RENO, Nev. (AP) — Four backcountry endurance athletes from California are trying to put themselves in the shoes of the Donner Party.
The modern-day explorers plan to set out from near Truckee on snowshoes Wednesday to follow the last 90-mile route survivors of the infamous tale of cannibalism finally cut through mountain snow drifts to safety in the winter of 1846-47.
Tim Twietmeyer, five-time winner of a 100-mile endurance run, and International Trail Running Association President Bob Crowley spent seven years researching variations of the route and fact-checking theories on the ground.
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Twietmeyer says the 33-day hike the seven original survivors completed may have been the greatest endurance trek in history.