It should have been a moment of pure joy. When Tony Hoskins reached the summit of Mount Rainier, for the second time in his life he marveled at the view from the top.
The Lynnwood man was part of the July 17-18 Climb for Clean Air, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association of Washington. Hoskins, 38, made the same trek last year.
This summer, he climbed the 14,411-foot mountain with a heavier heart. In March, his mother Eve Hoskins, 71, was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
“That thought motivated many steps along the way — ‘I can do this, I can do this’ — thinking about my mom,” he said Wednesday. “Catching your breath at altitude is very tough. I couldn’t help but think about my mom, who at sea level struggles to catch her breath, even aided by her oxygen hose.”
Last summer, he fulfilled a goal to reach Rainier’s summit before turning 40. This year, he climbed to honor his mother.
Eve Hoskins and her husband, Gary, were there at the Paradise Inn at Mount Rainier National Park on July 18 to celebrate their son’s successful climb. “It was fun, we had a great dinner,” she said Wednesday. The couple raised their three children in Edmonds and now live in Bothell.
Although she needs oxygen, Eve Hoskins said she wasn’t too bothered by the 5,400-foot elevation at the lodge on Rainier’s south side. The outing was a welcome break from her grueling chemotherapy treatments.
“They diagnosed me toward the end of March. It was a complete surprise,” said Eve Hoskins, who is being treated at the Stevens Oncology Center in Edmonds. She said she quit smoking about seven years ago, after her husband had a heart attack. “I had heard many times that after you quit, after so long, it won’t even show up,” she said.
Doctors at first expected her to live just a few weeks. After two weeks of initial chemotherapy, she’s had several more treatments, each over three long days. “Last Friday was my last chemo for a while,” she said. Tests, she said, show clearing in her lungs, but she’s unsure what that means for her future.
Tony Hoskins’ climb was especially meaningful because it funds programs teaching kids not to smoke. “I have a mom who has lung cancer because she smoked,” he said. He and his wife, Angela, have a 3-year-old son, Grayson. Hoskins is a partner in a firm that creates Web sites for corporate clients.
In any push to reach a summit, a great deal of the challenge is mental, Hoskins said. “A big part of the mental part for me this year was my mom,” he said.
With a goal of $7,000, by Thursday he has raised $6,294.10 for the lung association.
Patricia Throop, the organization’s vice president of revenue events, said proceeds from the climb help pay for smoking prevention programs in schools and research to battle lung diseases. Marking its 20th year, the 2008 event has raised about $250,000 and included 55 climbers, she said.
Guide service are provided by Rainier Mountaineering Incorporated, run by legendary climber Lou Whittaker.
“There were 10 people in our climb team, and four of us made it to the summit,” Tony Hoskins said. His group left the Paradise area about 10 a.m. on July 17, heading up Rainier’s popular Disappointment Cleaver route. They crossed the Muir snow field, and by 3:30 p.m. had settled in at Camp Muir, at about 10,000 feet. That’s where climbers rest, eat, sleep and prepare for the rigorous ascent.
Awakened about midnight, they were roped together in teams, and climbed through the darkness by the light of head lamps.
“The most challenging part is at the Disappointment Cleaver, for sure. It’s over 1,000 vertical feet of rock that separates the Ingraham and Emmons glaciers. We hit the cleaver around 2 a.m.,” Hoskins said. “The cleaver can take all the energy you have,” he said, adding that three people turned back there. After a break at 12,500 feet, it was another hour to the top.
“We reached the summit at 7:10 a.m. on Friday the 18th,” he said. “Coming down takes about half the time, but you are spent and tired. And with crampons on, coming down on the ice kills your knees and toes.”
When it’s your child on the mountain, waiting is also a test of endurance. “It’s hard,” Eve Hoskins said.
Last summer, her son returned late because he helped another climber make it down. “Wherever he’s needed, he’s there,” she said. This year, he was waiting in the parking lot when his parents arrived.
Eve Hoskins will never see the top of Mount Rainier. With whatever else he carried up the mountain, her son carried his mother along in his heart.
“Her spirits are high,” he said.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Climb benefits lung association
The American Lung Association of Washington’s Climb for Clean Air raises funds to support smoking prevention and research to end lung diseases. Information: www.alaw.org.
Lynnwood’s Tony Hoskins made the climb in honor of his mother, who has lung cancer. Find his American Lung Association fundraising Web page by entering “2008 Climb for Clean Air Washington (490) Pledge” in a search engine.
Mount Rainier climbing information: www.mount.rainier.national-park.com/hike.htm.
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