Steep Downhill and you need to downshift

Of the techniques noted so far in this thread, this does seem to be one of the better options. It would take some practice to train my left foot to apply brakes smoothly while at the same time feathering the accelerator to the correct RPM.

 

I just ran Donner Pass westbound today in a Cascadia with super-8 transmission. There were two possible locations I saw that looked like where the incident in the OP happened, well west of the pass itself. While I'd done Donner Pass many times in a car, this was my first time driving the pass in a big rig. After viewing the video I was prepared to see a lot of 6º downgrades, but there was only one 5 mile section and the rest was a series of shortish 5º grades. With a light load the super-8 held nicely in 7th, in fact it held so well I had to back off on the jake or touch the accelerator to keep from slowing down too much.

My impression is that the section where the accident likely happened is preceded by some flat sections and some of the downgrades aren't marked because there are so many of them. It is likely that the trainee had shifted up on one of those flats and failed to slow down when approaching the top of the next hill to downshift again. Most of the way down I stayed in 7th and gave it some accelerator in the "false flats" to maintain 55 mph, I only shifted to 8th when I clearly saw an uphill ahead to gain some momentum.

The only time I felt any level of concern was when three trucks in a convoy passed me going at least 60 mph in a turn. Far better IMHO to be patient with the hill.

 

8-speed transmission with wide range rpm.

 

Having spent all my prior driving on a 13, I'm impressed with the simplicity of driving an 8, especially up and down hills. I'm sure my experience on Donner would have been much more "active" if I'd been on the 13... and/or pulling a heavy trailer.