PUBLISHED JULY 21, 2016
Local woman conquers Mount Rainier
By CARL MARIO NUDI
Growing up in Northwest Bradenton, family vacations for Tina Hopkins, 37, would be full of outdoor adventures.
“We went to places like the Keys (in Florida), the Great Smoky Mountains or the Grand Canyon,” said Hopkins, who still lives in the neighborhood with her 13-year-old son, Kaleb.
So when her father, Mark Hopkins, called last year and said, “Let’s climb Mount Rainier,” Tina was all in.
“Dad retired at 66 last year and suggested we go to the summit of Mount Rainier,” Tina said. “He and I had previously hiked Mount Washington in New Hampshire, which is much smaller (6,288 feet high).”
Tina was up to the challenge and completed the trek on June 7 with her father; brother, Paul Hopkins; and boyfriend, Kyle Moore.
To reach the summit of Mount Rainier, 14,410 feet above sea level, you have to walk or climb across glaciers, over large rocks and along narrow ledges over a distance of more than eight miles.
Mount Rainier is in the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington state, about 75 miles south of Seattle, in the Mount Rainier National Park.
Tina has been a barber at His Place Barber and Grooming Shop in Ellenton for nine years, but the 1996 graduate of Manatee High School has always been physically active and participated in sports, such as running half-marathons, finishing in the top 25 percent.
For the past 10 years, Tina has placed second or third in her age bracket in 5K runs, and has entered tough mudder events where the participants run an obstacle course through mud. She also has run trail races, which are like cross-country races, and has lifted weights.
But Tina knew she would have to train harder for this adventure.
“I go to an all-women’s cross-training gym called Key2Life in Northwest Bradenton,” she said, “and talked to my trainer, ‘Key’ Fitch, about the trip.
“She’s an amazing trainer,” Tina said. “She’s the most positive woman I’ve ever met.”
Fitch put her on a program last October with more focus on what would be needed to reach the summit.
Her father, brother and boyfriend all trained with weight vests, but Tina trained with a backpack.
“I got it up to 45 pounds,” she said.
“My only apprehension was the altitude,” she said. “I can condition my legs and strength, but [you] can’t condition your lungs in Florida (for the thinner oxygen level).
“But I think running has helped tremendously,” Hopkins said. “I never got altitude sickness because of my aerobics training.”
The venture took four days, and required you to have a professional guide at all times.
Starting at Base Camp Paradise, climbers are introduced to the other members of the climbing team on the first day. They did a gear check, learned food preparation, watched a video and got acclimated to the altitude and climate. Including the guides, 12 adventurous individuals from different areas of the country joined Tina, her father, brother and boyfriend for the expedition.
On the second day there were about seven hours of extensive training.
You received lessons on how to walk on snow, use a pickaxe and climb while wearing crampons, the pointed metal spikes strapped to your mountain boots.
There also was rope training and how to fall, because you are tethered together in teams of four during the toughest part of the climb.
“You have to scream that you’re falling and not be embarrassed,” Tina said, “because you’re roped together and if you go down you don’t want to pull everyone else down.
“You have to work as one,” she said. “It felt like you have to immediately become a family.
“The two days of preparations and training only heighten the excitement of the third day,” Tina said.
“You wake up and you know this is when you go for it,” she said.
You first have to walk across glacier snowfields as you slowly ascend the 9,000 feet of vertical elevation toward the summit.
“The guides are amazing, encouraging you on with ‘go team, we’re going to do this.’ They really amp you up,” Tina said.
After a whole day of walking, we reached Camp Muir at about 5,000 feet elevation around 8 p.m. and set up camp.
“You’re exhausted. You have a little bit of dinner and you rest about five hours,” Tina said. “You try to get some sleep because you’re off again at midnight and you’re in full gear.”
Full gear meant being roped together in groups of four wearing crampons and a helmet with a headlamp.
“With no moon it’s pitch black,” Tina said. “But you see the stars like you’ve never seen them before in your life.”
The climbing terrain changes at this point, also.
“You’re climbing over rocks and up some cliffs,” Tina said. “We had to maneuver some ledges that were anywhere from 6-to-18-inches wide and in total darkness except for the headlamps.
“You don’t know if it’s snow or a 600-foot drop below,” she said.
After about eight hours of trekking the group reached the summit.,
“Once you realize you’re on the summit you can’t believe you did it,” Tina said. “It was the most emotional feeling I have ever had since giving birth to my son.
“Your emotions swell right up,” she said. “You can’t control them.”
The expedition team was on the summit for about one hour, where they took photos, rested and ate.
“Your energy level is like 50 percent in the tank,” Tina said. “Coming down is mentally draining and you’re exhausted.”
The descent to Base Camp Paradise took about five hours.
“It was a total of about 21 hours of hiking with very little sleep,” she said.
This was an experience Tina will always remember.
“I’ve been back two weeks and still have the high,” she said, “to know that I did it.”
And it was an experience few people get to accomplish.
“A day later we were at a bar in Seattle and the bartender was asking why we were here all the way from Florida,” Tina said. “We said we were on ‘Cloud Nine’ and just completed our climb on Mount Rainier.”
“His eyes lit up, he got all excited, and said ‘I did it too.’”
“He was so excited for us, even though we were strangers, because he knew what we had to do to get there,” Tina said. “It’s like you’re in some kind of elite club.”
Her father said the same thing about his experience.
“When you’re through with the climb, you’re asking yourself ‘why did I do this,’” Mark Hopkins said. “It’s agonizing on so many fronts, only to find yourself days later saying, what mountain will I climb next?”
He also said he learned that his daughter had amazing resilience.
“Once the decision was made to climb Rainier, her mind and the goal was set.” Mark said.
“I don’t know how many residents of Bradenton or Sarasota have climbed Rainier, but there is no woman that is stronger or had as much fun facing this incredible challenge than my daughter,” Mark said. “I could not be more proud of my daughter and son.”
Tinas’ son, Kaleb, was just as proud of his mother.
“He took me aside when we got back and said, ‘Mama, I always knew you could do it,’” she said.
After this conquest Tina said she was ready for her next adventure.
“There’s talk about doing Denali (the tallest mountain in North America), but I will have to win the lottery to do it,” she said. “But if money was no object, I’d be there in a heartbeat.
“I’m hooked on mountain climbing,” Tina said. “You know you’ve done it once, why not do more.”