First Lines of "Dead Mountain"

"February 1959 Northern Ural Mountains, USSR

Two figures trudge across a snowy expanse. The peak of Oterten Mountain stands icy and grim in the distance, a lone witness to their miserable progress. It is afternoon, though difficult to say how late. Time of day tends to lose its meaning in this wilderness, where the sun is a mere smudge behind cloud cover, and the haze is so persuasive as to make earth and sky indistinguishable."

Dead Mountain, The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar.

A comprehensive account of the classic "what the hell happened?" mystery. I was introduced to the odd account of the Dyatlov Pass hikers through the horror movie "The Devil's Pass" The movie was  entertaining enough, but reading up on the reality behind the "inspired by a true story" catchphrase was eye opening. You can find the details of the mystery on Wikipedia. Eichar really does a good job summarizing all of the known facts while bringing the story into vivid life. His obsession with the mystery leads down many dead ends until he hits on a plausible scientific explanation that is bizarre but very satisfying.