Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, close to Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada. Its maximum elevation is 7,085 feet (2160 m) above sea level. It is a narrow pass with a very steep approach from the east, and a gradual approach from the west.

History

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To get to the Donner Pass, pioneers had to travel through several forts, including Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie. The trail to the pass also passes through the Ruby Mountains and the Great Basin.

It was the location where, in the winter of 1846–1847, the Donner Party became trapped and some of its members resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.

In the mid-1860s the Central Pacific Railroad built a portion of the first transcontinental railroad over the pass. Until the 1970s, Central Pacific's successor, the Southern Pacific Railroad, maintained a roundtable and service center on the pass. This railroad is still in heavy use, although the traffic now runs through a tunnel slightly to the south of the pass.

Geography

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The Donner Pass Road runs through the Donner Pass. Interstate 80 crosses the Sierra crest through the Euer Saddle which is approximately two miles to the north. Euer Saddle is slightly higher than the Donner Pass, but it is also much wider.

Weather

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Winter weather in Donner pass can be brutal. Precipitation averages 54 inches, most of which falls as snow. At 415 inches per year, it is one of the snowiest places in the United States. To take advantage of this, the Boreal Ski Resort was built to the north: ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area report an average of 300"-500" of snowfall per season.^* Winds in the pass can also become extreme.

The winter of 1847 was especially severe, and this is generally cited as the single most important factor in the disaster of the Donner Party.

Rail mountain passes | Mountain passes of California | Southern Pacific Railroad | Lincoln Highway