After camping near the summit, Sarah and Jay awoke to a snow-covered landscape, escalating their group’s anxiety to terror. They faced two perilous options: advancing on foot with the risk of succumbing to exposure or retreating to the lake where they risked starvation. Choosing the latter, they returned, hoping it would buy time to formulate a better plan.

The Donner Party sought refuge in whatever shelter they could find. Sarah and Jay huddled in their wagon, while the Donner brothers tried and failed to construct a cabin. Meanwhile, Margaret Reed, along with the Eddy and Murphy families, faced harsh conditions, though the Breens and the Graves were better off, having preserved most of their livestock. Women like Margaret Reed, Doris Wolfinger, Harriet Pike, and Amanda McCutchen faced the additional challenge of managing without their husbands. The single men, though also resource-limited, didn’t have children to care for. Urgently needing shelter, the Breens moved into a nearby primitive cabin. The Murphys, Fosters, Pikes, and Eddys (16 people in total) built a makeshift shelter against a giant boulder. The Graves family constructed their own shelter, which also provided refuge for Amanda McCutchen, Margaret Reed, and their children.

Deciding whether to slaughter their livestock posed a serious dilemma for the group.