May 2, 2024 | SPORTS | By Anya Potsiadlo
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There’s no single reason to wake up in the morning and decide to climb the 2,768 former cable car track steps in a 2,000-vertical-foot ascent. On April 13, The Manitou Incline was crowded with people with all kinds of reasons to climb on the sunny, 72-degree Sunday in Manitou Springs.
On the top of the hike, the group included 12 runners from a bi-weekly run club, a man and his dog on a 19-day Incline streak, and a group of friends introducing their Midwestern visitor to the shock of high-altitude breathlessness.
0-1000
“I was terrified, but I think once we got to the 500-step mark I was like, ‘Oh, I can do it,’” said Sunshine, a 48-year-old hiker.
The Incline has an average elevation grade of 45%, with some parts being as steep as 68%, and the first part of the trail stays on the lower end of that spectrum for the most part. If hikers don’t squint to see the people higher up struggling to climb more than 10 steps without doubling over from exhaustion, this steady start puts hikers at risk of gaining some false confidence.
“A lot of people, they’ll gas out at like 1,000 steps because it feels sort of easy,” said Michael Ikeman, the aforementioned 19-day streak holder.
At this point, Ikeman has his Incline habits down to a science: He swears by the water from Manitou’s famous Mineral Springs, where he fills up a Sodastream bottle and mixes it with Kool-Aid powder. To ensure that his dog, Wolfe, is equally fueled for the Incline, Ikeman used ChatGPT to calculate the exact number of calories that a poodle of his size will burn on this hike. Luckily for Wolfe, Ikeman said that he often replenishes these calories with brisket from Otis’s Barbecue.
1700-2200
“I was like crawling through the middle section,” said Alina, 20, who drove from Canyon, Colo. with her boyfriend to complete the Incline for the first time.
“The worst section is probably like step[s] 1700 to 2200,” Ikeman said.
Most other hikers agree with his assessment, that this middle section of The Incline is the part that’s most challenging.
In the 500-step range that Ikeman identified, the stairs of the incline go in phases between being large, lunging steps and almost awkwardly small, narrow wooden planks that go up about half a foot. When asked about her least favorite part of the hike, Trisha, 38, responded definitively.
“The 1700 mark,” she said. “It wasn’t even necessarily the steepness, but it was how close the steps are to each other.”
“My quads took a break, and then my calves were like, ‘alright, game on,’” Hannah Dale Hooper said about this memorable narrow-stair portion.
Dale Hooper is a marathon runner, and her middle name was included to distinguish her from her sister-in-law Hannah Marie Hooper who accompanied Dale Hooper on her ascent.
“I definitely thought I was going to bail out at like the 1,800[th stair] or whatever,” Alina said.
Her boyfriend Noah, who was more reluctant to make the journey from Canyon and conquer Manitou’s beast, reflected on the mindset to which he attributes their success.
“It’s just telling yourself: you’re already out there, might as well finish it,” he said.
2000
“Each time is difficult. I don’t know why people would say it gets easier, it never gets easier,” said Vera Poltavtseva, 31. “There is a moment where the steps are steeper and there is this bench that tells you how much you have left to do and it’s your last chance to turn around and take the trail back, I think that sets off people. But once I passed that steep point which is at about 2000 steps I believe, then it’s just easy.”
However, Poltavtseva’s perspective on this portion is only shared by those with Incline experience. At this point, first-time hikers like Alina and Noah realize that the point they’ve been eyeing since the start is actually a false summit. The approximately 300 surprise steps waiting for hikers after the false summit are, aside from the growing fatigue, relatively easy compared to the dreaded middle portion.
“I mean, that’s why the false summit’s there. it’s because it flattens out right at that section too,” Ikeman said.
2,700
“The last like thirty steps I was just like, okay, we’re just going to get it over with and go fast,” Dale Hooper said.
At this point, hikers are encouraged by the promise of not only seeing the hikers they’ll be soon to join, but hearing them as well.
The sound of heavy breathing is nearly tuned out completely by audible high-fives and triumphant chants and cheers like those emitted from the CU Boulder club hockey players waiting for their teammates: “We’re the best hockey team in the world!”
2,768
It’s uncommon for someone who just climbed the Incline to start making their way down immediately. From the top, there’s an expansive view of the remarkably flat Colorado Springs on one side, while in the other direction a clear view of Pikes Peak that is still about 8,000 vertical feet away. People gather in their groups, simultaneously catching their breaths and celebrating.
“A lot of people know about this, but not everyone does it. Like people will talk about and it’s like, ‘Oh, well, I’ve done it,” Marie Hooper said upon completion.
Marie Hooper and her sister-in-law said they hope to do it again and beat their ascent time.
Kathleen Coven, 12, shakes her head profusely when her dad suggested they do it again this summer.
Even Wolfe can practically smell the brisket that’s waiting for him back at the bottom.
Regardless of the reason for completing such a feat, The Incline is for everyone. The emotions that flood in following the completion of the ascent can certainly drive one to seek the difficult accomplishment of hiking up 2,768 steps.