14,410 feet for cleaner air

It was a poster that caught his eye and a phone call that bolstered his interest.

Todd Smith was hooked from the beginning.

In July, Smith -- along with more than 100 others -- will ascend Mt. Rainier (elevation 14,410 feet) for the 14th-annual Climb for Clean Air, which raises money each year for the American Lung Association of Washington (ALAW).

Smith, 31, has been backpacking for 18 years -- he also kayaks, bikes and skis -- though rarely can he use his love of the outdoors to contribute to a worthy cause.

"Hiking is often such a solitary sport. It's not very often you get to do it for someone else's benefit, so it seemed appealing to me on that level," Smith said of the upcoming climb.

Smith earned his first bachelor's degree in sociology before earning a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Rochester. Afterward, he worked in an emergency room (ER) in St. Paul, Minn., where he helped treat many patients suffering from asthma.

"Once it got hot and the air got a little worse, it seemed like we were always full of folks who had asthma," he said.

Smith's experience with asthma patients -- and with family members troubled by the disease -- is one of the reasons he chose to participate in this year's Climb for Clean Air.

"I think a lot of people think of asthma as being benign -- you use an inhaler and you're fine -- but for people who really struggle with it, it's an incredibly afflicting disease," he said.

Smith also decided to take part in the climb because he wanted to become active in his new community -- he moved to Seattle last September -- and because, as an environmentalist, he is fond of the ALAW's political involvement, such as its ongoing battle with air pollution.

Since deciding to join the Climb for Clean Air, Smith has kept busy by collecting the $3,500 required by the ALAW to participate in the climb.

"A lot of [the money] I raised through friends and family," said Smith, who is now less than $500 shy of his goal. "And then I got some big help from corporations and individuals that donated some prizes [for a raffle]. I had a yard sale and raised some money from that. [I've received] about $250 from students in the nursing school."

Smith has also been attending the ALAW's monthly meetings with the other climbers, where they discuss everything from why they are participating to proper hiking gear. He has been training for the climb, recently adding a trip to Mt. Rainier to his regiment of weekend outings that typically include mountain biking and kayaking.

"We went [to Mt. Rainier] a couple weekends ago, some friends and I," he said. "We climbed up to Camp Muir, which is 10,000 (feet). That was kind of a practice run to see how I did."

Smith and company made the climb in four hours, two less than guides from Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., will expect of the ALAW climbers. Still, Smith did not attempt to reach Rainier's summit on the climb. In July, he will.

Not that it matters any -- Smith has climbed higher mountains. In 1997, he and his wife, Monica, conquered all 19,341 feet of Africa's highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

"That was just kind of a hard slog," Smith said of the climb. "This is a little more technical."

This year's Climb for Clean Air will include four two-day trips up Mt. Rainier -- from July 12-21. Smith is planning to make the climb on either July 19-20 or 20-21. About 25 other climbers from varying hiking backgrounds will join him, led by members of the guide service.

Despite contrasting age groups, backgrounds and outdoors experience, Smith believes all of the climbers have at least one thing in common.

"I think they're drawn to [the climb] for the same reasons I am," he said. "It's a way for them to give back through a sport they really like to do. That's something that we can't normally do because it seems like a lot of the fundraisers are things like running marathons."

Smith is all too familiar with the effects of asthma and other debilitating lung diseases, and he is proud to be able to do something about such afflictions. Currently, he is a full-time nurse in the UW's Family Nurse Practitioner Program, and this summer he will be spending his time at the Swedish Medical Center, working in the ER.

"You're jack of all trades, master of none, but it's so much fun because you get to see everything," Smith said of the ER.

While Smith enjoys working in the ER, the Climb for Clean Air offers him a unique opportunity to help those in need -- an opportunity a hospital cannot provide.

Much of the money from the climb will go toward things like pneumonia prevention, and cures for lung diseases and tobacco control, and about 15 percent will benefit the asthma camps of Washington.

"To me, that's such a great thing because so much of what we do in nursing is not necessarily curing people; it's caring for people and trying to help them deal with what they have and how to live with it -- and that's all what the asthma camps are about," Smith said.

Smith noted that, in Washington alone, one out of every 10 children and one out of every nine adults -- that's one of six households -- are affected by asthma, something which he attributes to the decline in the quality of the nation's air.

Though not as life-threatening as, say, cancer, according to Smith, asthma can be more of a nuisance than people give it credit for -- and he is just glad to be doing his part, both in the ER and on the mountain.

Todd Smith can be reached at tms117@u.washington.edu.