While Disney’s Frozen has been known for its catchy tunes played on repeat since 2013, to the chagrin of parents everywhere, it has now taken on a new life, potentially solving the mystery of the infamous Dyatlov Pass incident.
In February 1959, a group of experienced student mountaineers accompanied their instructor through Russia's Ural Mountains.
During the night, something caused them to cut their way out of their tent and escape, poorly dressed for the sub-zero temperatures.
All nine climbers were found dead weeks later.
It was determined that six of them died of hypothermia, while three sustained fatal injuries from an unknown source.
The mystery has been a hot topic of discussion in the decades following, with theories ranging from animal attacks or severe weather to interference from aliens or yetis.
The original investigation ascribed the incident to an “unknown natural force”
New findings in Communications Earth & Environment journal have now revealed that the case may finally be put to rest, thanks to help from an unlikely source.
Researcher Johan Gaume, director of the EPFL Snow and Avalanche Simulation Laboratory was amazed at how well the movement of snow was rendered in the 2013 film Frozen, so he got in touch with the animators to find out how it was done.
Gaume was able to get a copy of the film’s snow animation code and modify it to simulate the impact that an avalanche can have on the human body.
Thanks to the animation code, Gaume was able to figure out that at just the right angle, a slab avalanche can create a projectile of ice, which would be able to create wounds consistent with those found on the bodies.
It’s unlikely that there will ever be a concrete explanation as to what happened to the seven men and two women that night in 1959.
An avalanche has often been disregarded as an explanation because it's "too simple", but with these latest findings, Gaume has proven that the simplest answer may be the right one.
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