Donnie Eichar Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Last updated: June 26, 2019


Donnie Eichar's "Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident" covers a mystery that has haunted people for decades. The telling of the story comes backed by years of research. However, the author also offers his own informed theory of what happened on the mountain that evening.

Donnie Eichar Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

We looked at the top History Books and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best History Book you should buy.

Product Details

In our analysis of 60 expert reviews, the Donnie Eichar Dead Mountain placed 2nd when we looked at the top 9 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.

From The Manufacturer

The mystery of the bizarre deaths of elite Russian hikers in a 1959 tragedy on a deadly Ural mountain is the subject of Eichar’s extensive investigation. Eichar, a film director and producer, tries to make sense of the puzzling tale of the dead students from Ural Polytechnic University; he sets off to interview the hikers’ relatives, investigators, and even a lone survivor. Following the search party’s retrievals of the bodies, the questions deepen when the victims are discovered, insufficiently dressed for the frigid weather, shoeless, with violent injuries, including a horrible skull fracture, a leg torn away, and a tongue ripped out. With expert analysis of the remaining evidence, Eichar tries to answer why the hikers, seven men and two women, would go out into the bitter cold without warm clothing to meet certain death; curious, too, is that the contents of the tent were intact. Possible causes for the panic, according to Eichar and officials, are: an avalanche; mysterious armed men; even a fatal tiff by the males over the women. As the elements of this complicated tangle are compiled, the final wrap-up of the mountain tragedy is overwhelming, befitting a case defying explanation.

Expert Reviews


What reviewers liked

The author deftly explores theories common and uncommon, the most off-putting being an infrasonic wave known to cause hallucinations and disorientation. It’s not a revelatory portrait of the incident, but for Western readers, it’s a well-told and accurate whodunit.
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, author Donnie Eichar has put forth a very well-reasoned and rational possibility, based in scientific fact, that could very well be the reason. (Certainly more plausible than some of the other theories.)
Eichar sets out in a final chapter what sudden panic and a confrontation with an unknown weather phenomenon might have led to, tying together a compelling narrative that explains almost all of the facts. Eichar’s engrossing and disturbing narrative is the most persuasive theory so far and offers a rational solution to a mystery that has troubled people for decades.
In Dead Mountain, meanwhile, the far more thoughtful and even self-deprecating author, Donnie Eichar, offers a far more readable book. Of the two Dyatlov Pass Incident books, Donnie Eichar’s Dead Mountain is the more reputable and readable of the two.
View our History Book buying guide for in-depth advice and recommendations.

From our partners