Kholat Syakhl, a transliteration of
Mansi
Mansi may refer to:
* Mansi people, an Indigenous people of Russia
** Mansi language
*Mansi (name), given name and surname
*Mansi Junction railway station
* Mansi Township, Myanmar
** Mansi, Myanmar, a town in the Kachin State of Myanmar (Burma)
* ...
Holatchahl meaning "dead mountain"
[Eichar, Donnie ''Dead Mountain: The True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident'' (Chronicle Books, October 22, 2013, ), p. 19.] or "silent peak", is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
in the northern
Ural region of
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, on the border between the
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (; ), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the northeast of European Russia. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Syktyvka ...
and
Sverdlovsk Oblast
Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...
near the northeast corner of
Perm Krai
Perm Krai (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a Krais of Russia, krai), located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is Perm, Russia, Perm. The population of the krai was 2,532,405 (2021 Russian census, 2021 ...
.
On February 2, 1959, a group of ski hikers led by mysteriously perished on the east shoulder of Kyolat Syakhl (not Otorten, as is sometimes erroneously reported). This
Dyatlov Pass incident
The Dyatlov Pass incident () was an event in which nine Soviet people, Soviet ski hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains on 1 or 2 February 1959, under undetermined circumstances. The experienced trekking group from the Ural State Technica ...
is the main reason that people outside the immediate area in Russia have heard of this remote peak.
Nomenclature
The name of this mountain simply meant a "lack of game" for native Mansi hunters. The word ''kholat'' (meaning "death") is a relatively common placename element within Mansi territory, and it is a part of at least 3 other local geographic names.
In Russian, the Mansi name can be translated as ''myórtvaya vershína'' (мёртвая вершина), literally "dead peak".
Note that this article's Russian-language version (especially the Этимология/Etymology section) has much more detail about the origin of, and disputes about, the mountain's name.
Historic references
In documents related to the investigation into the Dyatlov Pass ski-hikers, Kholat Syakhl is often referred to as "height 1079"
— its height on topographic maps issued before 1963. On more modern maps, however, the height of the mountain is indicated as above sea level.
References
Mountains of the Komi Republic
Ural Mountains
Ural Federal District
Mountains of Sverdlovsk Oblast
{{SverdlovskOblast-geo-stub