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December 18, 2020

Athletes retracing Sierra escape of Donner Party survivors

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. — A pair of backcountry endurance athletes who became obsessed with the Donner Party spent the last seven years researching and exploring the Sierra on foot to try to pinpoint the final 90-mile route survivors of the infamous tale of cannibalism finally cut through mountain snow drifts to safety in the winter of 1846-47.

Now, four veteran ultrarunners from Northern California have set out on snowshoes to retrace the footsteps of the pioneers who braved the worst blizzard in a century to escape over the top of what's now called Donner Pass through the Emigrant Gap northwest of Lake Tahoe.


 
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