In reply to sheelba:
I looked at this a bit in the past and listened to at least two podcasts* on it, but have not read Eicher's book. How does he rule out group asphyxiation (from cooking etc), combined with hypothermia and post-death injuries from animals or avalanches?
The reason I ask is because there have been more than a few very odd deaths due to people asphyxiating, or nearly so, in snow caves and tents, which have either created bizarre death scenes, or chaotic near-misses.
A prime example is a trio of British climbers working for BAS on the Antarctic Peninsula where a search party found them in various stages of undress - one naked in the cave, one half-naked (no pants) in the doorway, and one dead outside near the sled dogs.
After much confusion and discussion it transpired that they had realised too late that they'd gassed themselves - CO poisoning from stove in the cave - and tried to get out. I'm not sure if the guy who made it fully outside actually died of hypothermia or CO poisoning. The lack of clothing was because it had got so hot and stuffy in the cave, but they had obviously not realised that this was a precursor to running out of air / dying of CO.
Also worth remembering that people in the final stages of dying from hypothermia get (briefly6) very hot and usually try and fling their clothes off.
* eg.
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4108
Post edited at 09:46