Bonnie Prudden
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[[Image:Bonnie Prudden leading class.jpg|thumb|Bonnie Prudden leads a class in exercises at her White Plains school]]
'''Bonnie Prudden''' (Born [[January 29]], [[1914]]) 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 and a hellraiser 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 6 [[inch]] ledge. The [[nun]]s at her [[parochial school]] disapproved of Prudden's activities, believing strenuous physical exercise and muscles to be inappropriate for a young lady.
Professional dancer since age 10 (including a stint as a chorus girl on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]), as well as a [[gymnast]], a competitive [[swimmer]], [[diving|diver]], and horseback [[rider]].
Married Dick Hirschland, a [[mountaineer]], in 1935. Their honeymoon ascent of the [[Matterhorn]] in [[Switzerland]] was her first introduction to climbing.
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''. After that day, she has stated that she and Kraus always climbed as equal partners, always swapping leads. Bonnie Prudden would be the only female rock climber who climbed at the same level of difficulty as the best male climbers of the day until the 1980s.
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 Krauss, 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 (to date) 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 [http://www.bonnieprudden.com Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy Institute]. She is currently working on her autobiography.
== Trivia ==
The climbing route ''Boston'' in the Gunks got its name when Bonnie, [[belay]]ing from the top of the route, was describing the relative positions of [[Portland (Maine)]] and [[New York]] with her knees. Dick Hirschland called up "I wish I were in [[Boston]]!"
Prudden once stated the she wouldn't date any boy who couldn't follow her up a tree. Presumably, Dick Hirschland was a tree climber as well as a [[mountaineer]].
Myotherapy is said to be the new-age revolution of musculoskeletal therapy.
Bonnie Prudden's website address is www.myotherapy.com
==References==
* Prudden, Bonnie (2005) Alpinist #14 (article) ''Bonnie's Roof''
* Schwartz, Susan (2005) Into The Unknown: ''The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus''
* Waterman, Laura and Guy (1993) ''Yankee Rock and Ice''
==External links==
[[Category:American rock climbers|Prudden, Bonnie]]