A.V. HIKERS CLOSE TO FINISHING DONNER PARTY TREK.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Battling harsh winter storms and frostbite frostbite (chilblains), injury to the tissue caused by exposure to cold, usually affecting the extremities of the body, such as the hands, feet, ears, or nose. Extreme cold causes the small blood vessels in the extremities to constrict. , two Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley hikers are nearing the end of their 350-mile trek to prove there was an escape route available to the ill-fated Donner party Donner Party, group of emigrants to California who in the winter of 1846–47 met with one of the most famous tragedies in Western history. The California-bound families were mostly from Illinois and Iowa, and most prominent among them were the two Donner in 1846. Lee Bergthold, a photojournalist and former survival school instructor, and photographer Tina Bowers Bowers is a surname, and may refer to
Heading home, they're weary - and convinced they have accomplished their goal. ``The Donner party could have fallen back and survived the conditions at the time if they had changed course,'' Bergthold said in a message relayed by support-team members. He said the 87 men, women and children in the Donner party could have changed course and gone through Death Valley. Instead, they caught by heavy snows in November 1846 at a mountain pass near Truckee. Blocked by snow, they settled at a nearby lake for the winter. Thirty-four members died in the Sierra, and the rest of the settlers survived by eating the flesh of the dead. On Wednesday, Bergthold and Bowers were near Silver Peak, Nev., about 160 miles northwest of Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. . They expect to end their journey this weekend at the northern edge of Death Valley National Monument national monument In the U.S., any of numerous areas reserved by the federal government for the protection of objects or places of historical, scientific, or prehistoric interest. . ``Many nights temperatures were at or below zero. One night in particular we had zero degrees and 20 mph winds,'' Bergthold said. Bergthold, 61, said he suffered frostbite on two fingers on his right hand and also lost three toenails. At one point, Bergthold said, Bowers was suffering from the first stages of hypothermia hypothermia Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments. , but recovered within two hours and was back on the trail. Each hiker has lost about 20 pounds, Bergthold said. The first part of the pair's trek followed trails taken in the 1800s from Battle Mountain to Walker Lake Basin. At Walker Lake, the Donner party and other pioneers went west through the Sierra. Bergthold and Bowers turned south at Walker Lake to take the Death Valley route that Bergthold believes the Donner party could have used. |
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