A likely explanation for the decades-old Dyatlov mystery has been found. tl;dr Simulations shows that, yes, an avalanche could smash a chest open.
The article has this is interesting anecdote about this kind of research:
“We discovered that, in the 70s, General Motors (GM) took 100 cadavers and broke their ribs,” says Puzrin, “hitting them with different weights at different velocities” to see what would happen during a car crash.