yuri, a geology student at the institute, had endured 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.480 a tough and impoverished upbringing, and also suffered greatly from 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:09.720 rheumatism in his leg joints, but Yuri had always determined 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:15.080 never to let his affliction dictate his life. There is 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.080 a great cheer when Yuri Dorishenko finally arrives to join 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:22.760 the group. The much loved twenty one year old radio 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.119 engineer had a fearsome reputation, having once successfully fended off 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:31.800 a black bear with nothing but a geologist's hammer. His 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:37.040 entrance is followed shortly after by Eager Diyatlov, a student 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.560 of radio engineering. Twenty three year old Eager was a 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:46.520 formidable athlete and easily the most experienced hiker in the team. Strong, thoughtful, 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.520 and confident, he was a natural fit as their leader. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.760 He was also prodigiously talented, having designed and assembled a 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.359 radio at the age of twenty that would later be 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:02.679 used on Class hikes. With the final checks complete, the 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.040 group gather their things and move out. Twenty minutes later, 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.199 after a short tram ride to the city station, the 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.199 team are settled into a Class three cabin as the 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.359 train pulls away from Sperdlovsky. Such moments are usually caused 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.480 for reflection, to be leaving behind your hometown on a 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:26.000 treacherous journey into the wilderness. But in this moment they 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:37.480 are distracted by a stranger in their mist Eager introduces 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.840 his handsome, dark haired friend to the group as Sasha. 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.280 At thirty seven, he is considerably older than the others, 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.119 and although not by any means old, he appears as 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.479 if from another age, so the young students might be 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.000 forgiven their palpable sense of trepidation. When Sasha reveals a 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.479 mouth full of gold teeth from under nat beneath his 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.879 wolfish smile. Their sense of unease is not helped by 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.959 the sight of a number of tattoos dotted about his body, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.440 but their unease is not out of rudeness, more from 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.520 the tacit awareness that they are in the presence of 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:20.960 a ghost. At thirty seven years old, Sasha is part 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:25.080 of a generation of which only three percent remain, having 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.720 been decimated by the brutality of the Great Patriotic War. 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.800 Though it is unlikely he would have forgotten much from 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.679 the five years he served from nineteen forty one to 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.960 nineteen forty six. Sasha bears a constant reminder of those 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:44.399 he had lost, three initials inked onto his skin, followed 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:49.480 by an equal sign and the symbol for friendship. Semyon 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:53.080 Zolatatov to give him his full name, has been working 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.119 as a tour guide in South Siberia, and like the others, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.840 is desperate to achieve his Grade three certificate. Before the 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.240 team recognize a kindred spirit and any initial sense of 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.760 unease is quickly banished by the sound of Georgi's mandolin 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:12.320 as he strikes up to play together. As the train 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.560 speeds on through the ural countryside, they sing all the 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:20.160 songs that they know while behind them verd Lovsk recedes 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:24.160 further and further until it has entirely disappeared from view. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:30.000 Ten hours later, and the train finally pulls into Serov, 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:33.840 a small town three hundred and fifty kilometers due north 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.960 of Sverdlovsk. With their next train not due to leave 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.720 until six thirty pm. The exhausted team are hoping to 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:44.399 escape the cold and maybe get some sleep in the 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.840 station waiting room, but are disappointed to find it locked 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.080 for the day. Georgi attempts to cheer up his friends 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:56.080 with a comical busking routine, but his singing has attracted 0:21:56.119 --> 0:22:00.359 the attention of two guards, a sign perhaps they have 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.440 already entered a different world to the one encased within 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:08.320 their dormitory walls. The guards grab Georgi from the platform 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.080 and push him into their office. A short time later, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.880 and a somewhat stunned Georgi is returned to the platform 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.280 after being let off with a stern warning for contravening 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:24.440 Article two point three of the Internal Order at Railway stations. 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:29.119 Not wanting to hang around, the team head off in 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.320 search of shelter. When they come across an empty school hall. 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:35.760 After knocking on the door, they are met by the 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.880 kind face of the school's janitor. Much to their relief, 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.040 she takes pity on the young hikers and invites them 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.360 inside to rest and warm themselves, but there is one 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.199 condition in return. They must give a talk to the 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.639 school children before they leave. A few hours later, and 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:57.639 Zena and Sasha have the children hanging on their every 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.800 word as they listen wide eyed and at atentively to 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.800 their tales of adventure. When it is finally time to go, 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.160 the children have to be peeled sobbing and crying from 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:12.199 Zena before finally accepting her promise to one day return. 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:17.200 The children wave and shout goodbye to their ten new 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:20.200 favorite heroes as they watch them head back to the 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:25.119 train station. Finally, the team are on the move again, 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:28.879 and by midnight they have arrived in the small town 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:40.200 of Evedel. Since leaving spurred Lovsk, the gang had been 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:43.600 shadowed by another team of hikers from the institute, led 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:48.120 by their good friend Yuri Blinoff. That night of January 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.080 twenty fourth, they all sleep huddle together in the Evedale 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:56.000 station waiting room until the following morning, when they catch 0:23:56.080 --> 0:24:01.000 the first tram to Evedel town center. The town is 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:03.679 built on the confluence of the Evedel River and the 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:07.560 Losva River, and like most towns in the region, Evedel 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:11.040 had been established as a mining colony, in this case 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:15.359 for gold, but in nineteen thirty seven the town had 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:20.400 taken on a second purpose, becoming the location of Evedeleg Gulag. 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:25.560 The term is an acronym that translates to Maine Administration 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:30.000 of Corrective labor camps. The camps had been set up 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:34.720 during Stalin's time, partly as corrective facilities for criminals, but 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:39.359 were often also used to dispense with political prisoners, a 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:41.879 fact that would no doubt have crossed Collier's mind at 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:45.080 least as the hikers made their way into the town's center, 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:50.000 with some consideration perhaps for the desperate souls hidden away 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:54.199 somewhere beyond the snow topped roofs of the town's outskirts. 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:57.440 They don't have to wait long before their bus arrives, 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:00.440 and soon after the team are moving through the white 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:05.280 blanketed countryside. As the bus forges ahead towards Vizy, the 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:09.200 next stop on their journey. But there is something wrong. 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:14.119 Alexander is missing. They must have left him behind at 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:18.000 the last toilet break. The team yelled to the bus 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:22.440 driver to pull over. A quick head count confirms their fears. 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:26.520 Alexander is indeed missing, but there is nothing that can 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:30.040 be done. With the bus on a tight schedule, the 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:34.040 driver has no choice but to continue the journey. But wait, 0:25:34.160 --> 0:25:38.959 says Yuri. As far off, a small shape, steadily growing larger, 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:42.840 reveals itself to be a fully laiden Alexander sprinting with 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:46.919 all his strength toward them. I thought you'd left, He 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:51.520 sputters between gasps for breath, never say the others as 0:25:51.520 --> 0:25:55.240 they haul his exhausted body back onto the bus. Just 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:58.040 after two p m. They arrive at Vizay and the 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:09.320 hikers disembark. The town is a wood cutting settlement that 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:12.520 served as a central hub from which further outposts could 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:16.320 be reached. From here, the two teams will go their 0:26:16.320 --> 0:26:20.760 separate ways. For Blinoff and his team, a bus heading 0:26:20.800 --> 0:26:23.159 their way to Sector one oh five is due to 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:27.439 leave later in the afternoon. For Eagers group, however, they 0:26:27.480 --> 0:26:31.639 will have to stop here for the night. That afternoon, 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:35.679 the team's many cameras, vital for recording evidence for their 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:39.320 Category three certificates, are whipped out as they say their 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:43.879 final goodbyes to Blinov and his team. Despite the minus 0:26:43.880 --> 0:26:48.160 seventeen degree temperature, the classmates smile and fool around as 0:26:48.160 --> 0:26:53.480 they pose for one final picture. Moments later, Yuri and 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:56.520 his team scramble into the back of a flatbed truck 0:26:57.080 --> 0:26:59.800 and wave a fond goodbye to their friends as they 0:26:59.800 --> 0:27:04.359 put away and out of the camp. For Eager's team, 0:27:04.760 --> 0:27:07.879 it will be one last night of domesticity before heading 0:27:07.920 --> 0:27:12.320 off into the wilderness. The team are especially excited to 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:15.080 hear of a nearby screening room and will pile in 0:27:15.240 --> 0:27:18.840 later that evening to watch a film called Symphony in Gold. 0:27:19.640 --> 0:27:22.560 Brustik finds time to write a postcard to his mother, 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:26.639 and Doroshenko and Alexander make a number of final checks 0:27:26.680 --> 0:27:32.080 and adjustments to the equipment. That night, With two crammed 0:27:32.080 --> 0:27:35.399 to a bed and Georgi and Sasha taking positions on 0:27:35.440 --> 0:27:40.760 the floor, the team sleep soundly. The next morning, they 0:27:40.800 --> 0:27:43.119 are up and dressed early, eager to get on the 0:27:43.200 --> 0:27:48.119 road again. But something is bugging Yuri. A pain in 0:27:48.160 --> 0:27:50.960 his legs that had been steadily growing was threatening to 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:55.800 become unbearable. Despite his misgivings, he was determined not to 0:27:55.880 --> 0:27:58.920 let the others down and decided to ignore it for now. 0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:04.520 But there is also something else. The previous afternoon, an 0:28:04.520 --> 0:28:09.000 experienced forester had expressed concern about the group's trip, thinking 0:28:09.040 --> 0:28:11.400 it too dangerous for them at this time of year. 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:17.280 Eager had laughed it off in typically bullish style. After all, 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:20.119 wasn't that precisely the reason that they were taking the 0:28:20.160 --> 0:28:24.480 trip in the first place. Yuri had laughed too, but 0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:26.760 as he prepared to board the truck for their ride 0:28:26.800 --> 0:28:29.920 out of Vizzy, it was with the old man's words 0:28:30.080 --> 0:28:35.000 still ringing in his ears. The journey didn't help much either. 0:28:35.800 --> 0:28:38.160 Sitting at the back of the rickety open air truck, 0:28:38.640 --> 0:28:42.640