Mt. Whitney, part 3

This is the post in which my mom finally gets to the top! After 2 nights on the trail of bumming food and water off other hikers and hiking in the dark, she made it to the top. She ran into some guy with a nice camera, made conversation with him, and got him to take photos of her at the summit. She then forwarded me the email he had sent her with her photos.

The photos were named ASIAN155-ASIAN165.

I have to say that I was super impressed at the fact that my mom managed to summit Mt. Whitney. She kept telling us stories about how people were trying to climb too quickly and ended up getting altitude sickness so she'd see them charging up, and then coming back down. Slow and steady wins the race, she said. Slow and steady... and not having the appropriate permits for a multi-night hike up Mt. Whitney, but pooh on the rules- as I would say!

So she summited, came back down and picked up my dad where he was further down the trail, and sent me these photos a few weeks later, after the random stranger who had taken them had uploaded them onto his computer.

The end. Now onto the next saga...

Mt. Whitney, part 2

I did get these two videos, which hinted that my mom was indeed still alive.

Speaking of water... my mom told me afterwards that she didn't have enough water for the hike. So she ended up taking water from some other hikers on the trail. Fortunately, the trail is very well traveled, so she was able to bum water off plenty of other people. (And also food, because she didn't bring enough food either...)

I was confused, because my parents had told me before they left on the hike that they had gone to Sport Chalet and spent several hundred dollars on hiking supplies- including a water purification system. Didn't she bring that along?

Yes, apparently she had. But she had neglected to bring an appropriate container to use the water purification system in. D'oh!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy. No matter how many times you get lost while skiing, we will always go pick you up.

Running with ... no shoes?

I got this by text the other day:

No shoes. I'm not sure if my parents have bought into the barefoot running thing or what .... ?

In which I am becoming my mother

My parents came into town one summer to visit, and we took my mother to Park City for a bike ride. I felt sort of bad for my mom, because we rented her a cruiser bike, and my husband and I were on our road bikes. It was a warm day, and we had a long, beautiful, but exhausting bike ride.

Mom and me posing on our bikes

On the way back, we stopped by to fill up on gas. I put the nozzle in the car and was waiting for it to fill when my husband jumped out the passenger side.

"Hey, you want get something to eat? I'm starved."

"Sure, fine," I agreed, knowing that my mom would probably give us grief for whatever we chose to buy.

We went into the store, bought a few snacks, and then hopped back into the car to go. I was driving off when a woman walking in front of my car stopped and stared at me, horrified, with her hands over her mouth. Puzzled, I looked in my rear and side view mirrors. 

Oh. SH*T. I had driven off with the nozzle still in the car. Gasoline was pouring out of the pump and splashing onto the ground. Completely embarrassed, I put the car into park and ran back to the pump, where I stopped the gas with my hand. The attendant came out to the car, and I handed him the detached pump. 

As I got back into the car to leave, my mom was sitting in the backseat reading something on her phone. "Don't worry, I've done that before," she said. "Except I drove all the way home with it."

Mt. Whitney, part 1

By this time, my mom had been training for her Mount Whitney summit bid for several months, as documented here, here, here, and here. Finally, near the end of the summer, my mom told me that she and my dad were going to head up north to Mount Whitney Portal.

Road to Mount Whitney Portal (Source)

I asked my dad if they would be planning to take it slowly to summit, and it turns out that my mom was planning to hike it alone and my dad would just hike part of the trail. I thought it probably wasn't a great idea for my mom to attempt such a long hike alone, so I gave my dad a call.

"Hi Dad, are you guys on your way up to the Mount Whitney trailhead?"
"We are go to Mammoth. Stay there one night."
"Mammoth? Why?"
"It close-by and Mommy wants to get used to the heights."
"The heights?"
"For the thin air."
"Oh, you mean the altitude?"
"Oh, yes, the altitude."
"Do you think it's a good idea for Mom to hike this alone?"
"No, but you know your mother."
"Mmm... can't you try to slow her down by having her carry more stuff or something like that?"
"We already try that but I prefer take my time so she just go ahead. She try to meet up with the church group."
"The church group? You mean Kay Maser's group? Oh, that's great!"
"Yes, with Kay. But your mother cause so much trouble they don't want her but we go to try to meet them up."
"Wait, so is she going with the group? Or she isn't?"
"No I tell you they don't want her but she go anyway to meet them up. But she already get kick off the group."
"Okay... so she's going to try to meet them there and join them anyways? Even though they don't want her to?"
"Yes."
"Ooooo-kay..... Wait- don't you need a permit to hike Mt. Whitney? Did you guys get permits?"
"No."
"What? But you have to reserve those way in advance, I thought!"
"We go to day of and sometimes have permits extra."
"Oh."

Then I got these videos via email:

Only my mother would try to power a summit bid with mixed greens, fruits, and salmon.

I got busy at work, and then about a week later, realized that I had never heard back from my parents and that I should probably find out if my mom was still alive...

Lost in the Woods, Part 4

I promise, that my mom does actually make a bid for Mount Whitney, and I will indeed tell you about it.

But first, I was digging through my email and noticed this one with the subject line: "SGV Hikes (Covina, CA) - Meetup". And below, the email itself:

And who said my mom never learns?!?!