Manitou Incline - FAQ, General Info, and an opinion
Thanks for visiting!
A little about me and why I decided to create this:
- I’m presently 46 years old, male, and have lived in Colorado Springs since 1992.
- I do a lap of the incline between 100 and 150 times a year. I’ve been at it for about eight years now.
- I am not associated with any group or with the park service, anything expressed here is purely my own perspective.
- I was very out of shape about eight years ago. The incline got me into very good shape, and it hope it does the same for everyone.
- There are a plethora of rumors, half-followed ‘rules’, and a lot of newcomers have the same questions about common topics.
- I get asked about tips and tricks just about weekly and it seemed prudent to write down the answers for everyone.
I’m going to break this into three sections:
- General information (hopefully all facts)
- Commonly asked questions / FAQ
- My opinions on a few topics
General Information
The last 120 years of Incline history
The incline was built as a mountain side railway in 1907 to help with the construction of a hydroelectric plant. After that was completed, it was later converted into a railways for tourists. The railway closed in 1990 after a rock slide damaged it. More information is available here: https://www.visitcos.com/things-to-do/outdoors/manitou-incline-near-colorado-springs-colorado/history/
Modern history
After the incline closed, a bunch of crazy locals started hiking it. I was intermittently one of those people, but I was very much a ‘fair weather’ type – I only personally did it 3-4 times in twenty years. It was private property after the 1990 closure, and this was completely illegal, although it seemed no one had any interest in enforcing it, so this was largely ignored.
It was quite the adventure then – the leftovers from it being a railway were far more prominent at that time, and the metal/pointy/sharp leftovers were sticking up all over the place. It was a tetanus shot waiting to happen.
Eventually it got popular enough that a multi-agency group got together and established a path for legalization. More info can be found here: https://www.cspm.org/cos-150-story/manitou-incline/
A great deal of time and money has been spent getting the incline from “busted railway” to “viable trail”. This was largely broken up into repairing the section before the false summit (below ~2,150) and repairing above the false summit (~2,150 – 2,7xx). I wasn’t regularly doing the incline during the “below” repair, so I haven’t got the best perspective on it, but I was a regular by the time the “above” repair was done, and it was a huge difference. We went from “needs a tetanus shot” to “regular set of stairs”. It was a rather incredible transformation. The vendor that did the work has additional details on the project: https://www.timberlinetrailcraft.com/rebuilding-the-manitou-incline/
Of interesting note, you’ll see a lot of minorly-disagreeing numbers over how many steps there are. The generally accepted number before the upper-trail repair was 2,744. It was increased to 2,768 after the repair. Periodically, someone will take it upon themselves to re-count the number and inevitably come up with some new total (usually smaller). Some of the bottom steps are often temporarily removed because they come loose, and there is an unimportant debate over what constitutes a step. For example, are the drainage gates a step? If one step dovetails under another step, does that count? In my opinion, who cares? 2,768 is good enough for me.
While on the topic, of quantity of stairs, it makes sense to cover a few more stats:
- How long is the incline? It’s .88 miles one direction.
- What’s the grade? I read that it’s average 45 degrees, with a max of 68 degrees per https://www.visitcos.com/things-to-do/outdoors/manitou-incline-near-colorado-springs-colorado/, however, there are sections near the bottom that are considerably less than 45 degrees. The “middle section” (more below) is the most steep.
- What’s the elevation to start, and finish?
- Elevation at the base of the incline (per the internet) is 6,530.
- Regarding the elevation gain, I disagree with most of what I read on the internet here. Most websites will loosely quote it as 2,000 feet of elevation gain. I can confidently say this is incorrect. My kid and I’s fitness watches (different models) both report it as roughly 1,880 feet.
- This places the top at about 8,410 feet.
Modern popularity and Parking
No conversation on this topic would be complete without addressing the elephant in the room: parking. The incline is directly adjacent to Manitou Springs, CO, a neighboring city to the much larger Colorado Springs, CO. Manitou is a tiny town making the bulk of its income off tourism. It’s geographically constrained and is unlikely to get any bigger.
When I started doing the Incline about eight years ago, parking was easy. I parked at a parking meter in town and walked up Ruxton. I never had any trouble finding a spot.
Manitou is geographically constrained and has limited parking. I’ve never counted, but my guess is that it has a couple thousand parking spots between dedicated parking lots and on-street parking. On a day with good weather, it’s very common for all the parking spots to sell out. Manitou businesses, understandably, want those parking spots to all be consumers visiting to shop and eat.
On a personal note, I had a friend come through town a few years ago and asked where he and his girlfriend should visit for shopping. I suggested Manitou. Later that day, I asked how it went, and they said they just drove through and ended up going elsewhere because they couldn’t find anywhere to park.
Why does this matter? I don’t want to say there’s “no way” to access the incline without traveling through or parking in Mantiou, but we’re into very obscure options at that point. 99.99% of the people that climb park in Manitou, somewhere. There is some understandable friction between Manitou commerce and Incline users. Inclines are (potentially wrongfully) blamed for taking up parking spots that go to paying shoppers. On a busy day there can be thousands of people at the incline. This makes a not-insignificant impact on Manitou businesses, as people presently hiking are not shopping. This is the crux of a lot of other problems, below.
The Reservation System
This is a controversial system, and there’s a lot of history of how this came to be, and even more confusion over what its current status is.
Because of the parking problem, there’s been talk as early as 2018 for charging to use the incline: https://www.koaa.com/news/2018/04/05/paying-to-use-the-incline-its-possible-according-to-manitous-mayor/
I can’t help but insert some of my own opinions in the “facts” section, so forgive me if I stray away for just a moment. My own personal feelings indirectly tie into the facts.
I do the incline about 3 times a week, sometimes considerably more. It rubs me the wrong way to have any government agency attempt to charge for something that tax dollars maintains and that is maintained by Colorado Springs Parks & Rec. Manitou does own (more or less) all the access to the Incline, but they do not own the Incline. The idea of attempting to put a fee on a public resource is, in my opinion, wrong.
However, it is undeniable that Incliners are putting a burden on the Manitou parking system. So why don’t we do something about the parking?
I was privileged to know our prior Colorado Springs mayor, John Suthers, and I brought this up to him in early 2019, as Colorado Springs Parks & Rec maintains the Incline. His answer was “They have a parking problem. I don’t want to see anyone get charged to use the Incline either. I proposed they build a parking garage to address the problem. I’ve floated the idea of going ‘halfsies’ on paying the bill for the garage with the [Manitou city government] and haven’t heard back”.
This is the only thing I can personally comment on as fact, as I was there and asking the question myself. Most of the rest of the information I have is either rumors or what I gleaned from the local news.
We all know what happened at the end of 2019 and early 2020 – the COVID pandemic. I hate to say it but I saw what was coming. There were public mandates about keeping personal distance. In February 2020 I did one of my final climbs for quite some time. There were about 100 people at the summit grouped up and celebrating their climb. Let’s leave personal beliefs about how to behave during a pandemic on the sidelines – it doesn’t matter for this topic – but I was looking at this and thinking: “Guys, SPREAD OUT, someone is going to use this for their political agenda." Not a few days later, Manitou announced they were ‘closing’ the Incline for public health:
I don’t believe this had anything to do with public health and was merely a way to force a solution on the parking agenda. All the adjacent trails remained open.
This is where the reservation system got its roots.
Best I can tell from the rumor mill, Manitou used this as an excuse to put the pay-to-use system in for the Incline. Colorado Springs administration pushed back. All of this happened behind closed doors, but this obviously went on for a few months, and the compromise emerged: put a reservation system in place so that there wasn’t the influx of thousands of people wanting to park at the same time. If you limited the number of people on the Incline at any given time, you would limit the impact of the parking.
At the same time, where-to-park was officially clarified, as the Hiawatha Gardens parking lot in central Manitou, or the Iron Springs Chateau, privately owned, near the base of the Incline. Hiawatha Gardens also gained a shuttle dropping people off near the Incline for free.
The reservation system is completely free. It started off considerably more strict than what it’s turned into today. You had to sign up online (for free – no fees were imposed!), and show up at-or-near your reservation time.
A small base station was setup (eventually turned into a small, converted ‘container’ building). Employees were hired to monitor access in-person. Initially, an attendant would give you a wrist band indicating you were allowed to be on the Incline.
The wrist bands did not last very long.
The employees that monitored the base were generally great people, and I made some long-term friendships while getting to know them. They got the raw end of the deal a lot, as some people thought the entire reservation system was an infringement on their rights and had impolite things to say about it (reference the parking problem, the reservation system was a good idea in my opinion, as it was removing the specter of pay-to-Incline).
It was a gradual process, but the attendants went from “there mostly all of the time” to “there on most days” to “there on busy days” to “there during peak season”. This was 100% a money issue. It’s expensive to keep a trail staffed. The funding was decreased and eventually eliminated, and now the base station sits empty. To this day, I’ll be stretching after my lap(s), and someone will come up and ask me where to check in. The check-in system is long dead and I don’t see it coming back without a significant event driving it.
That leads to the #1 asked question - So do you still need to make a reservation? Officially yes. If you call Colorado Springs Parks & Rec in 2025, this is the answer they will give you, as it’s where the agreement with Manitou was left. Is anyone going to enforce it? Absolutely not. If you’re a tourist and want to do the right thing, go make a reservation. If they’re completely filled up and you really need that specific date and time, no one is going to question it or stop you.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is assembled off the list of questions I typically get asked, or I see people asking on Facebook. I’m inserting my opinions in this section only when the questions are inherently opinion-based.
- Where do I park?
For a cheap option, park in Hiawatha Gardens in central Manitou. You can then walk to the incline (20 minutes at brisk pace, 30 minutes relaxed) or you can take the free shuttle, which runs approximately every 20 minutes (the shuttle will also take you the reverse trip, if desired).
The most convenient option is to park at Iron Springs Chateau, which is a 2-3 minute walk from the incline, and costs $15, cash-only (they have an ATM). If you’re a regular and don’t mind the expense, you can buy a 10-pack of tickets for $120. Be sure to tip your parking attendant.
(Note the “Iron Springs Chateau” on the map, and its direct proximity to
the Incline).
Note Iron Springs only has so many parking spots, and on Sat/Sun spring through fall, it almost always sells out. Have a plan B (Hiawatha) in mind if you’re going at peak times.
Perhaps most importantly is where not to park:
o Most of Manitou requires a parking permit and is reserved for residents. This is not a paper tiger. The Manitou ‘meter maids’ are on-the-ball and will ticket you before you can blink. You WILL get a ticket if you park illegally. They start at $70. Don’t mess around with this.
o In the Barr trail parking lot (more on Barr, below). This is only for people using Barr.
o In the Cog Railway parking lot – though they will ask what you’re there for and shoo you off if you’re looking for the Incline.
o In front of someone’s business, even if it is a “meter” spot. This is a great way to reignite the debate of whether or not Manitou should accommodate Incliners at all.
- How long will it take me? I am from X location at Y altitude and I am in Z fitness level. And the related questions “will I make it” and “is it safe, I’ve heard people have died”.
This is such a hard question to answer specifically.
“Can I do it at all” -
- Are you in reasonable cardio shape/will your doctor OK hard exercise?
- Do you have working legs/knees and reasonable balance?
If yes to above, then the answer is probably Yes. I want to stress, if you have any concerns on the cardio question, consult your physician first (reference below re: deaths).
If you’re significantly out of shape but your heart is in good working order and you have no other contributing negative health factors, you can complete it. There is no rush. You can stop as often as you’d like to catch your breath. If it takes 3.5 hours, so be it.
Now let’s assume your cardio is in good shape, the next thing I hear is mentioning some physical condition that may cause an impediment. I would like to point out that two (perhaps more?) double amputees have completed the incline using their arms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6fdB_Sp0K0
I was there for one of these, it’s quite something to watch. Kudos to the “never give up!” attitude.
“People have died” –
I’ve been around for one of these deaths, and was directly involved in trying to get help for another gentleman that made it out alive.
Cause of death is not always released, but when it has been, it’s almost always a heart attack. I hate the idea that “The Incline caused X person to die”. In reality hard, high-altitude cardio caused that person to die. I believe the outcome would have been the same if they’d tried running a 10K in Colorado Springs. That’s a good benchmark, by the way – if you think jogging a 10K at 7000 feet would kill you – I don’t mean tire you out, but that you could die - talk to your doctor first.
On a personal note, I had a close friend that I was bugging to come do the incline with me a few years back. He kept saying no, he wanted to lose weight first, because he was worried about his health. I kept giving him a hard time - doing the Incline is how I lost weight, why not start there? He did not end up coming with me. Months later, he died of a heart attack at home, in his early 40’s. I am hesitant to recommend it blanket to everyone after that experience. Talk to your doctor.
“But search and rescue has to pull people off the mountain”
I don’t have medical details, but my bet is most of these people had a survivable cardio event. The #2 reason is they overheated or got dehydrated. The incline in the heat is a miserable experience, and I would not recommend going at a time it’s above 75 degrees without prior altitude training, prior heat training, and a lot of water.
By the way, I drink about a quart of water every hour when doing laps. Bring, and be prepared to constantly consume, lots of fluids.
- So how long will it take me?
Without knowing your fitness level, the only vague answer I can give you is “Probably between 30 minutes and 3.5 hours” one-way. Allow another 1-2 hours to get back via Barr Trail.
This is a useless answer, so let me give you some example times:
- When I became a ‘regular’ - my first trip up in 2017 , when I was 70 pounds overweight, took 90 minutes.
- Most of my friends that don’t regularly exercise take 60-120 minutes.
- Most of my friends that do exercise but are from sea level take 60 minutes.
- I met a gentleman that was 350 lbs that was on his 3rd time up. GOOD FOR HIM! He had just gotten his time down to 3.5 hours and was shooting for 3 hours. Amazing!
- I met a competitive stair runner (yes, this is a thing) that came here to test herself against the incline. She was from sea level. She was shooting for a 30. She made it in 33 minutes.
- I saw a lady on all fours – her quads had had enough – climbing the last few hundred stairs at an unbelievable pace for someone on all fours. I talked to her at the end, she’d just finished the Boston Marathon (!) but had no altitude or climbing training. She did it in 44 minutes.
- Professional runners typically come in at 19-24 minutes. Don’t expect to do this.
A common question I usually ask as a benchmark is how long a 10K takes you at 7000 feet. If you can answer that question, subtract about 10 minutes, and that’s roughly your Incline time (My opinion only, based on minimal research).
- How do I get back down and how long will that take?
There are three common return paths.
1) Overwhelming the most common is Barr Trail. Barr is the route from Manitou (very near the base of the Incline) to the top of Pikes Peak. It’s been open to the public for over 100 years and is a much more rich history than the Incline, so I sometimes chuckle when people think it’s something was built to get you down from the Incline.
You need to take a connector trail from the Incline to Barr. It’s on the left at the top, it’s obvious, and you can’t miss it. When you hit the fork in the road, go left, and just keep generally going downhill.
The distance is debated, far too much. Even the signs are wrong! It’s about 2.8 miles from the top of the Incline back to the base of Barr, including the connector trail. The Barr parking lot is a hop, skip and a jump from the Incline, and you’ll reconnect to where you started the Incline in about 3 minutes after reaching the base of Barr.
Timing wise, it’ll take about an hour to get down Barr. You can do it in
about 30 minutes if you’re an experienced downhill runner.
Please remember that the Incline is basically “borrowing” access to Barr, and those on Barr doing basically anything else have the right-of-way. People coming up have the right of way. People running down, you should actively attempt to get out of their way – yield. There’s also a lot of frustration from folks that have been hiking Barr for the last 40 years about the thousands of Incline tourists now being dumped off on to Barr – be respectful of the Barr users.
2) Going back down the stairs. This is hotly debated topic, perhaps second only to the reservation system. As I have strong opinions on this, I’ll cover it below on the opinions section, but you can absolutely go back down the stairs. I will warn you that for first-timers this is considerably harder on your quads/knees than walking down Barr is, regardless of how slow you go.
How long will it take? Somewhere between 30 and 80 minutes. For first-timers it’s not faster to take the stairs as the body wear & tear is so significant that it will slow you down. Not to mention that if you have even a minor fear of heights, this will scare the willies out of you, and that slows you down too.
3) Use a combination of Barr and the Northern Return Trail (NRT). Start by going down Barr. At stair 1800, Barr and the Incline meet back up (Note: this is easy to miss, as it’s off the beaten path some). Go down the stairs from 1800 to 1300, and reconnect to the NRT. Embarrassingly, I have never taken the NRT, as I go down the stairs, but I’ve heard great things. Here’s a link with more info than I have:
https://www.timberlinetrailcraft.com/northern-incline-trail/
- Do I need spikes/traction/poles etc?
On a more pointed note, you can usually reach the top without special footwear, provided:
- It is not obviously snowpacked.
- You don't mind waiting in line behind a bunch of other people without traction (It's hard to pass without added traction).
- You're in no hurry to get back down and will do so at a snail's pace (including being willing to slide on your butt).
The third point is the rub. Who climbs up, must climb down. If the way up is covered in ice, so is the way down, including Barr Trail. There have been numerous injuries from the insignificant to the very significant of slips & falls going back down. Saving a few bucks by avoiding buying traction is not worth a broken limb. You can get cheaper traction, but I swear by Kahtoola Microspikes. I run down (see below in my Opinion section) and these never let me down
https://www.amazon.com/Kahtoola-MICROspikes-Footwear-Traction-Mountaineering/dp/B0CLTCDV7H?th=1
Regarding poles, I have not seen these be of any help on ice. I also have never tried them. Someone will no doubt disagree, but I can say for a fact, those doing the Incline fast in the winter have spikes, not poles. More on poles, below.
- Should I use poles? (unrelated to traction, see above)
People have different feelings about this. This falls somewhat into the “my opinion”, but I think I have enough data to call it a fact.
If you have a health problem – knee issues, balance issues, etc. By all means, use poles.
If you are doing laps – 4, 5, 10, inclines a day (the record is 22!), at some point in time, your knees will have “had it” (My knees are rock-solid for being 46, but at four laps, the most I’ve done in one day, they were a wobbly mess). Using poles to spread the lifting out across multiple muscle groups makes a ton of sense.
If you are doing single laps and have no other health concerns – poles don’t help. Disclaimer, I have never used them. Poles are very common in the ultramarathon world, and I read a great write-up – which I’ve since misplaced – about the rotation of the arms versus legs and how quickly you had to move to get a speed gain out of poles. Hint: it doesn’t work on stairs. Also, my daughter is an ultramarathoner, and has some really snazzy poles her dad bought her for Christmas, and she uses them when ultra-ing. She doesn’t use them for the incline. In effect, when it comes to speed, they just get in the way.
- Can I continue up to the top of Pikes Peak from
the Incline?
- Should I be concerned about bears and mountain lions?
They are 100% for-sure in the area. If you come up Ruxton (the street that you access the Incline from) early in the morning, you’ll see knocked over trash cans from the bears getting into them. A friend of mine has taken a photo of a mountain lion near the base of the Incline. That said, all of these events happened at an off-hour (pre-5am). I have done this many hundreds of times and I’ve never seen a bear or a mountain lion (lots of deer, though). In the middle of the day with hundreds of people climbing I can’t imagine this being a threat, bears and mountain lions hate groups of people. I don’t know any regulars that carry bear spray.
- Where do I use the bathroom? Are there (any) facilities at the top?
- How do I get faster going up?
Well, starting with the obvious – do the Incline more. There’s no beating lapping the real thing.
If you’re not local or can’t make it hear that often, running is a great way to practice. Having your cardio be top-performing will make a huge difference. All the people with record times are professional trail runners.
If you can get access to one, use a stair master. There is no beating this! After this many years, I bit the bullet and got one for the house. Mix doing fast single-stairs and slower double-stairs.
Also… you cannot will yourself to go faster. The Incline should be treated more like a marathon than a sprint, and after the initial gains have happened, the long-term aspects are practice, practice, practice and expect tiny, irregular gains. Don’t overtrain. I got obsessive over my time and fell into this in 2018. It was ugly. Not only did it impact my physical abilities, but it hit my mental health hard too. Take rest days. Here’s an article on what happens: https://www.hss.edu/article_overtraining.asp
Try setting your time on cooler days (50 degrees or less). Heat takes it out of me, I’m on average 12% slower when it’s over 65 degrees.
- What tips do you have for beginners / first timers?
I have four tips:
1) If your motivation is to get up fast / set a good time – and this will seemly completely counterintuitive - GO SLOW. However slow you think you may already be going, slow it down again. If speed is your goal, if you’re having to take breaks, you’re going too fast. I call that “redlining” – when your exhaustion level peaks and you can’t help but stop. Stopping is the #1 way to not be fast š
If you have a heart rate monitor, figure out what your max heart rate (HR) is, and keep it about 15 underneath that. For me, my max is 185 BPM, and I try to keep my HR at about 170 BPM for the incline. At 180 BPM I start to get woozy, run out of breath, and start feeling like I need to take a pit stop. Don’t let yourself redline!
Please note max HR is very dependent on age and fitness level, so don’t use my numbers as a specific reference.
I had a debate with a friend over this once, who was trying for his first time. After his 7th or 8th stop, he finally started listening to me and slowing his pace down. He nearly doubled his pace by not going fast.
If you don’t have a HR monitor and don’t know where to start, a good way is to simply put both feet on every stair, and sometimes even count 1-2-3 before continuing up to the next step.
2) Don’t overdress. The incline is a shadeless, sometimes miserably hot, place. A good way to guess what to wear is to add 30 degrees to the actual temperature. If it’s 50 outside, dress for 80. If it’s 30, dress for 60. If it’s 90 degrees… stay home or come late in the evening after the sun has set. 90 degrees is “I got too hot and search & rescue got involved” weather.
More on point, I see people coming out on 50 degree days dressed for the polar north. 50 degree days are t-shirt and shorts. Your body temperature will skyrocket after you start, and you’ll end up carrying two armfuls of clothes as you take things off.
On the flipside, Colorado has notoriously fickle weather. I remember one time I was running 10 miles in the front range, and I started at 50 degrees in a t-shirt, and by the time I was done 85 minutes later, I had whipped out a sweatshirt and a jacket because it was then in the 20’s and had started snowing. If there’s any chance of a weather change, back some layers in your bag to cover up, but it’s better to start with the assumption that you’ll be too hot and add clothes, as opposed to having to make constant stops to take things off.
3) Hydrate and eat carbs. I’m not going to get into special-diet considerations here. For the average person looking for advice, the best thing you can do is drink lots of water. If it’s your first time, carry at least two quarts if not more. This is no place to start with a small commercially-bought bottle of water from a convenience store.
The next thing is carbs. You may hear all sorts of things about protein being important, but that’s for after your workout. Protein is a recovery food. You want carbs: Breads, Bananas, Dates, etc. Carbs are what keep you from hitting ‘the wall’ and running out of energy. Personally, I put Skratch Labs High Carb mix in my water, as I find chewing while working out annoying,
https://www.amazon.com/Skratch-Labs-Carbohydrate-Supplement-Electrolytes/dp/B08PHLSBJS?th=1
4) If you’re interested in speed, and have a competitive nature, use Strava. https://www.strava.com. It’s social media for athletics. It’s free to use, although there are premium subscriptions with extra options. It will let you get semi-official times for your laps, and compare against others from your age group, the day, year, etc. It’s great for keeping motivation up. A big tip – use RUN as your setting, regardless of what speed you’re doing the incline at. Everyone uses run, and if you set walk or hike, you’ll end up on a chart that’s not regularly used.
- I'm trying to make a reservation and it says the Incline is closed on X day.
There are two reasons the incline closes:
There are two reasons
1) Manitou has several events every year – such as the coffin races day near Halloween – where they need all the parking they can get, and/or Manitou Ave is closed for driving and you literally can’t access Ruxton.
My opinion – this is really a parking/driving problem. If you walk to the Incline on these days from outside of town (someone drops you off nearby and you hoof it the last couple miles yourself) then it’s totally fine to do the Incline those days. Many regulars do this as do I, I just find a family member to drop me off.
Don’t try to drive/park those days.
2) There are three races that use Barr as the up or up/down route. These are:
July - https://barrtrailmountainrace.com/
Barr Trail Mountain Race is a race up Barr Trail, to Barr Camp, and back again. I race this every year, and I am pretty darn quick at downhill. Nothing is as grating as having to yell at a group that’s trying to make their way down Barr while you’re trying to set a race PR. Don’t be that guy.
September - https://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/
The Ascent races from central Manitou to the top of Pikes Peak. If you want to get really technical about it, by early afternoon everyone has cleared out of the base, and you could probably get by doing an Incline at, say, 2pm or later. DON’T go in the morning, you’ll have 1,700 angry athletes to deal with.
On a funny note, and I’ll leave out how I know this story but suffice to say I know it to be true: There was a woman at the top of Pikes Peak trying to go down Barr on Ascent day (I don’t know how she got there. Dropped off maybe?) – anyway, the race director was having none of it, and finally sent her down the back side (“The Crags”) down to Divide, CO.
The Marathon is an even bigger deal, racing from Manitou, to the top of Pikes Peak, and back. This is a very long race with people still finishing at the 10 hour mark, and all of Ruxton will be closed basically all day. Don’t show up that day expecting to Incline at all.
- How much will the altitude impact me?
This is a hotly debated topic. Somewhere between quite a lot / makes it impossible, or nothing whatsoever. What little science I know behind is that the amount of oxygen at 8,000 feet is roughly the same as it is at sea level. However, air pressure is considerably less at 8,000 feet, so it doesn’t “force its way” into your lungs as easily.
From personal experience, I can tell you that going up 7,000 more feet from where I live, takes me roughly to the top of Pikes Peak – 14,000 feet. Even on the years I was running the Ascent, I get pretty good and sick on the first couple trips up. I get a weird pressure sensation in my stomach, I hyperventilate, and sometimes I vomit.
I can also compare speed from 7,000 feet going down to sea level. My fastest single mile in Colorado Springs is 6 minutes 45 seconds. My fastest single mile at sea level is 5 minutes 58 seconds. Both of these were “flat out as fast as I could go”.
As for the hacks to avoid the problem:
- Those little pressurized air canisters. I don’t get this. I’m failing to see how having a lack of air pressure is going to be offset for – what, hours? – on a tiny canister. I guess perhaps a small boost, but I can’t see how this would work for an endurance exercise.
- I’ve had multiple people suggest Dramamine.
Maybe if getting off balance is a concern, this would do something for you. I
don’t get that problem, I just can’t breathe, and I get stomach-sick. I’ve
taken Dramamine when I had a balance disorder once, so I’m not knocking
Dramamine, but for me, it’s not much use at altitude.
I’m acclimated, so I can’t offer too many solutions other than “come here and stay for a few weeks to acclimate”. That might be understandably inconvenient. The other thing I’ve heard is that simply do the Incline as soon as you show up. It’s not likely to make you any quicker, but I believe the logic is that you wouldn’t have had the headaches or potentially bad sleep that you’ll be feeling after a couple days.
- Does the Incline close for the season? Close for rain? Close for Snow? Etc
The Incline does not close for weather. You are welcome to come be crazy on any day you care to.
Going in the snow is certainly harder than when it’s dry, but some locals (not me) love it, they call them “snowclines”.
Going in the rain can be a great idea, as it’s usually summer, and you’re guaranteed a nice temperature. However, lightning can be very dangerous in Colorado, it’s very dramatic here, and can come out of nowhere. It can absolutely be deadly. Don’t go in lightning. Also, rain has the nasty habit of turning into hail here. Hail isn’t likely to be fatal, but it sure sucks to get stuck in. On a funny note, one of my personal record times was on a hail day, I was ¾ of the way up and it started hailing, and I busted it up the rest of the way. It was a motivator, for sure.
On a side note, it can be a uniquely amazing experience to go on an overcast day, if the clouds are below the summit of the Incline. This leaves you looking down at the clouds from the tops. Locals call this an “inversion”, and it’s well worth the trip. Even better, before you clear the clouds, it’s a super nice temperature!
- Can I bring my kids of X ages?
The short answer is, if they want to do it, yes! Worst case you’ll have to carry them some and get an even better workout š
- Can I bring my dog?
NO.
This is not only illegal with a possible fine, but it’s bad for other hikers and it might be bad for your dog. Allow me to preface before seeming biased: I have two dogs, and have had multiple dogs most of my life. I’m a “dog person”. I also have a dog that’s done lots of fourteeners and is certainly in “workout shape”. That said, I have little tolerance for people bringing dogs on the incline.
There are three problems:
1) Pet health. Dogs have died, repeatedly, on the incline. Dogs have no way to tell you they’re starting to feel woozy and may have a cardio or heat event. Some people even abandon the carcass on/near the stairs. Real classy.
2) Leashes can ‘close line’ people. This has happened to me personally, twice. This is a 5’ -> 12’ wide trail. Your 16-foot extend-a-leash does not belong here, and your dog doesn’t belong on the other side of the trail as you.
3) Not having a leash is even worse, as, even as a dog lover, I don’t want a dog in front of me randomly while I’m trying to go fast. There’s been at least four occasions where someone had a small, off-leash dog that I’ve near-collided with going down, and it would’ve hurt both of us.
Don’t be that guy! If you want to run with your dog, awesome! Barr and Ute Valley, both directly adjacent trails, are friendly to this.
- Some other miscellaneous things of interest:
- Most people think the Incline is on Mount Manitou. It’s actually not, it’s on Rocky Mountain (yes, the least inventive name possible); Mount Manitou is the peak behind Rocky Mountain.
- What are the hardest stairs? Ironically, it’s no longer the top since the 2nd Incline rebuild. The hardest stairs are 1,800 – 2,150. The stairs are steep, weirdly separated, and it’s more like climbing a poorly built ladder than stairs.
- Stairs 1 – 1,350 are the dead easiest. Most of the time the grade is less than the average “in a building” stair. Don’t get overly confident on your speed, it gets worse, save your energy.
- 1,400 – 1,800 are getting steeper and may cause a challenge.
- 1,800 – 2,150 see above.
- 2,150 – 2,500 are right after the false summit and the grade naturally decreases there. These are pretty easy.
- 2,500 – 2,768 are the final uphill push, and go back to being steep, but the stairs are so well-structured after the rebuild that they’re not as intense as 1,800-2,150. Also, you don’t have to worry about pacing yourself as much here, as after 2,500 you can pretty much pound out the last 250ish steps without as much worry about long-term exhaustion.
- For God sakes, don’t litter. This includes food, even those which are “natural ingredients”, like orange peels or bananas. Orange peels take about six months to decompose, and bananas about two years. If everyone did this the entire incline would be covered in rotting fruit peels. A friend of mine goes around and picks them up. Don’t be that guy.
- Beware of disease with the chipmunks. The chipmunks have become a nuisance on the Incline. So many tourists have fed them that they’re not afraid of humans. The “don’t feed the wildlife” topic aside, one of the first health tips I got when I moved here in 1992 was to beware of rodents here (including chipmunks and squirrels). This is not a rumor, the rodents on Pikes Peak carry bubonic plague – the ‘black death’.
Reference: https://www.elpasocountyhealth.org/plague/
I have seen people letting the chipmunks crawl on them, and one time I felt compelled to warn two teen girls attempt to kiss a chipmunk by putting food in their mouths and lifting them up close.
- The false summit. It's real, and a lot of people get an unpleasant surprise from it. It's at about 2,180 stairs. If you're looking up at stair 2,000 it does look like you're almost done - don't be fooled.
- A common incorrect thing I hear regularly is people at the base, pointing at the top saying "see, that's the false summit". That's not true - you can see the top from the base.
My Opinions
I left this at the bottom, out of the way of the “everyone needs to know” information, as no doubt some people will disagree with me on these items.
Passing, in general
So we know, without any doubt, that the variances in speed on the Incline are between 17 minutes (Remi Bonnet, Joe Gray) and 3.5 hours, or longer. Just considering going up, this means that the speed of one individual may be twelve times faster than another’s.
I couldn’t immediately find a generalized link discussing the specifics of Colorado trail etiquette, but I was always taught to stay to my right, as no matter how quick you are at something, someone is faster.
I did find one from the Telluride Mountain Club -
https://www.telluridemountainclub.org/trails-etiquette-101/
“Yielding 101: Stop and move to one side of the trail when yielding. Slow traffic should stay on the right side of the trail so others can pass safely on their left. When in doubt, give the right of way to the hiker headed uphill.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Taking this one step further, it’s often hard to pay attention to others coming & going faster than you while you’re struggling up a mountain. So it’s best to simply stay right, all the time. Traveling in a group? Form a single line to the right. Traveling with kids? Let’s leave out the part that my older daughter is now more athletic than I am, but when my kids were younger, I had them climb directly in front of me. If they needed a break, we took a hard right and got off the trail (see more below). We’re still close enough to hold a conversation.
If you need to take a break, that’s totally OK – please pull off the trail. Don’t do this into an untouched area of nature, but there are obvious rocky “ok to sit here” places all over the incline, probably 20 or more. Stop there and get a rest. If you can’t make it to the next “ok to sit here” places, sit on the right hand side of the trail, as far off as you can. Don’t sit in the middle of the trail.
If you need to pass, pass on the left. It’s perfectly OK to holler “passing” or “on your left” to notify others, but hopefully if everyone was tuned in, they’d be on the right already. Once you’ve passed, get back over to the right – it’s probable that there’s someone yet faster than you is also trying to get past.
Why do I say all this? I can’t explain the feeling of “oh no” when I see a group of 30 people, spread out all over the trail, in front of me when I’m going up. That could be 10 times I’d have to holler “passing” with what limited breath I have, possibly someone getting upset, etc. Go single-file, right hand side.
Going down the stairs
Outside of reservations, I’m not so sure there is a more contentious topic.
First, let’s talk about “why”. Also, if you’re new, and you’re only doing this once, I don’t recommend it. See above.
o Once you get good at it, it’s roughly 3x – 4x times faster than going down Barr trail. Why does this matter?
- Doing a variety of “lots of inclines” is a popular challenge. This could be 500 Inclines in a year (the “500 club”), it could be the world record for number of inclines in a year (search “Greg Cummings”), how many can be done in a day (13 for the “Inclinathon” is popular). Doing laps dictates that you have to come down the stairs. Imagine spending 35 minutes down Barr five times a day, that’s 2+ hours longer going down Barr.
- If you’re just doing one lap, it can be hard to think that it’s someone else’s year-long goal to get hundreds of laps in.
- If you want to get an Incline in on a time crunch, going down the stairs is a must. I went from doing an Incline-a-week to (briefly) five-Inclines-a-week once I was able to stick my up-and-down time in sub-hour. It became a lunchtime activity, like some people go to the gym. This is impossible running down Barr.
- Some people just like it – it’s fun to run down the stairs.
o But isn’t this against the rules?
https://www.visitcos.com/things-to-do/outdoors/manitou-incline-near-colorado-springs-colorado/
“Once you've made it to the top - or rather if you make it to the top - you can hike down the bottom four miles of the Barr Trail. Downhill use of the Incline is strongly discouraged.”
Here’s the Denver Gazette covering Crazy Bob’s record time down the Incline.
https://coloradosprings.gov/parks/page/manitou-incline
“Do not climb down the Incline. Use the Barr Trail for your downhill journey”
If you read between the lines, and ask the locals, the general consensus is that it’s a really bad idea for those with no experience, and the government can’t really encourage it as it’s perceived as dangerous – basically, a CYA. In practice, it’s very common for the regulars to go down the stairs.
I run down – rather quickly. I’ve pushed it from 35 minutes on my first time down, to 20, to 15 for some time, then I plateaued at 10, and now I just recently hit 9:00 flat (5.17 stairs per second!).
The reactions I get from people are a big mix. 95% - no reaction whatsoever. 4% cheer me on, give me high fives, and there’s a ton of encouragement. The other 1% lob insults at me for being rude. I ignore the latter.
To my point – at it’s most narrow, the incline is wide enough for 2-3 people. At it’s widest it can easily fit 7-10 people shoulder-to-shoulder. If we all follow general trail etiquette and stay right except to pass, there’s almost no scenario where there’s not room for someone going up, someone passing on their left, and someone coming down! There’s room for everyone.
Some common questions on this:
- Isn’t it dangerous?
Going at a reasonable speed? If you’re in shape and have good balance, it's not a big problem.
But going fast, oh my goodness, I fall over all the time. I’m writing this on 5/4/25, having slid down six stairs on 5/3/25. It was no big deal, I didn’t even get a bruise.
Most of my falls amount to nothing, 90% of the I jump right back up and keep going. The perception of “falling down thousands of stairs” is nonsense. The craziest fall I’ve had was about 50 stairs because I lost traction on snow/ice. I didn’t take any damage whatsoever, it was like sliding while snowboarding.
You know what does hurt? Messing up your ankles. Thousands of little jumps in a day (multiple laps) will eventually result in an imperfect landing at least once. I wear ankle restraints to minimize this, which helps a lot. About every ninety days I end up with a doozie on my left ankle that requires me to take it easy for a couple weeks.
My worst injury was losing traction around 1,650 on the way down. I tripped, and bent my foot in an angle that it wasn’t supposed to bend. It didn’t break, but it swelled up far too much to fit in a shoe, and I was in a walking boot for ten days.
In summary – can you get hurt? Absolutely! Is it likely to be serious – no. But still - do so at your own risk.
- Why do I see people climbing down backwards?
This is the “knee saver” pose! Most of these people are doing either a ton of laps in one day, or hundreds of laps in one year, and the knee simply can’t maintain the strain any longer. Going down backwards minimizes the problem.\
- I tried this once and I got sore / wobbly / my knees hurt. How do you do it?
…And this is everyone’s experience the first time. It’s just like lifting weights for the first time without any practice. I have yet to find an “everyday” motion that mimics going down stairs, so the only way to build this muscle group is to practice it.
- Summing up my opinion… Follow hiking etiquette. Stay to your right. Don’t block the trail.
Happy Inclining!
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