![]() – On a recent bluebird afternoon, Chasidey Geissler’s friends and family were atop the Manitou Incline to celebrate a record-setting ascent. “I don’t argue, I just say something like ‘yeah, you should totally go do that!’ Their thoughts usually are very different after they finish it for the first time.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. “I’ve had a few people stand right in front of me and tell me they could easily go under 20 minutes,” McLaughlin says. ![]() It helps to look down at the steps-don’t consider enjoying the view until you reach the top. The only secrets to the Incline? Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And that’s kind of how I got into doing multiple laps on it.” “And even after you do it, it’s still there waiting for you, challenging you to go faster or to do it more times. “You can see it from anywhere in the city, so it just taunts you until you do it,” Stapanowich says. Roger Austin, a 50-year-old Colorado Springs hiker, completed a record-setting 1,719 ascents on the Incline in 2015, while Brandon Stapanowich, a 31-year-old Manitou Springs ultrarunner, did 22 laps up the Incline and down the Barr Trail in 24 hours in 2014. There are also some crazy records on the Incline that don’t necessarily involve speed. Mountain Running Team, owns the fastest women’s time, 20:07, which she set in 2010. Manitou Springs resident Allie McLaughlin, a member of the 2014 U.S. Although other unsubstantiated faster times have been reported, Gray’s time surpassed the longstanding 18:31 mark of mountain running legend and 12-time Pikes Peak Marathon champion Matt Carpenter. It’s one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do.”Ĭolorado Springs trail runner Joe Gray, who owns numerous top-10 finishes in international mountain races, ran the fastest known time (FKT) on the Incline last summer when he reached the top of the 0.88-mile route in 17 minutes and 45 seconds. No matter how fast or slow you go, it’s really just about surviving. “Whether you are a world-class athlete or a weekend warrior, the Incline has a way of humbling you. “It’s beyond relentless,” says Peter Maksimow, an elite-level mountain runner who lives nearby in Manitou Springs. But that requires an all-out leg- and lung-burning effort. ![]() While it takes the average hiker more than 90 minutes to make it to the summit, a well-trained runner can reach the top in less than 30. ![]() Almost immediately upon its closure, the Incline became a destination for hikers and runners.īy 2012 the route fell into disrepair from heavy use and erosion, forcing a temporary closure for repairs and the replacement of the old railroad ties with modern landscaping timbers. The tourist railway existed from 1907 to 1990, but a rockslide damaged some of the rails and railroad ties and it was shut down. The trail sits on the site of an old funicular railway that took sightseers up one of the lower flanks of Pikes Peak. It’s unyieldingly steep-68 percent in some places-but that’s why runners and hikers from near and far have been taking the challenge for years. Situated near the base of Pikes Peak in Manitou Springs, Colo., the Manitou Incline rises more than 2,000 vertical feet in less than a mile. ![]() It’s relentlessly steep and a ferocious challenge for anyone who tries to hike or run it. When it comes to describing the Manitou Incline, there’s no mincing words. ![]()
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