According to Bugnet (1941):
"Exploring another trail, some fifteen years ago the pollen of another native was placed on R. rugosa flore pleno. Part of the offspring, 5 to 6 feet tall, gave single, and part semi-double flowers. These last have 12 to 17 petals, are 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches across, deep vivid pink, fragrant, of course, and with very abundant bloom from the middle of June into August. One has been named Nipsya. Two years ago a friend living in the Peace River country wrote me that Nipsya was the only rose which passed through the winter unscathed, the only one which bloomed the following summer. It is not unlike the Tetonkaha of Dr. Hansen, but is apparently much hardier and does not seem to sucker so badly. On this last point I am in doubt; a different soil might tell the other way.
Once its hardiness was ascertained, Nipsya was crossed with various other roses. With Frau Dr. Erreth, a thornless double yellow Polyantha, all seedlings, so far, are only half hardy, flowers very small, about the size of a 25-cent piece, practically single, the parental red or yellow shades being conspicuous by their absence. Pollenized with Perle d'Or, Nipsya gave some seedlings which appear promising as to hardiness, the bloom being yet to be seen. Nipsya has also given seed from pollen of Mrs. John Laing, Conrad F. Meyer, Goldener Traum, Mrs. A. R. Barraclough, and others. The future will show the success or failure of these attempts. In our climate, one can hardly come to any conclusion before the plants do come through five or six winters"

American Rose Annual 26: 111-115. (1941)
The Search for Total Hardiness
Georges Bugnet
http://www.bulbnrose.org/Roses/breeding/Bugnet.html