I first met Yury Konstantinovich in 2012 in Yekaterinburg when I was researching for my first book on the Dyatlov Incident. I found him to be a decent, thoughtful and generous man. On my first visit he also went to the trouble of arranging for Yury Yudin to come over and meet me. The earliest Yury Yudin could get over was on the Saturday, which was the day my visa expired. Although it might have been possible to extend the visa, I said it would be better to meet him on my next visit. Sadly Yury Yudin passed away before that happened. Similarly, my last contact with Yury Konstantinovich was just a few weeks before his last trip to the Dyatlov Pass. We had been exchanging messages about the state of my knee which I had damaged on my previous trip to the Pass. I told him I doubted that I could make the journey up to the Pass as my knee wouldn’t take the weight of the backpacks we all carried. He very kindly offered to spread my backpack amongst the others, but even with that kind offer, I didn’t feel my knee would take the strain of the hike. So I suggested we leave it till the next time and give it more time to heal. It was ironic that Yury developed a knee problem and had to turn back on the trip. He died of Coronavirus in hospital in Yekaterinburg on 11 August 2021.
I mention the putting off of the meeting with Yury Yudin because we all tend to think that we have plenty of time to do everything and the sad truth is, we don’t. Time is one of the most precious commodities we have. I had hoped to make at least one more trip up to the Dyatlov Pass with Yury Konstantinovich, but sadly it was not to be.
To me, Yury Konstantinovich did not just run the Dyatlov Foundation, he was the keeper of the Dyatlov light and his passing has left a huge gap for all of us who follow this mystery.
I have recently updated my second book Journey to Dyatlov Pass and included additional photos and material on the Rocket theory and background on the Mansi. There is an additional chapter with an intuitive communicator as to what may have happened to the group.
KEITH McCLOSKEY
Keith McCloskey
ISBN: 9780752491486
Published by: The History Press - 2013-07-01
Keith McCloskey
1-4 Ekaterinburg - Many monuments remain from the Soviet era including this statue of Young Pioneers (3) and the statue (4) of the two founders of Ekaterinburg. Picture (2) is the Church of the Blood built on the site of the Ipatiev House where the Tsar, Nicholas II and his family were murdered on 17 July 1918.
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5-6 The old KGB HQ in Ekaterinburg (5), the new FSB HQ is on the other side of the city centre. The street (6) where the KGB staff and their families lived which is right next to the old KGB HQ. The street was closed to anyone non-KGB ie ordinary Soviet citizens.
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7-19 Mikhailovskoe Cemetery - the memorial and graves of the Dyatlov group. Seven of the group are buried here and they were joined by Yury Yudin in April 2013. Before Yury Yudin was buried here there were eight graves. The eighth grave (15) is occupied by another student of UPI unconnected with the Dyatlov group who had died of pneumonia at the time of the Dyatlov group deaths.
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20-25 Ivanoskoye Cemetery where George Krivonischenko and Semyon Zolotarev are buried. The two graves (24) are next to each other. Krivonischenko's mother and relatives built the small concrete and brick wall around Zolotarev’s grave as nobody from Zolotarev's family had been at the funeral or attended to the grave. The Cemetery is very overgrown and the two graves are not far from this entrance (25) on Radischeva Street.
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26-29 UPI where most of the Dyatlov group were students. Picture (27) shows myself and Yury Kuntsevich of the Dyatlov Foundation outside the Rector's office.
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