Resident of Perkasie, owner of Boing Gymnastics Center, and a national public speaker, Mark Gibson is no stranger to the impossible. He has spent his entire life dedicated to pushing the limit. Over the course of his lifetime, he has participated in insane adventures such as scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, skateboarding 600 miles from the Capitol building in Washington, DC to the Parliament building in Ottawa, Canada, running 47 miles across the Grand Canyon, completing a 200 mile trek through the Nepal Himalayas, and his most recent challenge, climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest on the “Rocky Steps” at the Philadelphia Art Museum. 

Gibson says that the main motivating factor that drives him to push his body to the limit is curiosity. “I start with these adventures not knowing whether or not I can succeed. I think the threat of failure is a big motivator…and it’s the curiosity to see whether or not I can succeed that fascinates me.” 

Out of all the incredible feats Gibson has accomplished, he said that the toughest one was his double crossing run of the Grand Canyon, from the north rim to the south rim and back to the north rim all under twenty four hours. He described it as one of the toughest things he’s ever done. Gibson explained that what made it so difficult was the bowl shape. The easy downhill is first and when you’re exhausted and sleep deprived, the hard part of climbing out of the canyon is next. 

On the other hand, when asked what was the most rewarding challenge, he replied, “It’s always the most recent.” In this case, that would be his “Rocky Steps Everest Challenge”. At the beginning of this month, he completed a climb that was equivalent to Mount Everest on the Rocky Steps, totaling about 29,029 feet and 880 trips up and down the Rocky Steps. This challenge was a fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand to help the fight against childhood cancer. It was his first adventure he did for charity which made it all that more rewarding. Gibson says he chose this charity because it is Philadelphia based and ties into the challenge he was attempting, and he has a personal connection working with children at his gymnastics center and seeing how this struggle affects families. Gibson said, “It was a combination of things; a local charity, kids’ charity, and a charity that was appropriate for what we do”. By the end of his climb, he had raised over $2,000 to aid in battling childhood cancer. 

In regards to preparation and training for these challenges, Gibson says “My mantra has always been ‘I don’t get ready, I stay ready’”. He consistently trains and runs, but specifically for his Rocky climb, he knew he needed to mentally train for the repetition. To prepare, he visited the steps about half a dozen times and practiced running up and down the steps for roughly four hours at a time. 

When it came to his actual plan of attack, Gibson says he had planned to take only 10- minute naps here and there and complete it in twenty-two hours. The climb proved to be more difficult than anticipated and ended up taking double what he predicted at just under forty-eight hours. 

His daughter, Missy, supported him during his climb, both from the side and running next to him. She said, “I was only planning on staying for about six hours and then go home and sleep in my own bed, but then once I started doing it I was having a good time with it and it was really cool to see the whole thing. I didn’t want to miss it.” Missy ended up running fifty-two miles alongside Gibson and agreed that the toughest part was the mental aspect. She said that seeing her Dad accomplish these crazy adventures inspires her to attempt her own and wants to plan a father-daughter adventure in the future. 

As for Gibson’s next challenge, he has a “Done Do” wall where he records his past excursions as well as ones he wants to complete in the future. Among some of his “to do” ideas are a 150-mile run in the Sahara Desert, the “dirty kanza”, a 200 mile off road bicycle race, and to rock climb Mount Capitan, a 3,000 foot rock formation in Yosemite. Gibson is nowhere near done attempting mind-blowing adventures and is ready to see what challenge faces him next.