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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Dec 14, 2011 - 10:15pm PT
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"I wish I was in Boston"
Hats off to a very accomplished woman and life well lived.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Dec 14, 2011 - 10:23pm PT
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For most of my time in the Gunks, Bonnie Prudden was a legend but not a presence. I finally met her in 2002 at a She Climbs event in the Gunks. She gave a little talk and answered questions, and multiple generations of guys fell in love (mind you, she was 88 at the time). She had a twinkle in her eye, was quick and funny at repartee, had an intelligence that cut to the quick of the questions, and was not at all phased by a little innuendo (some of her exploits involved ledge activities not covered in Mountaineering---Freedom of the Hills).
It is basically impossible for climbers now, armed with extensive beta, grades for the climbing and protection, sticky rubber, harnesses, belay devices, chalk, nuts, cams, aluminum biners, and kernmantle ropes, to imagine what the scene was like when very little had been done, ropes were laid hemp (laid nylon after WWII) and tied around the waist, carabiners were steel, shoes were tennis sneakers, and pitons fit two sizes of cracks. Yes, Bonnie's roof was done with some aid, but ground up with no idea of what was ahead, with gear that made the aiding by no means a gimme.
At 88 and a tad frail physically that October evening in 2002, her indominitable pioneer spirit and the joy she took in adventures of all sorts still shone through, illuminating the gathering of people who had come to hear the legend. We went away inspired, thinking, what a woman!
Truly, she was one for the ages. Here's to you Bonnie.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Dec 14, 2011 - 10:29pm PT
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Just shows that although the grades move up, the attitude does not change.
Never met ya Bonnie, but you seem to be quite a woman.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Dec 14, 2011 - 10:59pm PT
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I just finished reading the latest entries on WisM, and I can't even process your question.
Yeah, pretty vague, sorry about that. Grading a stack of exams will do that. I was wondering whether 8 was the median number of pullups (and so characteristic of the "average student,") or the mean number of pullups, (and so characteristic of "the average number of pullups.")
Among other things, I ought to have realized that you would have used the term "median" if that's what it was.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Dec 14, 2011 - 11:01pm PT
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RIP, Bonnie.
Bonnie's Roof is a classic!!!
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Dec 14, 2011 - 11:24pm PT
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TFPU Happy Trails Bonnie.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Dec 14, 2011 - 11:34pm PT
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happiegrrrl, thanks for this Thread. What an awesome role model for women of any age. Bonnie's family must be proud...what a life. My best wishes and condolences to all who loved this very inspiring woman. lynne
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A5scott
Trad climber
Chicago
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Dec 15, 2011 - 12:10am PT
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RIP Bonnie,
what an amazing life she had...
sorry to see her go
scott
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Dec 15, 2011 - 12:50am PT
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So sorry to hear of her passing. What a wonderful person. Rockin' Bonnie
Susan
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Dec 15, 2011 - 01:03am PT
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hey there say, happygrrl, fritz... and all of you!
thanks for this wonderful share... i'd never have known of her, if not...
thank you...
her life sure was special and she really had an agenda all her own...
i love the team work she had, too, with her husband, and her love of the rocks...
thanks again...
*thanks to you bonnie, too, for being who you were supposed to be...
:)
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Dec 15, 2011 - 01:13am PT
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Bonnie has been an inspiration for me since I started climbing. There were so few female names in the guidebooks. These bios add more context to her achievements. More importantly, her love for moving for the simple joy of moving and her desire to impart that joy to the next generation....thank-you, Bonnie.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Dec 15, 2011 - 02:45am PT
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from Yankee Rock & Ice by Laura & Guy Waterman
1993 ISBN 0-8117-1633-3
pp 141-142
Ken Prestrud may have been the ablest leader of Kraus's new circle, but by far the most interesting personality was Bonnie Prudden. Ex-chorus girl on Broadway and budding television star as physical fitness and exercise proponent, Bonnie and husband Dick Hirschland joined the Kraus circle in the late 1940s. During the early 1950s Dick dropped out, Bonnie got a divorce, and under Kraus's tutelage she blossomed into a top-notch climber, leading routes at the top of the standard of the day. In the postwar years it was rare indeed for a woman to rank right at the forefront of the prevailing standard. Though prewar predecessors like Betty Woolsey and Maria Millar and postwar leaders like Ruth Tallan and Krist Raubenheimer were immensely respected, they were not in a class with the best men leaders at the time. Bonnie Prudden was the only woman who climbed at the same level of difficulty as the best male climbers of her day until the 1980s.
In the early 1950s, Hans's circle climbed at a solid 5.7 standard. Because of Kraus's tolerant views on the use of aid, it is always difficult to sort out which of their harder climbs involved aid, and how much aid. Nevertheless, Kraus and his partners, especially Prestrud and Prudden, were (with Wiessner) unquestionably the top free-climbers of the early 1950s as well.
Some of their more difficult Shawangunk routes of those years included:
 Ken's Crack, a short 5.7 test piece near the Uberfall, first done by Prestrud in 1951
Hans's Puss, a long and intricate 5.7 characterized by wild exposure and airy belays, led by Kraus with Prudden as second, also in 1951
Bonnie's Roof, a spectacular giant ceiling led by Prudden with one point of aid, Kraus seconding, in 1950-solid 5.7 free moves both below and above the roof, which was finally freed nine years later to make the climb a classic 5.8+
Gaston, a very hard 5.7-some say a very solid 5.8-led by Prestrud with Lucien Warner as second in 1952
V-3, a tricky 5.7, a collaboration of Kraus, Prudden, and Prestrud in 1954
Dry Martini (originally Drei Martini, an indication of the condition of the first ascent party), moderate enough except for one desperate 5.7 move led by Kraus, with Warner and Prudden in uproarious attendance, in 1955.
The martini-loaded first ascent of the last-named climb, along with the complex marital patterns of some of the principals, suggested earlier, hint at the limited historical vision of some of the sketches of the Gunks scene which maintain that, prior to the coming of the Vulgarians in the late 1950s, rock climbing "had hitherto been as chaste and proper as lawn tennis" (to quote one 1983 article). Not so in Kraus's circle!
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schwortz
Social climber
"close to everything = not at anything", ca
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Dec 15, 2011 - 04:44am PT
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excellent stuff
RIP
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Dec 15, 2011 - 06:09am PT
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OMG, she totally had me till the ABBA bit. thank you bonnie for the much needed cultural guidance. rest in peace indeed. or ring-up jack lalanne
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Dec 15, 2011 - 09:13am PT
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Quite a person,
Thanks for posting this
RIP
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Dec 15, 2011 - 09:25am PT
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Sad news. Bonnie was an inspiration to us all. I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but she was a television personality with her exercise programs in my childhood and I have been aware of her legendary status in the Gunks from my first days there. She was definitely a woman ahead of her time in many spheres. RIP Bonnie.
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Dec 15, 2011 - 09:36am PT
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wow--impressive. where's the wayback machine?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Dec 15, 2011 - 10:16am PT
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I forgot the part about one point of aid on Bonnie's Roof. If true, I think most modern climbers would agree that even if you used a point of aid on the roof itself, the route would still be 5.8, not the 5.7 Guy and Laura report in Yankee Rock and Ice.
With one point of aid, this had to be one of the more impressive leads in the Gunks in 1952, the same year Robbins freed the slightly less steep Open Book at Tahquitz at only a very slightly higher level of difficulty.
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Dec 15, 2011 - 11:06am PT
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Having climbed both routes I'd say that the intimidation/boldness factor on Bonnie's and The Open Book is pretty similar, as would have been the strenuousness of pounding in pitons on both. The less than "modern" footwear then in use would likely have been more of a hindrance on the smooth rock of Tahquitz than at the Gunks, but both climbs were outstanding leads for the era, and there were few, if any, other women at that time leading routes of that standard, let alone on an FA. As for the use of a point of aid on Bonnie's, it is worth noting that Joe Brown, probably the leading free climber of the period, was often using some points of aid on his top climbs in Wales. He used two, for instance, on his iconic climb of Cenotaph Corner, also first done in 1952.
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