Winter Has Come to the Incline
With the dry fall and early winter, the Manitou Incline has been mostly free of snow and ice. That all changed with the 2 snow storms the week before Christmas.
Although the snow has melted off sections of the Incline and Barr Trail, there’s still plenty of ice. Often the ice from the melting and freezing is more slippery than when the snow first falls. It’s a pretty time of year on the Manitou Incline but use Kahtoola MicroSpikes, YakTrax, or Stabilicers Lite and be safe.
Here are some photos from December 23, 2011 and include the tree decorated at the the top of the Incline with Christmas decorations.
Unbreakable: The Western States 100 Showing Benefits the Incline
Join the Incline Friends and ultra runners Anton Krupicka, Geoff Roes and Anita Ortiz for a premier showing of the new documentary “Unbreakable: The Western States 100,” at 7 p.m., Dec. 7 at Stargazers Theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m.
The film by Journeyfilm’s JB Benna follows the footsteps of four extraordinary athletes, including Krupicka and Roes of Boulder, as they prepare for the 2010 race and the daunting challenge of running 100 miles across the Sierra Nevada, some of the most rugged country in the western United States. On race day you’ll join the runners shoulder-to-shoulder as they push their limits above timberline, and then risk life and limb on hell-bent descents.
This is a must see for anyone who dreams of striding across the sky to greet the sunrise.
The evening will be topped with a question and answer discussion with Krupicka, Roes and Ortiz, some of the top ultra runners in the world. Roes won the Western States 100 in 2010, while Ortiz claimed the women’s title in 2009. Krupicka, who attended Colorado College, is a two-time winner of the Leadville 100.
Tickets cost $10 and will be available at Mountain Chalet, 226 N. Tejon St.; Colorado Running Company, 833 N. Tejon St., and 9275 N. Union Blvd, Ste. 120; and Carmichael Training Systems, 600 S. 21st St., No. 100. Tickets will also be available for $10 the day of the show, but it’s wise to purchase them early. Tickets are also available online for $11 at imATHLETE.com.
The event is a fundraiser for Incline Friends, a new organization created to help implement the Manitou Incline Site Development and Management Plan and open the Incline to the public. Incline Friends works to educate users about new rules and regulations, builds relationships with other groups and residents who use and live near the Incline, and organizes volunteer work days.
Happy Thanksgiving Manitou Incline Style
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
The great UpaDowna folks are continuing their Thanksgiving Incline Happy Hour tradition this year. They’ll be heading up the Incline around 5 and then having a potluck around 7 at The Royal Tavern.
Everyone is welcome. Bring some food to share if you can.
If you’ve been paying attention, it’s dark by 5 so you’ll need a headlamp to hike the Incline. Oh and no one has found a way to get the red tape yet so you’re still trespassing if you’re on the Incline.
Incline Trail Project November 5th
The Incline Friends group is asking for volunteers to help with a trail project beginning at 7:30 AM on November 5th, 2011.
Part of the plan for legalizing hiking of the Manitou Incline is to close the trail from Barr Trail parking lot up to the Incline. The official trailhead will be in the Pikes Peak Cog Railway’s parking lot and there will be a trail connecting from the Barr parking lot.
Currently there is a social trail that cuts from the Barr Trail parking lot to the bottom of the Incline. Volunteers on Saturday will help reroute this short social trail to match the one in the Manitou Incline Site Development and Management Plan.
Those interested should plan to meet in the Barr Trail Parking lot. They should dress for the weather, bring work gloves, plenty of water and pack a lunch.
The workday is an important step in the process of legalizing use of the Incline. While citizen volunteers have organized successful clean-up days and made repairs to loose railroad ties, no official work has been done.
Creation of the Incline Friends group – which will soon become a nonprofit organization – was required in the Incline Management Plan. The group is responsible for education and outreach, as well as fund raising and volunteer coordination.
Manitou Incline Jack-o-Lantern
Think it’s tough to hike up the Manitou Incline? Just imagine what it would be like to haul this pumpkin up it. Thanks to frequent Incline hiker Jill for the photo. She says there was also candy!
Cleanup on the Incline
It isn’t legal to hike he Manitou Incline just yet but the Incline Friends are cleaning up after the hikers. Help the Incline Friends clean up the Incline this Saturday, September 17th, from 8 AM – 11 AM. Meet at the true bottom of the Incline at 8.
Bring gloves and water. Trash bags provided. The group will clean up trash around the base of the Incline and then work their way up to the top, cleaning as they go.
Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon This Weekend
The Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon are this weekend (Aug 20-21, 2011). The Ascent is on Saturday and the Marathon is on Sunday. This will make the crazy early morning parking much worse than normal.
Ruxton will be blocked off for the starts. The Ascent has 2 waves with the first at 7 AM and the second at 7:30 AM. The marathon has a single start at 7 AM. Obviously coming back down Barr Trail when hundreds of runners are going up would not be a smart choice..
Colorado Springs Council Unanimously Approves Incline Plan
Today the Colorado Springs City Council unanimously approved the Manitou Incline Plan. After Sarah Bryarly, interim design, development and Trails, Open Space and Parks manager for the Colorado Springs parks department, gave a presentation there was very little discussion.
Councilman Bernie Herpin said there were only 2 questions in the many of emails he received asking him to vote for the Manitou Incline Plan. The 2 questions were why only dawn to dusk hiking and no dogs.
Bryarly said the dawn to dusk hiking rule was for safety and consistent with the city parks and open spaces. She said it would be harder on rescuers if someone were to get injured at night.
She said at the public meetings for every one that wanted dogs there was someone that didn’t. However at the October 21st, 2010 public meeting it was about 20 people that wanted dogs for every one that didn’t. The Incline Friends is to look into having “dog days” on the Incline. That just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
Councilman Sean Paige asked some questions about the budget for the project. He thought that a robust donation box that vandals couldn’t break in to would be good. The Manitou Incline Plan lists several possible sources of grants. Bryarly also said that they plan to use TOPS money for engineering plans on how best to stabilize the ties that are in the worst shape. It’s possible more TOPS money could be used in the future.
Councilman Scott Hente, who used to hike the Incline and has pushed the plan forward, talked some about why he thought it was such a great idea. He said many tourists to the area know about it and he said he had met people from all around the world while hiking it.
Hente made a motion to approve the Manitou Incline Plan. The public was given an opportunity to comment on the plan. No one had comments so the vote was taken and was unanimous for it.
The long climb to legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline still is far from over though. Next up are 3 more public meetings in Manitou Springs. They are
- Manitou Springs Open Space Advocacy Meeting – Feb. 28
- Manitou Springs Planning Commission – March 9
- Manitou Springs City Council meeting – March 29
As long as the plan moves forward with those 3 meetings, the Forest Service will go through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The NEPA process often takes 2 years to complete. In this case they don’t have to try figuring out what the environmental impact will be. All they have to do is go up the Incline and see it. Because of this, the Forest Service says they can get through the process in 6 months. That’s still not fast enough for Hente and he wishes they’d be done in 3 months or less.
After a few failed attempts over the years, the Manitou Incline appears close to being a legal hike. In the meantime, it’s expected that thousands of athletes, hikers and tourists will continue trespassing to take on the Incline challenge.
Manitou Incline Open House January 20th, 2011
The long climb to legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline is taking another step on January 20. There will be an open house about the draft Manitou Incline management plan from 5 to 7 p.m. at Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Instead of a presentation, there will be stations that cover the various topics of the management plan.
I haven’t found info on what changes they’ve made to the draft Manitou Incline plan since it was presented in October. The 2 most unpopular rules were only allowing hiking from dawn to dusk and no dogs. Also those at the October meeting didn’t feel the plan really had any plan to address the parking issues.
I’ve been told that the main fundraising for money to repair and maintain the Manitou Incline will be done through the Incline Friends group. The Trails and Open Space Coalition is facilitating creating the Incline Friends. It is free to join the group. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call at 719-633-6884.
The friends group needs volunteer help in these areas:
- Leadership and Coordination
- Fundraising
- Partnerships and sponsorships
- Grantwriting
- Education/Outreach
- Volunteer coordination
- Maintenance and Construction – physical labor on the Incline.
The open house tomorrow isn’t the final meeting. The recommended plan will also be presented at the public meetings of various appointed and elected bodies of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs over the coming two months before it will hopefully be approved by the landowners later this spring. The other planned meetings are:
- TOPS Working Committee: February 2, 7:30 a.m. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, 1401 Recreation Way
- Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: February 10, 7:30 a.m. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, 1401 Recreation Way
- Colorado Springs City Council: February 22, 1 p.m. Colorado Springs City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Avenue
- Manitou Springs Planning Commission: March 9, 7 p.m. Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue
- Manitou Springs City Council – TBA.
Time to Hike the Manitou Incline
The Manitou Incline is just under a mile but climbs 2,000 vertical feet. So how long does it take people to hike up it?
Times of under 20 minutes for world class athletes pass around the local hiking community and in news articles. I have some friends that can hike the Manitou Incline in the low 20 minutes. My best time over 10 years ago was 29 1/2 minutes. I’m much slower than that now.
Colorado Springs has many very fit athletes so there are plenty of people hiking the Manitou Incline in under 30 minutes but from what I’ve seen the average Incline hiker is making it to the top in 40 – 60 minutes. Many first timers and people from lower elevations are taking well over an hour.
The accepted spot to time yourself is from the bottom tie right above the Pikes Peak Cog Railway parking lot. Stop timing at the last tie at the top.
Don’t be fooled by these times. These times and the times people talk about are just for going up the Incline. There’s no way to magically end up back at the bottom so you need to factor coming back down into your hiking plans.
Although the rules for using the Incline stop short of prohibiting coming back down the Incline, they recommend one way up for safety. The most popular way and recommended way to get back down is to go to the left (when facing uphill) and then down the connector trail to the Barr Trail. Going this way down takes about 45-50 minutes at a quick walking pace with no stops.
There are a few places with Manitou Incline times listed. Pikes Peak Sports has a Manitou Incline honor roll. The Incline Club has more official times from when they used to “run” the Incline before the No Trespassing sign was put up in June of 2000 (scroll down page to see the times).
