A Trip Through the Donner Pass Train Tunnels

10 June 2010

With all the late May snowfall in the high Sierras, I found myself making a couple trips to visit the Tahoe/Truckee boys for some last minute filming. One of snowboardings most notorious hiking accessible backcountry zones called ASI also leads the way to a series of abandonned train tunnels that date back to the late 1800′s. The legend has it that hundreds of chinese laborers or slaves were used to build the train tunnels and railway that stretch over the summit. One day, the owners of the railway company refused to pay the workers, and gave them a drug induced meal instead. The bodies were then placed on large log rafts laden with TNT and set adrift into the cove below the tracks known as Donner Lake.

Donner Pass gets its name from the historical Donner-Reed Party which tells the story of American Pioneers who in their travels to the Sierra Nevada, got stuck in winter storms which lead them to death or canabalism to survive. With these stories along with many others, it makes traveling through the tunnels a bit spooky and exciting. Below are some photos of our crew (TK,Jake Devine,Andrew Brewer,Cronk,Matty,Drew,Sean and myself) making our way out to some film spots…all photos courtesy of Sean Kerrick Sullivan…