The Saga of Rurp Hardman and the
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Often, rockclimbing fools and peak baggers have reached the cherished summit of a difficult peak only to find the barely legible name of Rurp Hardman entered in the summit register. This has led many to ask the question, "Who is Rurp?" Why Rurp is the climber that we all aspire to be. Hatched from a number 9 Hex on the Bootflake in 1972, Rurp is the ultimate clean climber. Clean and hard . . . very hard! Rurp leads all of our routes for us, unroped of course, but we the Bigwall Kids, being mortal climbers, must seek the security of a rope and follow Rurp using those handholds and footholds that he has revealed to us. We will follow Rurp until the end of our days . . . when either we take the dreaded groundfall, or until that old adage sadly comes true that "old climbers never die, they just cease to get their rocks off." |
The "Valley" is home to Rock Climbing Gods such as Rurp Hardman, patron saint of the Bigwall Kids
Rock Climbing, Peak Climbing and Mountaineering are serious business. Or so we've heard.
Wall climbing hit the rock scene in the 1960s. Clean climbing followed shortly thereafter, and free climbing rounded out the 1970s. Sport climbing made its insidious entry the next decade, but to a dedicated brazen few the 1980s will always be known as the "Golden Age of Clown Climbing".
Although Rurp Hardman may be the original clean climber, his true calling was clown climbing, and he stands out as patriarch to a long list of distinguished climbing clowns who have hit the walls in increasing numbers ever since Rurp directed the notorious Jim Scanlan on an immortal one-shoe ascent of Ant Hill in legendary El Dorado Canyon. Todays clown climbers strive to maintain the ideals of Rurp, their patron saint, through Clown Climbing International (CCI), an organization dedicated to preserving the foibles of clown climbing.
Rockclimbing fools and peak baggers of the world unite! Rock Climbing, Peak Climbing and Mountaineering need never be the same.
Their numbers abound the world around. Click this Link to find out
who some of the world's great clown climbers are.
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(our mascot)
We know it's hard to believe,
but Rurp Hardman was a
for the week of October 21-28, 1998.
(exciting content, vivid photos, easy navigation - Rurp is so jazzed)