Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
I would have started by trying to bring a Native American guide along. It seems the Donner party wasn't very fluent in Native American customs, and before venturing into the west without an experienced guide. Sometimes having the right people on your team makes an effort easier.
Their fate was pretty much sealed by Jim Bridger, who hid letters from Edwin Bryant that advised against traveling on Hasting's Pass with wagons. At some point, before winter, I would have made a makeshift shelter for the women and children, and left a few men to guard them. I would have sent the rest of the men forward to explore the rest of the pass or find more help, fresh horses/oxen and more wagons to carry their belongings.
By stopping somewhere before winter, they could have taken advantage of any wild-grown food from the late summer and fall harvest seasons. When food got very scarce, I would have starved myself so my children would eat. I would like to say we would never have resorted to cannibalism. But desperation to keep children alive puts people's ethics at risk of being compromised. And for some, desperation to stay alive themselves makes them put their ethics aside.
I hope this gives you some ideas for your answer.