Martin, your winter walk-ins were very much worth the effort. I can tell just from your pictures how wet and heavy that west slope snow must be. Funny that Stein mentioned the apparent inaccessibility of upper parts of Donner back in his day. I thought he had no problems getting just about anywhere on that mountain. My son paid his first visit to Donner this past summer, and he said it was highly frustrating how much of the railroad and its surrounding scenery was gated off or marked "keep out." Still, he managed to find some drive-in-able spots, and a few that required some rigorous climbing and bushwhacking on his part.