Mountain of the Dead

by Mike Wellins, Colin Batty (Illustrator)

In February, 1959, nine Russian college students embarked on a 10 day skiing expedition into the Ural Mountains. They never returned and were later found dead of disturbing and mysterious causes. These events are now simply known as the Dyatlov Pass Incident, named after the leader of the ill fated team, Igor Dyatlov. Because of the nature of the deaths, a criminal inquest was filed. As the facts developed, the circumstances and causes of death became more confusing and baffling, with each new discovery. Even after a half century, no adequate explanation has ever been offered explaining the deaths. The official verdict, registered in 1959, stills stands, “death by unknown compelling force,” a vague and unsatisfying explanation for a scene of endless questions and unknown events that lead to 9 inexplicable and ultimately, horrific deaths. To this day, no one was ever charged with a crime. A tribe of indigenous people, known as the Mansi, have lived in the vast Ural Mountains for centuries. The Mansi feared the mountain where the students had all died. The Mansi name for the mountain is Kholat Syakhl which translates to, the mountain of the dead. A stone monument with the pictures of the nine now sits as a mute testimony at the mouth of the now infamous pass. Mountain of the Dead is the fictionalized story of the events of that year by writer, director Mike Wellins.

170 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2012

Reviews

[Lynkcheck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Mike Wellins at my husband's 30 year class reunion and yes I fan-girled because I love meeting authors. Mike was gracious enough to give me a copy of his book. I honestly loved this book. I loved how he took a true story and interjected his own character into the events. His character Yuri was heartbreaking, haunted, relatable and beautiful.

[Traze McMullin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want more

[Lukasz Kachnikiewicz · Rating 1 out of 5]

mismatched facts, poor knowledge of 1950's living reality, many errors in comparison to original incident documentation, absolutely fictional dyatlov's party members relationship, just very average story with no entertaining ending... wasted 3 hours..