Mark Twight

The son of a park ranger, Mark Twight grew up in a variety of western parks where he developed a love of the outdoors and had a number of opportunities to learn the intricacies of technical climbing. As an experienced climber and mountaineer, Mark helped develop a new philosophy in climbing, what he describes as "extreme alpinism." This is a combination of expedition style preparation and a lightning fast, completely committed alpine ascent. In the 1980s and 1990's, he used this technique on many climbs around the world and in Alaska, including the 60-hour contiunous clime ascent of the Slovak Direct route on Mount McKinley (now Denali) in June 2000 with Scott Backes and Steve House. Mark also is the founder of Gym Jones, where he trained athletes, military personnel, and actors, and in 2017 received the Robert and Miriam Underhill Award from the American Alpine Club for demonstrating the highest level of skill and achieving success in mountaineering. After retiring from climbing, Mark went on to be a photographer and author, and continues to be physically active, including in the gym and as a cyclist.