I always start with digital drum loops and bass loops that are perfectly locked before I attempt to add guitar parts. I play with one ear bud in so I can hear the drums and bass while I'm strumming the guitar. This usually results in a pretty tight and consistent rhythm section.

Damn! Worked for me too!

Existential Retards (It’s All Gonna End…). Came to me when I was watching a psychology video series from the late 1950s. One of the patients being interviewed in a video about depression said “What’s the point of doing anything. It’s all going to end in death”. Somehow I got the idea of writing a song that makes light of that rather obvious truth - that it’s all going to end in death. Much giggling while I was writing the lyrics. https://youtu.be/ZEtX2p-vusM?si=ByQeuXhsbPHhh1Mb

Yeah, I think we all get "red light jitters" from time to time. I can play a guitar part perfectly 5 times in a row, but as soon as I hit record I screw it up. I do find that red wine helps with this though.

I get what you're saying here, but if you are planning to add a rhythm track then uneven guitar tracks can make things difficult. You have to adjust your percussion and bass tracks on a section-by-section basis, and they never really lock in tightly with the guitar.

I do what you're suggesting when I have a difficult guitar part that I know I can't play perfectly to a rhythm track; but if I can play to a rhythm track, I tend to do that so the percussion, bass, and guitar tracks lock in perfectly.

Think percussion not necessarily drums. Something subtle can be used to keep steady time with your guitar track.

Yes, totally agree. Set up a drum loop and add a bass line over top of it, then strum the guitar to the rhythm track you've created.

Rate of ascent and descent matters as well. They were ahead of schedule after the first two days implying a faster than expected ascent or descent.

Any individual explanation can be challenged, but I’m sticking with HAPE and hypothermia because they are consistent with the autopsy and Valya’s accounts.

Conspiracy theories are cool. What actually happens to people is usually (but not always) less cool.

Humans often think in terms of stories, and when it comes to tragic events, seek stories that adequately explain what happened.

When they can't find an explanation that fits the known evidence, humans turn to the exotic, hence religion, conspiracy theories, myths and legends, etc. We do the best we can with reason and evidence, but when that fails to provide an adequate explanation we go ballistic with our imagination.

it seems unlikely that a group of otherwise extremely fit, young and healthy hikers would all experience 1 in 10,000 illness at the same time.

The 1 in 10,000 statistic is general, including all skiers in various circumstances. The hikers in Valya's group all experienced the same conditions. If 1 person in a group of skiers or hikers all experiencing the same circumstances develops HAPE, I suspect the odds are much higher than 1 in 10,000 that others in the group will also succumb.

My explanation places a great deal of weight on the autopsy report, and to a lesser extent on Valya's two accounts, and discounts external causes like nerve gas, poison mushrooms, rabies, etc. It is an anti-conspiracy explanation. But as you say, none of the various explanations explain why Valya survived. That is the ultimate anomaly in this case.

I'm inclined to keep the explanation as simple as possible without referring to things like nerve gas, poison mushrooms, accidentally observed covert government activities, rabies, etc. My conclusions are based on the more detailed sources of information in the links below. I believe hypothermia, high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), and memory distortion over time provide a reasonable explanation of what happened.

Regarding hypothermia, it was much colder, wetter, and windier than expected. The hikers would have been exposed to cold, wet conditions for two days before the deaths, and the night just prior to their deaths would have been particularly trying given the snow, the drop in temperature, and the lack of natural protection from the elements. Hypothermia would explain the disorientation, loss of consciousness, and eventual death of the hikers, and is consistent with the conclusions of the autopsy report.

Regarding HAPE, the hikers ascended and descended the first peak faster than intended, and HAPE depends on the speed of ascent and descent as well as actual altitude. HAPE explains the frothing at the mouth, the appearance of blood on the faces of the victims, and the bruising of the lungs noted in the autopsy report. Valya herself suggested that HAPE was the cause of the deaths as she observed them.

Regarding memory distortion, compare Valya's written account a week or so after the event to the interview with the journalist some 20+ years later. The report of blood coming from the eyes, ears, and noses of the victims appears in the latter but not the former. Could she not have misperceived the source of the blood, which was actually coming from the mouth? Also, she was clearly traumatised by the event. Could she not have misremembered the deaths as being more gruesome and occurring in more rapid succession than they actually did? She notes the possibility of distorted memory for the timing of the deaths in her interview.

Of course, the obvious anomaly with this explanation is that Valya survived 4 more days before being rescued. Why? But Valya's survival is an anomaly for any explanation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tifHdZnK_EE&t=1554s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZ9y7oyQRk&t=1057s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ALDH_l9q0&t=112s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppePWWhVXbM&t=67s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-W5ea6l4ls

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothermia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352682

https://www.healthline.com/health/high-altitude-pulmonary-edema#symptoms

I'm inclined to keep the explanation as simple as possible. No nerve gas, poison mushrooms, observed military activity, etc. Hypothermia, high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), and distorted memory account for most but not all of the evidence.

Remember, they traversed the highest peak faster than expected on the first two days, and rate of ascent/descent matters with HAPE (and HAPE is what Valya has stated that she believes was the cause of death). The autopsy report noted bruised lungs and Valya remembered frothing at the mouth, both suggestive of HAPE. HAPE victims sometimes cough up blood. Could the blood have appeared to be also flowing from other orifices? Could Valya have misperceived / misremembered this? Her detailed account was 20+ years after the fact, so memory distortion like this makes sense.

It was colder and wetter than expected and snow had fallen. Hypothermia can be brought on by much milder conditions. When Ludmilla awoke and realised the temperature had dropped due to the snow, she knew they had to get down the slope to a warmer area, but it was too late. HAPE may have caused the frothing, difficulty breathing, and possibly the convulsions (due to a lack of oxygen), but hypothermia ultimately claimed their lives.

There are problems with this explanation I know. Why did they all die at once? Well, DID they all die at once? The bodies were in close proximity, and Valya stated that the deaths occurred quickly, but she has also stated that she can't be certain of how long the incident took. She is recalling events that happened 20+ years earlier. Are there other ways to explain the bodies being so close together if the deaths occurred over a longer period than Valya remembers?

And then there is the obvious question: How did Valya survive for another 4 days in the wilderness? But all theories (nerve gas, poison mushrooms, rabies, etc.) have to account for this. Valya survived and the others didn't.

The bodies were in close proximity and Valya stated that the deaths occurred in rapid succession. This suggests exposure to a fast-acting toxin that same morning. The explanations I've read suggest either it was (a) something they ate or (b) where they walked. One thing I haven't seen discussed is that Sacha, who was the largest and the first to die, was walking behind the others. If they hiked in a single file, or even in a tight group, the others would have already passed where Sacha fell. Why was he affected first? Either they were spread out going down the slope, which is not standard hiking practice but would explain why Valya was not exposed, or it has more to do with what they ate at breakfast.

But so far from civilization? Putting her own life at risk? Doesn't seem likely.

Very good point about misremembering the timeline of the deaths. The toxin explanations are bolstered by the suddeness of the deaths. If they were actually drawn out over a longer period, then the range of toxins and other potential causes of death increases. However, the bodies were found all in the same basic location, and exactly where she remembered them falling when she went back the next morning, which suggests they died at around the same time.

Yeah, I thought of that, but if it dissipated overnight then the toxin couldn't have been there that long. I'm thinking exposure occurred that morning but further up the mountain. Either they ate something or encountered something on the way down the slope, but exposure was not where the hikers actually died.

Yeah, due to some slight variation either in what she ate or her path down the mountain, she was not exposed to what killed the others. I'm inclined to believe that exposure occurred that morning, but further up the slope rather than where the hikers died. Otherwise, it's not clear how Valya went through their backpacks for maps and supplies the next morning without also being exposed.

I like to sing alternative lyrics to my favorite songs, keeping the meter and rhyme the same, but radically altering the semantics. I think this helps with lyric writing down the track.

Great to hear from a fellow lefty! Yes, I totally get what you are recommending. I’ll try it on the final recording. I could even create two tracks with two sets of chords and a different strumming/picking pattern to make the difference stand out more.

And yes, capo is 3rd fret. Accidentally cut that off in the video.

Thanks for the feedback!

Hi! Not sure how I missed your reply. Must have accidentally turned off notifications and I’m not a heavy user of Reddit.

Happy to chat further. How’s your research going?

This is good! I listened to it three times in a row, which is a positive sign. It's catchy.

Just a few reactions. Maybe bring the harmony track in the chorus up a bit? Felt like it needed something to create more variation in the vocals.

Perhaps I'm being a bit old-fashioned here, but it felt like the song needed a searing guitar solo somewhere in the middle.

And maybe consider the balance between the drums and the guitar tracks. At various points some tracks seem to dominate others.

Overall though, this was great!

My main argument against them getting lost was that they continued on foot in the same direction they were driving rather than following the road back toward the lodge. Even if they took a wrong turn, they were on the Oroville-Quincy Highway for 35 miles. Must have looked different from the major highway they would have needed to take to get home (no gas stations, convenience stores, bars and nightclubs, etc.)?

Of course, the big puzzle is the absence of a plausible motivation for heading in that direction in the first place. Where were they heading and why? That's probably why people are still talking about it to this day.

I'm not sure this will help but I've found that having multiple 'artistic' pursuits helps me a lot. If I'm stuck in the songwriting department I never press or push myself. Rarely does anything come of it, and yes, it can be depressing.

I usually find some other outlet like making a CGI animation video, or writing an article for some academic journal. Even just reading a good book seems to unconsciously recharge my proverbial battery. Eventually, some notes or chords will just pop into my head without me working for it, and away I go.