1990 MOUNT ELBRUS TRAGEDY: What Really Happened?

In 1990, a well-trained group of athletes lost their lives on one of the highest mountains in the world: Mount Elbrus. There were some very chilling and inexplicable details to this story such as blood inside the tent and a hair found in the stomach of one of the team members and whatever happened is still a mystery.

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[ArchiesArchive]

Thank you for watching! What do you guys think really happened with this group?

[grimrose]

Every time I hear a story where people are surprised that expert divers/climbers died, I want to remind them that just because someone has done something before doesn't make it any less risky. In fact experts are likely to become overconfident the more "experience" they get. This leads to negligence and laxness for their own safety.

Example: Drivers can have years of experience driving without a car accident. They may have broken rules of the road, texted and driven, etc. without incident during that time, but it isn't because of their experience driving, but luck, and the awareness of other drivers on the road. It takes just one moment where their negligence can cause them to cause a collision, killing or grievously injuring themselves or other people on the road.

We need to acknowledge EXPERT doesn't mean SAFE.

[raphaellavictoria]

There is absolutely NOTHING strange about finding undressed frozen climbers: in the final stage of hypothermia, people feel extremely hot and begin undressing. That's bc the body gives up trying to preserve heat for the internal organs, and redirects it to the skin.

[someguy]

Small correction. Using a stove in a confined space would likely create dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide can also be a risk in places with poor air circulation, such as caves, but carbon monoxide is typically associated with burning a fuel source in this type of situation.

[FireMageLayn]

The fact that they were found half naked screams severe hypothermia. Paradoxically if you're too hypothermic it actually feels burningly hot, and so people will strip off layers thinking they need to cool off.

[tyj]

I climbed mt elbrus when I was 15. 2006.
The airport confiscated all our propane equipment so when we got to the village at the base of the mountain a boy offered to find us some fuel. he returned with siphoned gasoline. we thought it was pretty funny.
took a rickety ski lift of pure terror to a high altitude, cant remember the altitude but its just a day hike basically to the summit. ski lift was a single seat type with no safety bar and looked to be very old covered in rust. we spent the night up there, we were training for the other six world summits. next day, no food because no propane. we had no energy and didnt make it to the summit. I decided to head back down by myself early. We had figured out a long time ago therma-rests could be used as sleds so i brought mine with me. I sled down thousands of feet. I kept having to throw myself off because the speed would get too great.
thats my mt. elbrus experience.

[Shingetsunouta]

Tbh, even in the Soviet Union, I think Occam’s Razor stands… overconfidence, pride, and poor conditions seem like much stronger factors than unspecified outside interference. Honestly, my main worry is that the more often stories of government interference (or worse, the paranormal) causing tragedies like this are told, the likelier it becomes that those who absorb them will ignore the basic factors of survival….

[KathyPrendergast-cuci]

When I lived in Japan I climbed Mount Fuji, which is the highest mountain in Japan but tiny compared to the world’s big summits ; some young American women I worked with - sisters much younger and fitter than me - had tried to climb it a few weeks before I did and had to stop halfway and go back because of altitude sickness. Both of them were sick but one was so sick she was vomiting and fainting. It’s a very common problem; some people’s bodies just can’t cope with high altitudes, and it has nothing to do with how young, healthy, and fit they are. I found the climb difficult and exhausting but I never felt sick. Someone told me later that it might have something to do with my having grown up in Saskatchewan, and living there most of my adult life. It’s very high altitude, even though the most populated parts of it ( including where I lived)are flat prairie. High altitude tolerance is probably a combination of genes and body conditioning. Your body adapts to certain environmental conditions often without you being aware of it.

[nickim]

No one CONQUERS a mountain, it's always going to win, but you can climb them.

[honeybie]

I think the answer is the simplest one. Levin was overconfident, and that one day delay in calling for a rescue was enough time for things to turn south. Especially when trapped in a wet, cold cave while a stove was running and filling the small space with carbon monoxide. While the carbon monoxide may not have immediately killed them (thanks to eventually digging a hole in the snow trapping them, thus ventilating the cave), the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning were already in motion. Between that, mountain sickness, and hypothermia, you have the perfect recipe for a group of ill people acting irrationally and nonsensical.
As far as the excess supply of hooks, if they were planning to barter or trade with them, they were probably overly optimistic in how much they could trade.
Overall, hubris and the carbon monoxide poisoning + hypothermia + altitude sickness make the most sense.

[aspiceronni]

I love the use of these animations. Obviously there is no footage. But most channels would just show the same pictures over and over. Great idea amd great video.

[meditationsoundscapes]

snow cave methods really need to be reviewed and practiced. a group of snow boarders died In Australia. not near the death zone.. just sealed in and all fell asleep for ever

[Jussyi]

It’s crazy while ascending, being told to keep an eye out for dead bodies. As I continue to learn anything and everything from the cold it is to keep moving, even if you have to crawl, MOVE. Also, I have noted almost every snow cave created will eventually CAVE IN SOONER THAN LATER from the warmth and carbon monoxide generated inside slowly depleting ALL oxygen. I dislike how Leven made multiple bad choices due to his pride and ego, leading to only 2 men surviving this ordeal. . So so disheartening. A man’s down fall is usually, himself.

[cyruskhalvati]

Ignoring the excess of ice screws, everything seems to be a classic case of hypothermia, the haphazard stripping of clothes, delirium.
When the body gets that cold its not uncommon to hallucinate, and on top of that the body feels hot for some reason and people begin to make frantic attempts to “cool down”

By then almost no one has the sense to be able to snap out of it and get their clothes back on. Unless they somehow hallucinate their way into doing it, which has happened before a few times.

The blood was very clearly caused by the biting attack by an obviously hallucinating person.

All the physical fitness in the world wont save you from a 28c core temp.

[tomirab]

Very well done video, I love the new animation style! 👍

Just one thing worth mentioning: paradoxical undressing, sometimes followed by terminal burrowing, is a common behaviour among victims of severe hypothermia. That particular circumstance of those poor men's demise is, on its own, not unusual.

Edited to fix a grammar mistake.

[wht-rabt-obj]

You’d be surprised at what can go through someone’s mind with Mountain Sickness. I think pretty much all of this could be explained by Mountain Sickness and carbon dioxide in the cave. And all because he didn’t convey the amount of trouble they were in.

[behindthespotlight]

One discrepancy. Did the snow cave occur at 4200 meters (or roughly 13k feet)? That seems low to experience hardcore HAPE or HACE. The peak of Elbrus is definitely in the lower range for potential altitude sickness at 18.5k feet. To offer context Everest base camp is at 17.5k feet. That’s base camp. Just above the final village. I’ve trekked at 12, 000 feet and yes there was a sense of short breathing and headache but we were nowhere near altitude sickness. This is an extremely important fact pertaining to this case. If they were at 13, 000 feet it’s hard to lend much credence to altitude sickness (especially group symptoms) But if they were upwards of 15.5k -16k then altitude sickness becomes more likely. Great video 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[dootchan]

as the stove produced more carbon dioxide and oxygen availability decreased, it would have begun burning less efficiently and producing carbon monoxide instead of dioxide. carbon monoxide will kill you pretty well... but before it does it'll cause confusion, disorientation, vomiting (with blood? maybe that was from eating all that hair?), and even hallucinations. They probably went a little mad from it. from there, some exited the cave and sounds like some paradoxical undressing.

[lydiab]

The quality of your videos consistently goes up with every upload. I love the new animations, and your editing gets better and better. Great video!

[Jussyi]

I’m a major fan of your longer hour long content Archie. Been a fan since Day 1. You’ve came a long way, keep going and thank you for sharing.