Obituary: John Rupley 1933 - 2024
Ila Rupley has informed me that John Rupley has recently passed away. He has struggled with heart issues for some time and Ila and their son were with him when he passed away. The following write-up was from my interview with John and Ila in the summer of 2001.
When I first started climbing, I heard stories of John Rupley. He was one of the first people climbing on Mt. Lemmon, the University of Arizona professor who used the rocks as practice for mountaineering expeditions. He never logged any of his climbs nor did he name any routes. I pictured John as a slim, smallish, professorial-type, who puttered around the mountain as an intellectual endeavor. Upon meeting John, I found that nothing could be further from the truth. John is a large, bear of a man and the word "puttering" does not come to mind. He is very focused, especially when it comes to rock climbing and mountaineering.
John started climbing in the early '50s in the Shawangunks in New York with the likes of Fritz Wiessner, Hans Kraus, and later, the "Vulgarians". In the late '50s, he moved to Washington and attended the University of Washington, where he met and married his future climbing partner, Ila Ruud. While in Washington, he started mountaineering and climbed with Fred Beckey. In 1961, John came to Tucson for an interview with the University of Arizona. As a part of the interview, they took him up on Mt. Lemmon. He immediately recognized the climbing potential of Mt. Lemmon on the drive. Mt. Lemmon rock was part of the reason he accepted the job with the University of Arizona. After he accepted the job with the Chemistry department and he and Ila began exploring and climbing almost immediately.
John and Ila explored and put up first routes in some of the best areas on Mt. Lemmon: the Rupley towers, the Fortress, the Ravens, Rappel rock, and Windy Point. The Rupley towers are the only rock formation on the mountain named after rock climbers. Since John and Ila didn't name any routes, some of their routes were named by climbers following in their path: R1, R2, ..., R6, the Rupley Route, the Standard route (Rappel Rock), and the Lost Rupley route. Their climbs also inspired the names for other routes: "Rupley's Believe it or Not" and "Son of Rupley" (which was not put up by their son).
John and Ila are the true pioneers of Mt. Lemmon rock climbing. They defined rock climbing on Mt. Lemmon on their own terms and climbed for climbing's sake alone. They didn't name routes, grade routes, or record their climbing adventures; they climbed primarily for the joy of it. During the interview, when talking about the great climber Conrad Kain, Ila said, "...those early climbers were so great and so unique. They were the very first people putting up the routes in Canada." This is the way I feel about John and Ila: they are so great and so unique. They were the very first people putting up the routes on Mt. Lemmon.
John was an incredible guy - unlike any other. He was strong, intelligent, and a great adventurer. I am so fortunate that I got to meet John and Ila and I had the opportunity to get to know them on a personal level. He will be greatly missed.
The interview with John and Ila, and other climbing related material is here: John and Ila
