In January 1959, in the middle of the Russian winter, nine students set off on a long ski hike into Siberia and never returned.
National Geographic reports that a new scientific study found evidence that the nine unlucky students were killed by hypothermia after being crushed by a very unique type of avalanche.
The study postulates that the group sealed their own fate when they cut a shelter into a slope under the shoulder of a hillside.
The last photo of the group showed them cutting the shelter.
Computer models showed that such a position could have become deadly, as katabatic winds coming down the hillside would have deposited a heavy load of hard snow on the slope above them.
Their cut would also have made breaks in the supporting underlying layers of snow, causing a small section of hard snow above them to eventually break off, causing terrible injuries and forcing them to leave the tent in haste.
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