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...