Bonnie Prudden - RIP

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happiegrrrl

Trad climber

www.climbaddictdesigns.com

Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 14, 2011 - 07:38pm PT

I just found a post on my Facebook that said she passed away on December 11th, at the age of 97.

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:51pm PT

Since her name "barely rang a bell" I did a search.

Quite a climber, and a great roll-model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Prudden

Bonnie Prudden (Born January 29, 1914-December 11, 2011) was a leading American rock climber in the 1940s and 1950s, with 30 documented first ascents to her credit in New York's Shawangunks mountains. Along with Hans Kraus, she was a pioneering advocate of physical fitness and later developed a form of trigger point therapy called Myotherapy.

Prudden was a tomboy as a child. Her father had lost the family money in the Great Depression. Her mother was an alcoholic, prone to going on weekend-long binges. Growing up, her escape was in physical adventure. She was a natural climber, and delighted in climbing trees, walls, houses. A favorite escapade was escaping the house by climbing out of her second story bedroom window and traversing a six inch ledge. The nuns at her parochial school disapproved of Prudden's activities, believing strenuous physical exercise and muscles to be inappropriate for a young lady.

Prudden was a professional dancer starting at age 10 (including a stint as a concert dancer on Broadway), as well as a gymnast, a competitive swimmer, diver, and horseback rider.

She married Dick Hirschland, a mountaineer, in 1935. Their honeymoon ascent of the Matterhorn in Switzerland was her first introduction to climbing. She first climbed in the Gunks in 1936 with her husband along with Fritz Wiessner and Hans Kraus. In the winter of 1937, however, she badly fractured her pelvis in a skiing accident, which was followed by three months in traction and a doctors' prediction: "You will always limp; no more skiing, climbing, dancing. And no children." Seven years and two children later, Prudden returned to the Gunks, partnering with good friend Hans Kraus.

In 1952, the pair were attempting a new climbing route on the cliff known as The Trapps. After attempting the crux overhang, Kraus backed off, handing the lead to Prudden. She was able to find a piton placement that had eluded Hans at the crux, and went on to claim the first ascent of "Bonnie's Roof". Since then, she has stated that she and Kraus always climbed as equal partners, always swapping leads. Bonnie Prudden would stop climbing in 1959 in the wake of her breakup with Hans Kraus.

Prudden began giving daily afternoon "conditioning" exercise classes for her two daughters and their friends in 1945 when she first realized how little physical activity the public schools were providing. Along with Kraus, she launched the first of many campaigns to improve the public’s awareness about good health.

Using a test devised by Drs. Hans Kraus and Sonja Weber of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Bonnie began testing children in Europe, Central America and the United States. The Kraus-Weber test involved six simple movements and took 90 seconds to administer. In Italy, Austria and Switzerland, the children tested exhibited an 8 percent failure rate. In Guatemala, the failure rate rose to 21 percent. But it was in the United States, the richest country in the world, the failure rate was 58 percent.

Bonnie personally carried her test results to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington, D.C. Prudden’s report was not only responsible for the President’s Council on Youth Fitness (now the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, it also was the beginning of a radical change in American attitudes toward physical fitness.

Prudden has written 19 books on physical fitness, recorded six exercise albums, hosted the first regular exercise spots on national television, had a syndicated television show, and set up many exercise and fitness programs in schools, hospitals, camps, factories, prisons, mental institutions and social clubs.

In 1992, she moved to Tucson Arizona, where she currently resides and runs the Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy Institute.

Gene

climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:55pm PT

Is Bonnie Prudden the 'namesake' of the Gunks' route Boston?

RIP.

g

EDIT: I'll let someone who knows more tell about how 'Boston' got its name.

treeman

climber

mule city

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:57pm PT

^^^ bonnie's roof

MH2

climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:00pm PT

^^^ And Boston

Quite a person

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:02pm PT

she sorta put Boston on the map...

BurnRockBurn

climber

South of Black Rock City (CC,NV)

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:13pm PT

quite the resume. One person can make on hell of a difference

Shawn

reddirt

climber

PNW

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:22pm PT

http://www.bonnieprudden.com/
BONNIE PRUDDEN
1914 - 2011

Bonnie Prudden, fitness pioneer and founder of Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy®, passed away at her home in Tucson on December 11, 2011. She was 97. “You can’t turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again,” she told her students and patients, and that is how she lived her life. She was born on January 29, 1914, in New York City.

When she was three years old, the curious and energetic Bonnie would climb out of her bedroom window and wander the neighborhood at night. A wise doctor gave her frantic mother some advice. “There is nothing the matter with this child that discipline and exhaustion won’t cure. Put her in the Russian Ballet School.” It worked, and by the time she was 10, Bonnie was a professional dancer and eventually performed on Broadway with the Weidman/Humphrey concert dancers. Bonnie equated exercising to music with happiness, and said, "body movement has a language all its own."

She became an avid rock climber, skier and fitness enthusiast. At age 23 she fractured her pelvis in four places during a skiing accident but wouldn’t take no for an answer when told she would never be able to climb or ski again and could never have children. Bonnie had two children and in 1943 was the first woman awarded the National Ski Patrol Badge. She has 30 first ascents to her credit in the “Gunks.” “Bonnie holds a place in the climbing history of the Shawangunks that has yet to be superseded by any other woman. Bonnie was a luminary in the climbing scene for more than a decade” said Laura Waterman, author of Rocks and Roses, a book about women climbers.

After watching her daughter’s dismal gym class in the 1940's, Bonnie decided to use her background in dance and athletics to give neighborhood children “conditioning” classes. As the classes grew she used the Kraus-Weber test for minimum muscular fitness to chart student progress and noticed that new students failed the test and returning students passed. Bonnie and Dr. Hans Kraus, Kennedy’s White House doctor, worked together to test thousands of children across American and in Europe and found that Americans were the least fit. The results, presented to President Eisenhower at a White House luncheon in 1955 and known as the “report that shocked the President,” led Eisenhower to establish the President’s Council on Youth Fitness, now the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Bonnie was a columnist and advisor for Sports Illustrated. In 1957, in a full length leotard of her own design, she launched a line of fitness fashions on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She had her on TV show in the 60's, appeared on countless radio talk shows and wrote 15 books and numerous articles. She also invented exercise equipment.

Bonnie always felt that if individuals had the correct information and tools that they could, for the most part, take care of themselves. In 1976, she developed Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy®, a non-invasive, remarkably simple method of relieving muscle pain. She went on to write Myotherapy: Bonnie Prudden’s Complete Guide to Pain-Free Living in which she shows step by step through photographs, charts and drawings how to erase and recover from muscle pain and how to maintain, repair, tune up and take charge of your body. In 1980 she opened a school to train myotherapists to erase pain from muscles by pressing on the trigger points and then using appropriate exercises to keep the muscles free of pain.

In 2006 Bonnie was inducted into the Fitness Hall of Fame and the Massage Hall of Fame. In November of 2007, at age 93, she received the Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the council which she co-founded. She was chosen “based on the span and scope of an individual’s career, the estimated number of lives the individual has touched through his or her work, the legacy of the individual’s work, and additional awards or honors received over the course of his or her career.”

Bonnie brought hope and inspiration, laughter and play to thousands of people. She made this world a better place and the impact of her wonderful accomplishments will live on and continue to benefit us all through her teachings. “Very seldom do wonderful things happen while we wait,” she said, as she marched to the beat of her own drum.

In celebration of Bonnie’s life, memorial donations can be made to: Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy®, Inc. 4330 East Havasu Road, Tucson, AZ 85718, or by clicking here.

rgold

Trad climber

Poughkeepsie, NY

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:43pm PT

A wonderful woman, light years ahead of her time, she was the last of the Shawnangunk pioneer triumvirate of Prudden, Kraus, and Wiessner. A historical era of discovery and adventure has finally come to a close. RIP Bonnie.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Dec 14, 2011 - 08:55pm PT

I had the pleasure of doing a biographical interview of Bonnie Prudden in the last year or so with the help of Dick Williams for the Gunks climbing section in the middle of three sessions. I will be doing a memorial piece for Alpinist if anyone reading this thread has a story to contribute, write me.

I have purposefully been repeating Prudden-Kraus-Weissner routes in the Gunks and am usually blown back by how boldly these three were climbing. Bonnie led her share and understood the importance of pioneering a good line.

The story of Bonnie pushing through on Bonnie's Roof can be found on the Norton Smithe First Modern Standard Angle thread.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1458145&msg=1541370#msg1541370

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:02pm PT

Bonnie's Roof is a kickass climb and utterly amazing for it's boldness...

imagining going up there, very intimidating the first time you go up there, even as you know the rating and "the trick"

but to do it on FA at that time, wow!

while the news is sad, let's make this a time to celebrate an amazing climbing pioneer!

richross

Trad climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:04pm PT

Bonnie's Roof

Gene

climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:05pm PT

Alpinist 14 has a piece on Bonnie's Roof, but alas, the online version is only available to subscribers.

g

jogill

climber

Colorado

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:26pm PT

Sleep well, Bonnie.

She was well known when I was climbing in the 1950s. A tireless advocate for physical education and exercise in a nation just beginning to go into a long decline of physical prowess. E.g., back in the 50s and 60s the average young man could do 9 pullups in a row. I did 20 to get an A in that part of a gymnastics course at Ga Tech. How many do you suspect could do 9 these days?

rgold

Trad climber

Poughkeepsie, NY

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:47pm PT

When I was in high school I could do 8 pullups. Damn---below average!

(Wait---are we speaking of the number of pullups down by the "average" young man or the average number of pullups done by young men?)

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:52pm PT

RIP Bonnie.

Thanks for showing us the way.

richross

Trad climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:56pm PT

Rgold on Bonnie's Roof second pitch.

Norwegian

Trad climber

Placerville, California

Dec 14, 2011 - 09:58pm PT

love is a salt wave
upon stone knowledge.

errosion thru incessence,
until understanding is fragmented
into its component thoughts,

become lonely as they.
they join love's dynamic wandering.

and then some child
builds a friable
castle upon and of your shattered wisdoms.

comes rest sweetly.