Tom Scoville likes to bring something new with him when he scrambles up Colorado’s fourteeners.
Specifically: hips, shoulders and knees.
The 63-year-old Washington, D.C., resident this month completed his second lap up all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks. A commendable feat made even more impressive by his 20 joint operations, including four replacement hips and four new knees, two new shoulders and, most recently, a fused spine.
“There are a lot of people out there who have climbed those peaks several times. I guess the thing that makes this a little unusual is that I had had so many joint surgeries,” said Scoville, shortly before he began an informal quest to climb all of Colorado’s highest peaks. “It is remarkable that I’ve been able to do all this and keep doing it as long as I have.”
Osteoarthritis has done more to Sco- ville than seven artificial joints. It’s anchored an indomitable determination. His steadfast spirit and perseverance through pain inspires everyone he encounters on every mountain he climbs, said Ian Hatchett, a guide from Crested Butte who went with Scoville as a friend in his climb up the daunting Capitol Peak earlier this month to complete his second lap of fourteeners.
“His determination is impressive. He’s an inspiring guy, so enthusiastic,” said Hatchett, a 20-year-mountaineer who guides for Crested Butte Mountain Guides. “The level of pain he endures after only a few hours of traveling requires that he be incredibly determined. The effort he puts into climbing is the same as what I’ve seen on several 8,000-meter peaks. You don’t ever see people more committed than Tom.”
Scoville takes pain pills on the summit so he can endure the hike down. Descents are always the worst, he said, despite the help of his beloved trekking poles. But pain is Scoville’s lifelong companion – an unwanted passenger he has simply learned to live with.
Scoville has visited Colorado all his life. His family’s cabin outside Durango has long served as a base camp for his mountain climbing. But working in the nation’s capital as a policy consultant and maritime lobbyist didn’t slow his climbing. Many times he has flown to Colorado late Friday, driven to the trailhead for a short nap, climbed two fourteeners and been in his D.C. bed by midday Sunday.
His quest began in 1970, when he was a strong climber, void of surgical scars. In 1989, he had his first joint replacement – a hip. Several surgeries later he was still climbing and logged his first lap of fourteeners in 1995. When he needed to replace a loose artificial hip in 1996, he endured his first year since 1970 without climbing a Colorado peak. Not even when he had both artificial knees replaced in 2005 (both his natural kneecaps had disintegrated) did he miss another year. He’s still climbing even with a recently fused spine. It’s his worst surgery, but the recovery is nothing compared to knee replacement, said the surgical veteran.
Doctors have told him the exercise and bone stress from climbing peaks has contributed to exemplary bone growth.
“I think the philosophy of what you can do with artificial joints is changing,” he said, noting how several surgeons across the country direct joint-replacement candidates to him. “The one message from all this is that if you are looking at a joint replacement, you don’t have to just swim and play golf for the rest of your life. There are a lot of things that you can do and if I can do this, believe me, anyone can do this.”
Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
